APPRECIATION FOR AMBASSADOR'S SERVICE

UNCLAS STATE 012868 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL IZ SUBJECT: APPRECIATION FOR AMBASSADOR'S SERVICE Message from Acting Assistant Secretary Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman to Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker: Ryan, on behalf of all of your friends and admirers in your NEA family, I want to thank you personally for your efforts, and your remarkable accomplishments, in Iraq. Under your leadership the Embassy and other elements of the U.S. Mission have made an extraordinary contribution to the great success of Iraq towards achieving stability and reconciliation. The fact that over seven million Iraqis were able to safely vote in free and fair elections for their provincial council representatives last month underscored just how far Iraq has come. Because of your tireless efforts, the change in the U.S. approach to Iraq which coincided with your arrival in Baghdad has largely accomplished its goals. Your skill and persistence are the reason the U.S. and Iraq signed historic Strategic Framework and Security Agreements that establish a strategic partnership of momentous importance to our two countries, and to the region as a whole. These successes could not have been achieved without your expertise, diplomatic skills, leadership and ) perhaps most of all -- your tenacity. All of us in the Department will miss your counsel and camaraderie as you move on to a very well-deserved retirement. You leave a legendary career. We in NEA are very proud to have been able to have one of the Department's best as one of our own. Again, thank you for your extraordinary service to the State Department, and to your country. CLINTON