The Governing Council on Sunday named Rend Rahim Francke — an Iraqi-American woman and veteran lobbyist who has criticized Washington as being shortsighted in Iraq — as its ambassador to the United States.
Gonna upset some turbans with this one!
The appointment will renew diplomatic ties between Washington and Baghdad 13 years after they were severed in 1990 when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Francke, who became a U.S. citizen in 1987, was born in Baghdad but has not lived there full-time in more than 30 years. She led the Iraq Foundation, a Washington-based pro-democracy group, and has helped in post-Saddam Hussein planning. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Francke will represent the face of a new Iraq, and her appointment will allow the Governing Council to communicate more effectively with the Bush administration. Francke said she hoped to build new relationships of friendship, trust and confidence with other nations. "My duty as I see it is to reflect a true and accurate picture of the new Iraq that we are all in the process of building," she said.
| I wonder what Riverbend has to say about her appointment. I'd doubt she'd consider the lady a true Iraqi... |
In the months before the war, Francke was a leading voice among Iraqis worried about a descent into chaos because of a lack of postwar planning by the Bush administration. She warned a vacuum might result that would benefit groups opposed to democracy, concerns she reiterated in testimony before Congress in January.
A little alarmist, eh? Oh well, having an ambassador in place can’t hurt. Wonder who will be the envoy to France, and whether the French will receive an ambassador? |