Intel: How the US is filling diplomatic gap with picks for Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Libya

Al-Monitor Staff

Apr 3, 2019

Retired four-star Army General John Abizaid testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his confirmation hearing to be U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 6, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque - RC1BE3EFCA20 — Retired four-star Army Gen. John Abizaid testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his confirmation hearing to be US ambassador to Saudi Arabia on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 6, 2019. — REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously recommended today that retired Gen. John Abizaid serve as ambassador to Saudi Arabia while voting 13-2 to advance Matthew Tueller as ambassador to Iraq, paving the way for their confirmation in the coming days.

While the Abizaid nomination proved noncontroversial, Tueller took heat not for his views on Iraq, but rather for his current role as ambassador to Yemen.

“We got a window into the ineffectiveness of our policy in Yemen when he testified before our committee [on March 6] that it was his belief that Saudi Arabia bore 0% of the responsibility for the civilian deaths that have occurred on the ground inside Yemen,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said ahead of the committee vote. “He did clarify that response in written questions for the record, but our policy in Yemen has been a disaster.”

Murphy voted to advance Tueller’s nomination, but Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., voted against him.

Intel: How the US is filling diplomatic gap with picks for Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Libya

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