In response to my post suggesting that Senator Sam Brownback should stop holding up Chris Hill’s nomination to be U.S. ambassador to Iraq, I received an interesting email from a senior former Bush administration official. He agreed that I could share it as long as I didn’t use his name:

I agree with your post this morning on Chris.  I had the same differences with him over 6 PT [six party talks with North Korea] as Brownback and he wouldn’t have been my choice for Baghdad, but 1) absent some gross dereliction or other disqualifying factor the President deserves to have the diplomatic team of his choice, 2) Dave [Petraeus] and Ray O[dierno] really are anxious to have their civilian partner in place to take advantage of the progress we have made.  I think Brownback should let Chris have an up or down vote ASAP.  That is a different question than whether or not Brownback/Kyl or others want to vote against him to make a point.