Ambassador Crocker ends his mission in Iraq

Voices of Iraq news agency ^ | February 2, 2009 | VoI

[Mr_Tiki]

This is translated from Arabic. Crocker has done such an excellence service to the US. His great command in the Arabic language provides him with a talent rarely matched by other diplomats.

BAGHDAD / VoI: U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker on Monday announced the end of his mission in the country after two years of service there. Crocker said during a meeting with some heads of local newspaper editors, that “his mission as ambassador to the United States ended after two years of work with the Iraqi government,” adding that “ what has been achieved by joint action for the duration of his presence in Baghdad has been successful.” Ambassador Crocker did not disclose the name of the new American ambassador in Iraq to his successor but said he “will complete the journey we have accomplished and made with the Iraqi government.” On the other hand, ambassador Crocker said that he seeks to “secure the approval of his government to facilitate access of Iraqi citizens to entry visas to the United States from the American embassy in Baghdad", calling on the Iraqi and foreign media to "focus on the subject to convince the U.S. government to allow Iraqis to obtain visas from Baghdad to enter the United States.” During the meeting with the press, Crocker said that he first visited Iraq in 1979 while he was working at the American Embassy in Baghdad. Crocker became the US Ambassador to Baghdad in March of 2007. A State Department spokeswoman said mid-January that Ambassador Crocker will remain in office until a successor will is nominated by the new president Barack Obama, while American sources pointed out that President Obama had agreed to accept the end of the Ambassador’s service on 12 February, without giving details on who will succeed him as U.S. ambassador in Iraq. Crocker, considered as the top US diplomat for the middle east, was given an award by the former U.S. president George Bush in mid-January 2009. The award is the highest U.S. civilian award, and President Bush describe Crocker as "Lawrence of Arabia".

President Bush said during the ceremony that, after nearly four decades of service abroad, Ryan Crocker, has become known as Lawrence of Arabia to the U.S. Profession has taken him to every corner of the Middle East, praising the service of Crocker in Iraq for almost two years, adding that when historians write in the future, what he called "the story of the transition in Iraq," they would point to the unique relationship between two exceptional men: General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Gen. Petraeus, assumed command of coalition forces in Iraq from January 2007 until September 2008.

[Cheetahcat]

He was the Ambassador to Kuwait when I was there.