U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Khalilzad Plans to Leave, Officials Say (Bolton replacement?)

[sabra]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a5wc7qdLs0ig&refer=us

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Khalilzad Plans to Leave, Officials Say

Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, plans to leave his post and will be replaced by Ryan Crocker, the current ambassador to Pakistan, according to two officials familiar with the matter.

Khalilzad has been the U.S. point man in trying to restore security and stability to Iraq in the face of widening sectarian violence since starting the job in June 2005. Crocker, a career diplomat, has served in positions around the Middle East and was a deputy assistant secretary for the region before going to Pakistan in 2004.

A Bush administration official and a UN diplomat separately described the planned changes. The administration official said the switch would take place early next year. The United Nations ambassadorship being vacated by John Bolton, who announced today he will be leaving that post, is a job that may be open to the 55-year-old Khalilzad, according to the administration official.

The administration official said what job Khalilzad would get next was among the most hotly debated personnel matters within the government. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is considering him for deputy secretary of state or the role of her counselor, in addition to the UN post, the official said.

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. The Khalilzad resignation was talked about a couple of weeks ago

I don't recall if it was right before or just after the election, but it was out there nonetheless.

[sabra]

2. yep, and the WH called it baseless rumors...

[Norquist Nemesis]

4. mmhmmm

Yes, they did. Once again showing that if their mouths are moving, they're lying.

[Roland99]

3. The only job he's worthy of doing is mucking out stalls with his bare hands.

PNAC FUCKERS!!!

:mad:

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. having met him and heard him talk, he would be ok in the UN

far better than 'stache.

[acmavm]

6. Anybody's better than Bolton. But this guy is a lying joker

just like the rest of them. And everybody who's heard his assurances on how much we're doing for Iraq and the Iraqi people knows it.

He lies just like the rest of 'em.

[Roland99]

8. "ok in the UN"??? WTF you talkin' 'bout, Willis?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zalmay_Khalilzad

e is a member of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) and was one of the signers of the January 26, 1998, PNAC Letter sent to President Bill Clinton. Khalilzad is also a former board member of Friends of Afghanistan, which received extensive U.S. funding.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Project_for_the_New_American_Century

Several original PNAC members, including Cheney, Khalilzad and the Bush family, have ties to the oil industry.

FUCK HIM!

[Vidar]

7. Wow, somebody with actual diplomatic experience. (Not that

he isn't a bushbot villain in other regards.)

[pinto]

9. the Wikipedia entry for Crocker:

Ryan Crocker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ryan C. Crocker (born on June 19, 1949 in Spokane, Washington) is the current United States Ambassador to Pakistan. He served as the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon in 1990, Kuwait in 1994, Syria in 1998, and earlier served as in his country's embassies in Iran, Qatar, Iraq and Egypt. He attended University College Dublin and Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, where he received a B.A. in English Literature in 1971.

Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, Crocker became the Director of the Iraq-Kuwait Task Force.

After Persian language training, he was assigned to the American Consulate in Khorramshahr, Iran in 1972. His subsequent assignment was to the newly-established embassy in Doha, Qatar in 1974 as an economic-commercial officer and in 1976 Crocker returned to Washington, DC for long-term Arabic training. He completed the 20-month program at the Foreign Service Institutes Arabic School in Tunis in June 1978 Crocker was then assigned as chief of the economic-commercial section at the U.S. Interests Section in Baghdad, Iraq. Crocker served in Beirut, Lebanon as chief of the political section from 1981 to 1984. He spent the academic year from 1984 to 1985 at Princeton University under State Department auspices pursuing course work in near-eastern studies. He served as deputy director of the Office of Israel and Arab-Israeli affairs from 1985 to 1987 and was political councillor at the American Embassy in Cairo from 1987 to 1990.

Crocker's experience and his vast knowledge of Middle Eastern cultures, history, and languages make him one of the State Department's leading experts on Middle Eastern affairs. He has received a Presidential Distinguished Service Award and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Crocker