A Farewell Warning On Iraq

A Farewell Warning On Iraq – David Ignatius, Washington Post opinion

President Bush teased his ambassador in Baghdad by giving him the nickname “Sunshine,” because of his sometimes-gloomy assessments of the political situation there. But Ryan Crocker persisted down to the last days in describing things precisely as he saw them.

Journalists probably shouldn’t have heroes, but Crocker is one of mine. We first met in 1981 in Lebanon, and I’ve watched over the years as he took on the toughest challenges in the Foreign Service and became a superstar diplomat without ever losing his mordant sense of humor or his determination to speak truth to power. Crocker is leaving Baghdad and retiring from the Foreign Service next month, and he agreed (characteristically, with a grumble) to sit for a farewell interview last week while he was in Washington.

What made Crocker so unusual was his raw curiosity about the world. In the summer of 1970, when he was a student at Whitman College and determined not to spend the rest of his life in Walla Walla, Wash., he hitchhiked from Amsterdam to Calcutta. Traveling across the vast arc of the Middle East, he developed a fascination that never left him…

Much more at The Washington Post. BTW – Ryan Crocker is an official SWJ hero too – the right man, in the right job, at the right time – it does not get any better than that folks.

John Nagl’s take via e-mail – I think General Petraeus would agree that an underappreciated pillar of our Iraq policy for the past two years has been American Ambassador Ryan Crocker, who retires next month. His replacement will be one of the most critical appointments made by the new administration. Crocker’s exit interview with the reliably excellent David Ignatius provides important guideposts to a responsible American drawdown of forces and transition to a new role in Iraq.

Well said John!