Posted on 01/04/2007 12:19:43 PM PST by NinoFan
Edited on 01/04/2007 1:25:31 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
Announcement Could Come as Early as Tomorrow
Jan. 4, 2007— - 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.
A consummate dealmaker, Khalilzad played an active role trying to push the Iraqi government toward political reconciliation. Khalilzad's efforts aliented some in the Shia-dominated Iraqi government who complained that Khalilzad was biased in favor of Iraq's Sunnis. Khalilzad is a Sunni Muslim. Before becoming U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Khalilzad served as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. Prior to that, he served as a Special Presidential Envoy and Ambassador at Large for the Free Iraqis.
Khalilzad has a bachelor's and a master's degree from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
That's good, right?
Well, it certainly addresses the little-known clause in the EEOC regulations concerning quotas on names containing the letter "Z."
Based on comments made in previous FR threads, it's potentially a very good move.
ZALMAY KHALILZAD... who? Has anyone ever heard of him?
oh my! lol
He is the US Ambassador to Iraq, having formerly served as the Ambassador to Afghanistan. He is the highest ranking Muslim in the Bush Administration.
Seriously, wasn't this guy our ambassador to Iraq?
Scrabble bonanza.
I want to buy a vowel.......
You are kidding, right?
What? And risk sounding anti-Muslim? lol, this actually puts them in a pretty tight spot.
Early history, education and personal life
An ethnic Pashtun, he was born in the city of Mazari Sharif, in northern Afghanistan. He began his education at the private Ghazi Lycée school in Kabul. He emigrated to the United States as a high school exchange student, but attained his bachelor's and master's degrees from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. Khalilzad received his doctorate at the University of Chicago, where he studied closely with strategic thinker Albert Wohlstetter, who is a prominent nuclear deterrence thinker and an opponent to the disarmament treaties.
From 1979 to 1989, Dr. Khalilzad was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. During this time he worked closely with Zbigniew Brzezinski, the Carter administration's architect of the policy supporting the Afghan Mujahadeen resistance to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.
[edit] Personal Life
Khalilzad is married to Cheryl Benard, who is a political analyst with the RAND Corporation. They have two children, Alexander and Maximilian. He plays pick-up basketball in his spare time[citation needed].
[edit] Career history
Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad with George W. Bush in the Oval Office.
Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad with George W. Bush in the Oval Office.
In 1984 Khalilzad accepted a one-year Council on Foreign Relations fellowship to join the State Department, where he worked for Paul Wolfowitz, then the director of Policy Planning.
From 1985 to 1989, Khalilzad served as a senior State Department official advising on the Soviet war in Afghanistan and the Iran-Iraq war, during which time he was the State Department's Special Advisor on Afghanistan to Undersecretary of State Michael H. Armacost. In this role he developed and guided the international program to promote the merits of a Mujahideen-led Afghanistan to oust the Soviet occupation. Khalilzad served under former U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush as special assistant to the president for Southwest Asia, the Near East and North Africa. From 1991 to 1992, he was a senior Defense Department official for policy planning. Khalilzad initially viewed the Taliban as a potential force for stability and as counter balance to Iran, but his views changed over time, especially after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Khalilzad was an advisor for the Unocal Corporation. In the mid-1990s, while working for the Cambridge Energy Research Associates, Khalilzad conducted risk analyses for Unocal for a proposed 1,400 km (890 mile), $2-billion, 622 m³/s (22,000 ft³/s) Trans-Afghanistan gas pipeline project which would have extended from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan. For this project, he met a delegation of Taliban in the United States. Between 1993 and 1999, Dr. Khalilzad was Director of the Strategy, Doctrine and Force Structure program for the RAND Corporation's Project Air Force. RAND is a think-tank primarily focused on "national security" issues, created just after World War II in connection with high ranking officers from the armed forces and now closely linked to the neoconservatives (Donald Rumsfeld was chairman 1981-1986). While with RAND, he founded the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Khalilzad co-authored the RAND study, "The United States and a Rising China".
Dr. Khalilzad headed the Bush-Cheney transition team for the Department of Defense and has been a Counselor to Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. In May 2001, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice announced the appointment of Khalilzad as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Gulf, Southwest Asia and Other Regional Issues, National Security Council.
[edit] Time as an Ambassador
Khalilzad has served as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq in a time where the United States military is involved in the Iraq War.
Following the December 2005 Iraqi legislative elections, Khalilzad played a substantial role in bringing together Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds to form the current Iraqi government.
