Ryan Crocker

Ryan Crocker

Infobox US Ambassador
name=Ryan C. Crocker


imagesize = 150px
order=
ambassador_from=United States
country= Iraq
term_start =March 26, 2007
president= George W. Bush
predecessor = Zalmay Khalilzad
successor = "incumbent"
ambassador_from2=United States
country2= Afghanistan
term_start2 =2004
term_end2= March 2007
president2= George W. Bush
predecessor2 = Nancy Jo Powell
successor2 = Anne Patterson
ambassador_from3=United States
country3= Syria
term_start3 =1998
term_end3= 2001
president3= Bill Clinton
predecessor3 = Christopher W.S. Ross
successor3 = Theodore H. Kattouf
birth_date =birth date and age |1949|6|19
birth_place = Spokane, Washington
spouse=
party=
profession=Diplomat
religion=
footnotes=

Ryan Clark Crocker (born on June 19, 1949 in Spokane, Washington) [http://www.whitman.edu/magazine/march2007/feature.pdf "Whitman College Magazine" interview with Ryan Crocker (pdf)] ] is the current United States Ambassador to Iraq. Previously, he served as the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan in 2006 and Lebanon in 1990.

Education and career

Growing up, Crocker had family members in the U.S. Air Force and in Turkey. He lived in Morocco, Canada and Turkey.cite news | first=Slavin | last=Barbara | coauthors= | title=Crocker: A modern 'Lawrence of Arabia' | date=2007-09-10 | publisher= | url =http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-09-09-crocker_N.htm | work =USA Today | pages = | accessdate = 2007-09-10 | language = ] Crocker attended University College Dublin and Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, where he received a B.A. in English literature in 1971.

After Persian language training, he was assigned to the American Consulate in Khorramshahr, Iran in 1972. His subsequent assignment was to the newly-established embassy in Doha, Qatar in 1974 as an economic-commercial officer, and in 1976 Crocker returned to Washington, DC for long-term Arabic training. He completed the 20-month program at the Foreign Service Institutes Arabic School in Tunis in June 1978. Crocker was then assigned as chief of the economic-commercial section at the U.S. Interests Section in Baghdad, Iraq. Crocker served in Beirut, Lebanon as chief of the political section from 1981 to 1984. He spent the academic year from 1984 to 1985 at Princeton University under State Department auspices pursuing course work in Near Eastern studies. He served as deputy director of the Office of Israel and Arab-Israeli affairs from 1985 to 1987 and was political counselor at the American Embassy in Cairo from 1987 to 1990. Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, Crocker became the Director of the Iraq-Kuwait Task Force.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell called Crocker "one of our very best foreign service officers". He has received a Presidential Distinguished Service Award in 1994and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service in 1997 .

In January 2002, he was appointed interim envoy to the new government of Afghanistan, and was confirmed as Ambassador to Pakistan in October 2004.

In September 2004, President Bush conferred on him the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest rank in the Foreign Service. [http://iraq.usembassy.gov/iraq/ambassador.html About Ambassador Crocker, U.S. Department of State website] ]

On January 8, 2007, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced that the Bush administration would nominate Crocker as the new American Ambassador to Iraq, replacing Zalmay Khalilzad, once the latter's confirmation to the post of Ambassador to the UN was complete.

Quote on the duties of a diplomat

Upon being asked about how changing administrations and changes within administrations impact the job of a diplomat by Whitman College magazine, Crocker gave the following reply [http://www.whitman.edu/magazine/march2007/feature.pdf "Whitman College Magazine" interview with Ryan Crocker (pdf)] ] : cquote|Each administration has its own priorities and style. The job of the career foreign service officer is to offer his best advice as policy is formulated and then to implement that policy. Our elected leaders need to have confidence that we will carry out policies to the best of our ability. He has been interviewed by Brian Williams several times.

2002 memo concerning Iraq

According to the book, "Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell" by Washington Post reporter Karen DeYoung, as the Bush administration was preparing for war with Iraq in late 2002, then Secretary of State, Colin Powell ordered Crocker and then Special Assistant to the Secretary of State, William Burns to prepare a secret memo examining the risks associated with a U.S. invasion of Iraq. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/10/AR2007011002694_pf.html A Diplomat Who Loves The Really Tough Jobs by Robin Wright, "Washington Post"] ] The six-page memo, titled "The Perfect Storm", stated that toppling Saddam Hussein could unleash long-repressed sectarian and ethnic tensions, that the Sunni minority would not easily relinquish power, and that powerful neighbors such as Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia would try to move in to influence events. It also cautioned that the United States would have to start from scratch building a political and economic system because Iraq's infrastructure was in tatters.

Testimony before U.S. Congress

On September 10th, 2007 Crocker and Commander of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq David H. Petraeus testified before the U.S. House of Representatives about the . Similar testimony was given on the following day to the U.S. Senate. In their "Report to Congress on the Situation in Iraq", Crocker stated that "It is no exaggeration to say that Iraq is - and will remain for some time - a traumatized society."

Regarding the politics of Iraq, he said, "In many respects, the debates currently occurring in Iraq are akin to those surrounding our civil rights movement or struggle over states rights." He also said, "I do believe that Iraq's leaders have the will to tackle the country's pressing problems, although it will take longer than we originally anticipated because of the environment and the gravity of the issues before them." Crocker argued that "a secure, stable democratic Iraq at peace with its neighbors is attainable." [ [http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/rm/2007/91941.htm "Report to Congress on the Situation in Iraq: Ambassador Crocker." 10 Sept 2007.] retrieved 10 Sept 2007.]

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2007/78463.htm Announcement of appointment to Baghdad] - State Department
* [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/81479.htm United States Department of State: Biography of Ryan Crocker]
* [http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1961449.ece "The Independent:" "'Failed' American envoy to leave Iraq"]

Persondata
NAME = Ryan Clark Crocker
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH =
PLACE OF BIRTH =
DATE OF DEATH =
PLACE OF DEATH =


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