Earlier in the week it was announced that failed North Korean nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill would become the US Ambassador to Iraq.  This caused wide surprise considering Hill’s poor track record with North Korea and the fact he has no Middle East experience.  Via Blackfive we now know why Hill was given the job:

Anthony Zinni

I just had a conversation with one Republican who speculated that Richard Holbrooke may have been at the center of the current mess over who will serve as U.S. ambassador in Iraq. According to the scenario he laid out, despite Jones having offered the job to Zinni — an offer from one retired four-star to another — and Clinton having confirmed the offer, Holbrooke interceded on behalf of his protege, Chris Hill, urging Clinton to reserve the Iraq post for someone who had spent a career in the foreign service.  [Michael Goldfarb]

General Zinni as many people can probably remember has extensive Middle East experience and was congratulated by many in the Obama administration for receiving the job:

When retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni told the Washington Times that he was offered the job of U.S. ambassador to Iraq before being passed over in favor of diplomat Christopher Hill, he did not say that one of the outrages of the experience was that his friend of 30 years, fellow former Marine Corps commandant and now national security advisor James L. Jones, had offered him the job, and then failed to tell him when the decision was changed.

“Jones had called me before the inauguration and asked if I would be willing to serve as ambassador to Iraq or in one of the envoy jobs, on the Middle East peace process,” Zinni told Foreign Policy. “I said yes.”

“Then two weeks ago, Jones called,” Zinni continued, “and said, ‘We talked to the secretary of state, and everybody would like to offer you the Iraq job.’ I said yes.

“The [vice]* president called and congratulated me,” Zinni said.

So after being told he had the job Zinni began to get his personal affairs in order such as removing himself from boards he belongs to when he was thrown under the bus by the Obama administration by Chris Hill’s insider connections:

“To make a long story short, I kept getting blown off all week,” Zinni said. “Meantime, I was rushing to put my personal things in order,” to get ready to go.

“Finally, nobody was telling me anything,” Zinni said. “I called Jones Monday several times. I finally got through late in evening. I asked Jones, ‘What’s going on?’ And Jones said, ‘We decided on Chris Hill.’”

“I said, ‘Really,’” Zinni recalled. “That was news to me.”

Jones asked him if he would like to be ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Zinni said. “I said, ‘You can stick that with whatever other offers,’” Zinni recalled, saying he had used more colorful language with Jones. Asked Jones’s response and if he was apologetic, Zinni said, “Jones was not too concerned. He laughed about it.”

Zinni said particularly galling is that had he not managed to get through to Jones on Monday night after repeated calls, he would have found out about the Chris Hill appointment in the Washington Post the next day with everybody else.

“You know, I would have appreciated if someone called me and said, ‘Minds were changed,’” Zinni said. “But not even to get a call. That’s what’s really embarrassing.”  [Foreign Policy]

Zinni got screwed, but personally I don’t feel all that sorry for him considering how he has allowed himself to be used by the far left in America to include even jumping on the global warming bandwagon despite temperatures cooling for the past decade.

With that said at least he has Middle East experience compared to Hill with none, which obviously in the State Department doesn’t matter, what does matter is who you know.

You can read more over at Blackfive.