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Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad: 'I'm shocked but not surprised'
By Henry Hullah
As the United States Ambassador to Iraq from 2005-2007, Zalmay Khalilzad said he was met with "demanding circumstances with a lot of violence."
Since the end of his tenure, Iraq and the region surrounding it have spiraled into political unrest and violent conflict.
The events have left the former ambassador "Shocked but not surprised."
The United States stepped into the fray with aid drops and airstrikes this week and by doing so, Zalmay Khalilzad says, U.S. President Barack Obama has "saved the lives of many people" and helped "Kurds prevent a takeover of Irbil, possibly, by the ISIS terrorists."
"I think the president has taken a good step. He needs to build on that as the situation requires."
Regarding the trials facing Nuri al-Maliki's replacement, the "more worldly" Prime Minister-designate Haider al-Abadi, Khalilzad told the program "he has huge challenges confronting him."
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'Shocked' and 'surprised' are more or less synonyms. This guy can't even express himself. How was he fit to be an ambassador.