Chris Hill to Baghdad - replace ambassador?

February 02, 2009
Chris Hill to Baghdad?
McClatchy blog

Talk about from the frying pan into the fire. Chris Hill, the highly-regarded US diplomat who has spent the past four years in the diplomatic equivalent of the dentist's chair, trying to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, is getting the nod to be the next U.S. ambassador to Iraq. And the second prize would be?

While there was no official announcement Monday, State Department officials said Hill seems to be a clinch for the Baghdad job, replacing Ryan Crocker, who departs on February 12.

Hill labored throughout former President George W. Bush's second term to secure a deal with North Korea to abandon its nuclear arms, making numerous trips to that loveliest of foreign capitals, Pyong'yang. He rescued the agreement several times when it appeared to be on the verge of breaking down--both because of North Korean obtuseness and fierce opposition by then-Vice President "Deadeye" Dick Cheney over negotiating with the Norks at all.

But the effort faltered at the end of Bush's term, as North Korea balked at proposals for verifying its declaration of its nuclear weapons holdings, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il fell seriously ill with a reported stroke.

Hill remains popular in many quarters, although the likely assignment to Baghdad is in some ways an odd one. He has extensive experience in the Balkans and in East Asia (he served as ambassador to Macedonia and South Korea), but little in the Middle East.

Some see the hand of Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration's new envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, in all of this. Holbrooke, who helped broker the Dayton accords that ended the Bosnia wars, is a long-time Hill mentor and pal.

Hill won out (if that's the right phrase) over other potential contenders for the job, including retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni; former U.S. ambassador to the Philippines and Egypt Frank Ricciardone; and former ambassador to Lebanon and current #2 in State's Mideast shop Jeff Feltman.