In his long career, Hill has put together a useful tool kit for handling protracted negotiations (like those in North Korea) and the aftermath of ethnic and religious conflicts (in the 1990s, he worked with special envoy Richard Holbrooke in the Balkans). It may help too that Hill has a reputation for being approachable and unburdened by ideology. In Iraq, he will need all his diplomatic skills and then some. Iraqi officials like to say they want the same things as the U.S., though they don't like American lectures on how to get them. But Hill has already learned that, in reality, Baghdad's priorities can differ dramatically from Washington's. Cameroon RPCV Christopher R. Hill is presently US Ambassador to Iraq and formerly served as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and U.S. ambassador to South Korea.
Christopher Hill: The Negotiator
Christopher Hill: The Negotiator
By Bobby Ghosh / Baghdad
Monday, Jun. 22, 2009
Christopher Hill had been in Iraq a month and a day when he received a reminder of the frustrations of his old job--and the perils attending his new one. North Korea's nuclear test on May 25 threatened to undo everything Hill had worked on as point man for the U.S. in the six-party talks with Pyongyang. But as the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq, he was focused that evening on bad news closer to his home: a roadside bomb in Fallujah had killed a senior State Department official working on Iraq's reconstruction and two others. Hill had given a speech earlier in the day about American sacrifices on foreign soil; here was proof that such sacrifices were far from over.
The death of the reconstruction official served notice that as the U.S. military begins to withdraw its 130,000 troops from Iraq, it is Hill's people--about 1,000 foreign-service officers and many more civilian contractors--who will step into the front line. And they will do so soon. An agreement with the Iraqi government requires all U.S. combat troops to leave Iraq's major cities and towns by the end of this month, and a national referendum planned for January will probably bring forward the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops to mid-2010. The U.S. military footprint has already shrunk significantly. Even the Green Zone, once an American fortress, is now guarded mainly by Iraqis. The generals have handed off responsibility for nonmilitary duties, such as managing power stations and water supplies. "There's been a shift from a military lead in reconstruction and policy efforts to a much more civilian lead," says a senior U.S. official. A top Iraqi official puts it more bluntly: "The American soldiers had already started packing their bags before Hill unpacked his."
The military pullout will inevitably change the nature of the U.S. role in Iraq and that of its ambassador. Hill, 57, cannot play the plenipotentiary, as his predecessors did. U.S. civilian assistance to Iraq, now about $500 million a year, is a far cry from the $20 billion Paul Bremer, Washington's first postinvasion envoy, had at his disposal. "Without 120,000 soldiers behind him and a blank check from Washington, you can say [Hill] is the first real American ambassador to Iraq," says the Iraqi official, who asked not to be named. "And we will treat him with respect but not with deference."
Yet the U.S. still has interests in Iraq and will need to see them advanced if it hopes to turn its adventure there into a success. Washington wants Iraqis to build on the gains of the past two years--to clean up their government, speed up political and social reconciliation and pull the economy out of its state-controlled stasis. The U.S. can't afford to see Iraq turn into an Iranian satrapy or become a haven for cross-border terrorism. But without thousands of soldiers and billions of dollars at his disposal, Hill will have to persuade Iraqi officials to do Washington's bidding using old-fashioned diplomacy.
In his long career, Hill has put together a useful tool kit for handling protracted negotiations (like those in North Korea) and the aftermath of ethnic and religious conflicts (in the 1990s, he worked with special envoy Richard Holbrooke in the Balkans). It may help too that Hill has a reputation for being approachable and unburdened by ideology. In Iraq, he will need all his diplomatic skills and then some. Iraqi officials like to say they want the same things as the U.S., though they don't like American lectures on how to get them. But Hill has already learned that, in reality, Baghdad's priorities can differ dramatically from Washington's.
One of his early goals, for example, was to coax Iraqi politicians into agreeing on a "hydrocarbon law": a framework both for sharing oil and gas revenues among Iraq's ethnic groups and for allowing easy foreign investment. But Arabs and Kurds are no closer than ever to an agreement on revenue-sharing, and pushing too hard could lead to armed conflict between them. Hill has had to back off. "I arrived here and realized that, actually, people aren't really working on the hydrocarbon law," he says. The risk is that without a new legal framework for the oil and gas industry, the foreign investment that Iraq desperately needs will not arrive, though the senior U.S. embassy official remains optimistic. Iraq is not as dangerous as it once was. "The security environment," says this official, "is at a point where [investors] can start to look at other issues that determine whether they'll come."
Whatever happens to the economy, many Iraqis will long blame the U.S. for the strife they have suffered since 2003. In previous postings, Hill has been known for tackling anti-American sentiment; while ambassador to South Korea, he made impromptu visits to the country's universities, where the U.S. is far from loved. But that sort of gesture is tough in Iraq; U.S. ambassadors must travel with a small army of guards. And even the highest security couldn't prevent an angry journalist from hurling his shoes at George W. Bush when the then President visited Baghdad in December.
Wisely, Hill knows he too won't always be warmly received. "I simply hope," he says, that "people will hear me out." As for flying footwear: "I can duck with the best of them." Let's hope that for Washington's new man in Baghdad, it doesn't get worse than that.