After the Al Askari shrine bombing in February 2006 he warned that spreading sectarian violence might lead to a civil war in post-invasion Iraq and possibly even neighbouring countries. [1]
ABC News is reporting that President Bush will name Mr. Khalizad as the new US Ambarassador to the UN.
[edit] Writing on U.S. leadership
Khalilzad wrote several articles on the subject of the value of U.S. global leadership in the mid-90's. The specific scenarios for conflict he envisioned in the case of a decline in American power have made his writings extremely popular in the world of competitive high school and college policy debate.
* Khalilzad, Zalmay (1995). "Losing the moment? The United States and the world after the Cold War". The Washington Quarterly 18:2: 03012.
[edit] Possible UN Ambassador
On January 4, 2007, President Bush nominated Khalilzad to be the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Sounds like "that idiot Bush" has confuzzled them again.
Dang! WIKI IS FAST!.........
They misunderestimated him........
Sounds like a neo-con. The Buchananites are going to go ballistic too.
He is our current ambassador to Iraq and previously to Afghanistan. The man risked his life daily in his job as an ambassador in both countries and we should be very proud and very happy that he will be our U.N ambassador.
Ummmm....
5 years ago Muslim terrorists killed over 3,000 people in the United States in an unprecedented attack. Since then, Muslims have been engaging in terrorist attacks against our allies around the world. We are currently in a hot war against adversaries who are almost 100% Muslim. Today, the first Muslim U.S. Congressman was sworn in and the President named a Muslim to be the United States Ambassador to the U.N.
There's something terribly wrong here.
Oh my, the wailing and gnashing of teeth. And now this man may be an excellent replacement for my personal hero, John Bolton.
"Just from a simple google I have a funny feeling the left is about to explode regarding this nomination!"
You mean they've been out-Muslimed? They could put Cindy Sheehan in a hijab.
Looks like this is going to be more fun that we thought!
Yep. He's also a member of PNAC.
BZZZZZZZZZZZT....disqualified....he's a "big oil" guy, as Shmuckie, Turban, and other Dem's will label him in his confirmation hearings, I'm sure
Well, I wonder how that jives with the other story that he is being considered for a UN undersecretary job by the new UN chief?
http://wizbangblog.com/2007/01/04/breaking-president-bush-to-name-zalmay-khalilzad-as-us-ambassador-to-un.php
It is a coup if he gets the appointment as Undersecretary General of Political Affairs too :-)
The US never has had that spot
Yes, your grouping of every Muslim into the same political basket.
The commander of our 130k+ military forces in Iraq is Muslim too.
There are a few good one out there! (I know, hard to believe...)
"Sounds like a neo-con."
No, I'm pretty sure he's Muslim.
Say that three times fast.
:-) You are quicker than I, TomGuy! I posted a link about that appointment a little after you
No other news agency is picking this up. It looks like ABC might have received some bad info.
Only with your ignorance and bigotry.
A muslim! Oh, just great George ...........
Yes, and a member of PNAC...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century
Outstanding choice!
"5 years ago Muslim terrorists killed over 3,000 people in the United States in an unprecedented attack. Since then, Muslims have been engaging in terrorist attacks against our allies around the world. We are currently in a hot war against adversaries who are almost 100% Muslim. Today, the first Muslim U.S. Congressman was sworn in and the President named a Muslim to be the United States Ambassador to the U.N.
There's something terribly wrong here."
I AGREE!
Dude, read more about the guy before you make us all look like reactionaries.
I'm feeling less bad about losing Bolton, not much, but a little.
Scary, isn't it???
If it can't be Bolton, he sounds about right to me.
I hope Bolton gets a job with Halliburton...LOL
Everything I need to know about Muslims I learned on 9-11. If I'm a reactionary, then so be it!
Did you at least read who is Mr. Khalilzad before you made your stupid post? The man risked his life on a daily basis serving as our ambassador in Iraq and before that in Afghanistan and we should be proud if he will become the the US ambassador to the UN.
ZALMAY KHALILZAD has served republicans going all the way back to Reagan. Was Reagan wrong too? ZALMAY KHALILZAD is a staunch conservative and has been wroking his ass off for us in Iraq. You sound like an ignorant bigot when you pop off with outknowing any facts.
My question exactly.
I don't know whether you served, if yes you have my appreciation, but this "Muslim" Khalilzad has done more for our cause, security and victory in the War on Terror than most other Americans, and probably you ever will.
You apparently know nothing about Khalilzad and that's really a shame.
Excellent choice Mr President.
At least I've called anyone an "ignorant bigot" on this forum.
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