At the State Department, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice officially announced that President Bush would nominate Zalmay Khalilzad to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: “The past year has shown how clearly important the U.N. is for America and the world, and how important American leadership is to the U.N. Together with our partners on the Security Council, we have passed important resolutions on major international challenges, like the nuclear weapons programs in Iran and North Korea, the ongoing violence in Darfur and the extremist threat to a free Lebanon. Much still remains to be done.”

Khalilzad has been serving as U.S. ambassador in Iraq. He will be replaced in Iraq by Ryan Crocker, who had been the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan.