Senate Confirms New Ambassador to Iraq

It was a busy news day- swine flu, increased violence in Iraq and a new Secretary of HHS. Add to that list a new Ambassador to Iraq, Chris Hill, was finally confirmed by the Senate today despite the predictable Republican opposition. Because, you know, they oppose everything.

From CNN:

The U.S. Senate confirmed veteran diplomat Christopher Hill as U.S. ambassador to Iraq on Tuesday, voting 73-23 to put Hill in charge of the largest U.S. embassy in the world.
Christopher Hill previously served as lead U.S. negotiator in the North Korean disarmament talks.

Christopher Hill previously served as lead U.S. negotiator in the North Korean disarmament talks.

Hill, a career Foreign Service officer, was the lead U.S. negotiator in the now-stalled North Korean disarmament talks.

Hill will take over the Baghdad post at a time when U.S. President Barack Obama is attempting to wind down the 6-year-old war in Iraq.

His nomination made it past a key Senate test Monday, as opponents failed to block the nomination. All 23 votes against the nomination Tuesday came from Republicans, several of whom argued that the nominee has no hands-on experience in the Middle East and speaks no Arabic.

Ok, let me get this straight: The party which thought it was a great idea to have install the former head of an Arabian horse association and who made up half the shit on his resume, as head FEMA (you remember- “heckuva job Brownie” don’t you?), now thinks career diplomat Chris Hill is unqualified to be Ambassador to Iraq? Oh, ok.