AP: U.S. envoy to Iraq likely quitting post

[Eugene]

Monday, November 6, 2006 · Last updated 8:38 a.m. PT

U.S. envoy to Iraq likely quitting post

By ANNE GEARAN
AP DIPLOMATIC WRITER

WASHINGTON -- Zalmay Khalilzad, the plainspoken dealmaker and Republican
insider who has won praise and criticism for attempts to broker Sunni
political participation in Iraq's fragile government, is likely to quit his post
as U.S. ambassador in Baghdad in the coming months, a senior Bush
administration official said Monday.

As the midterm elections approached in the United States, Khalilzad has been
a public face of Bush administration attempts to project both willingness to
change strategy or tactics in an unpopular war and solidarity with the
increasingly fractious Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Khalilzad's departure has been rumored for months, but he has not turned in his
resignation, the State Department official said. The official spoke on condition
of anonymity because neither the White House nor Khalilzad has announced any
personnel changes. Khalilzad could leave as soon as the end of this year, but is
more likely to remain in his post through the spring, the official said.

-snip-

Other U.S. officials have said Khalilzad will probably return to an academic or
private sector job in the United States. His replacement in Baghdad may be Ryan
Crocker, a senior career diplomat who is currently U.S. ambassador to Pakistan,
those officials said. Crocker was a top U.S. representative in Baghdad for several
months in 2003, shortly after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

-snip-

Full article: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_US_Iraq_Ambassador.html

[Demit]

1. Cue up the photo of the last helicopter leaving Saigon

and the line of people clinging to the rope. They're gonna be climbing over one another to get out of this administration.

[sabra]

2. seems like a lot of "cut and running" going on for BushCo...

[reichstag911]

3. Another PNACer...

...slinking off into the comfy arms of neofascist think-tank-land.