Bob and Alison left Iraq over the weekend. They're out of Baghdad and on their way home! The LA Times did a nice article today on Bob's tenure in Iraq: Progress and Pain Marked Envoy's Tenure in Iraq.
Among the group of so-called State Department Arabists, who were originally sidelined by the neoconservative Pentagon planners of the war, Ford rose to prominence in his three years here. His quiet ascent illustrated a mid-course adjustment of Washington's Iraq strategy, one that sought to recognize and influence the country's social and ethnic cleavages instead of merely targeting "the bad guys."
"We can set up an administration with the help of the United Nations that runs a really good election process," Ford said in a recent interview before heading to Washington for possible confirmation as the next ambassador to Algeria. "Yet in the end, people will still retreat to a sectarian identity because they're under threat of car bombs, they're under threat of death squads operating at night."
Ford, a Denver native considered one of the foremost Arabic speakers in the U.S. Foreign Service, was posted to Egypt, Algeria and Bahrain before arriving in Iraq, first as the now defunct occupation authority's representative in the Shiite city of Najaf and later as political counselor to Ambassador John D. Negroponte, a position he retained when Zalmay Khalilzad took over the embassy last year.
Ford's understated, even folksy, style probably increased his influence over the embassy's Bush administration loyalists. He retained an idealism about democracy amid a realism about the limits of what was possible, especially in the short time frame of a diplomatic tour.
Read the whole article. That last paragraph pretty much says it all. When they use the term, "couldn't happen to a nicer guy" - Bob epitomizes that statement like no one else I know.
PS Bob's nomination to be the next Ambassador of Algeria, sailed through Senate Confirmation - it's a done deal. Can't wait to have them home in Baltimore for the summer.
