Via One Free Korea, his prediction of former North Korean nuclear negotiator Chris Hill being the wrong guy to send to Iraq appears to be coming to fruition:

American insiders in Baghdad say the relationship between the top U.S. commander there, Gen. Raymond Odierno, and the top civilian official there, Amb. Christopher Hill, is deteriorating rapidly. Old hands say the chill between the two brings to the bad old days of Sanchez vs. Bremer, when those two unfortunates barely would speak to each other as the American position fell apart in early 2004, along with Iraq itself.

What I am hearing is that Odierno is profoundly frustrated with Hill, who despite knowing almost nothing about Iraq has decided after a short time there that it is time to stand back and stop influencing the behavior of Iraqi officials on a daily basis. In addition, I am told, the ambassador believes the war is an Iraqi problem, not something that really concerns Americans anymore, despite the presence of 125,000 American soldiers. [Tom Ricks, Foreign Policy Blog]

Here is just a few of the things Hill did while he was the North Korean nuclear negotiator:

• laundered counterfeit US currency to the North Koreans

• gave the North Koreans further tens of millions of dollars with little to nothing in return

• failed to get answers from the North Koreans on their nuclear proliferation to Syria
  

• tried to cover up North Korea’s secret highly enriched uranium program until the evidence proving they had the program became to overwhelming
  

• severely strained relations with staunch US ally Japan

• removed North Korea from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List despite North Korea never coming clean on any of their terrorism incidents

• equated the massive human rights violations of the North Koreans to supposed human rights violations in America
  

Even the Chosun Ilbo has called Hill “wreckless and irrational“.  I wonder if General Odierno is thinking the same thing?

ROK Drop readers may remember that Chris Hill’s confirmation as the US Ambassador to Iraq was held up by Senator Sam Brownback because of his destructive North Korea foreign policy initiatives that totally ignored the human rights disaster going on in that country.  Furthermore Chris Hill has no Middle East experience, just like he had no North Korea experience, but this didn’t stop him from getting the job because of his connection to Richard Holbrooke.  Former General, Anthony Zinni was offered the job before Holbrooke interceded and had the job taken from him for Hill.

No one rewards failure and mendacity quite like the U.S. State Department.