Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Former regime element joins Obama team

Brett McGurk, who I ran into in the Green Zone when he was negotiating the SOFA with the government of Iraq, has been named U.S. ambassador to Iraq. This is good because he knows all the promises Maliki has made over the years, not just to the U.S. but to Kurds and others, and so ...

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University

Brett McGurk, who I ran into in the Green Zone when he was negotiating the SOFA with the government of Iraq, has been named U.S. ambassador to Iraq. This is good because he knows all the promises Maliki has made over the years, not just to the U.S. but to Kurds and others, and so might be able to better forestall the prime minister's various attempts to re-negotiate all his deals.

Brett McGurk, who I ran into in the Green Zone when he was negotiating the SOFA with the government of Iraq, has been named U.S. ambassador to Iraq. This is good because he knows all the promises Maliki has made over the years, not just to the U.S. but to Kurds and others, and so might be able to better forestall the prime minister’s various attempts to re-negotiate all his deals.

No word on whether he had to take an oath renouncing all support for the Bush administration. 

Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1

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