Senator Brownback took to the floor of the Senate today to tell his colleagues, and the president, “I do not acquiesce to this nomination.” That would be the nomination of Chris Hill to serve as Ambassador to Iraq. This is likely to catch some on the left by surprise, as both Petraeus and Odierno weighed into the debate to offer their support to the embattled nominee, and Brownback has few allies in this fight other than Senators Lieberman and Graham. Brownback doesn’t seem to care about the politics or the optics, neither of which are in his favor. Brownback insists — quite rightly — that Hill lied to him during committee meetings in July of last year (the substance of this charge is contained in this letter, which Brownback read into the record today) and subsequently failed to make the issue of human rights a priority during negotations with the North Koreans. In Brownback’s own words:
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