Breaking: President Bush to name
Zalmay Khalilzad as US Ambassador to UN
Kim Priestap
This comes from ABC News, which has the initial report. Here's ABC News' report:
ABC News has learned that President Bush will nominate Zalmay Khalilzad to be the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Khalilzad is currently the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. The announcement may come as soon as tomorrow. Khalilzad's departure from Baghdad will happen as soon as he is confirmed as U.N. ambassador.
Ryan Crocker, currently the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, will be nominated to replace Khalilzad in Baghdad. Khalilzad has been U.S. ambassador to Iraq since June 2005. He is the highest ranking Muslim in the U.S. government and one of the few officials at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad fluent in Arabic.
Back on December 9th, Robert Novak reported that President Bush was considering Khalilzad for the UN post.
I just found this report out of Korea that says UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has selected may select Khalilzad as Undersecretary General for Political Affairs, one of the most important jobs in the UN:
Zalmay Khalilzad, who is currently the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, is being tipped for a top U.N. appointment by the new Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. ...
Read the whole thing. Not as good as having Bolton back but we could do a lot worse.
