Special Report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    WASHINGTON, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Two U.S. senators on Thursday asked President Barack Obama to reconsider his choice of veteran diplomat Christopher Hill as American ambassador to Iraq, saying the future U.S envoy should be more familiar with the Middle East and anti-terrorism affairs.

    "The next ambassador should have experience in the Middle East and in working closely with the U.S. military in counter insurgency or counter-terrorism operations. Mr. Hill has neither," Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said in a joint statement.

Christopher Hill talks to reporters in Beijing, December 9, 2008.(Xinhua/Reuters File Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    "Given these considerations, together with the controversial legacy Mr Hill left in his North Korea diplomacy, we believe that the president should reconsider this nomination."

    In late February, Obama named Hill, who has long been American envoy to the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, as new U.S. ambassador to Iraq. He said Hill has shown the "pragmatism and skill" that is needed now in Iraq.

    As assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, Hill has worked for almost four years as the chief of the U.S. delegate to the so-called six-party talks, a multilateral mechanism on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue. Hill also served as a negotiator in the crises in Bosnia and Kosovo.

    The six parties, namely the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the United States, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Russia and China, ended their third meeting during the sixth round of talks last December in Beijing without substantial progress on how to verify the DPRK's nuclear facilities.