Bush selection for ambassador to Iraq receives Senate approval

WASHINGTON -- John Negroponte won easy Senate confirmation Thursday as the United States ambassador to Iraq as Democrats put aside their opposition to President Bush's postwar policy to support his choice.

The vote was 95-3.

"I urge my colleagues to vote for Mr. Negroponte, notwithstanding that they may feel as I do that this administration's policy on how to handle the circumstances in Iraq has been seriously wanting," said Sen. Joe Biden, the senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee.

"Don't confuse the lack of a coherent policy ... with a lack of ability on the part of Ambassador Negroponte," the Delaware senator added.

Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., the panel's chairman, said, "He does not have a doctrinaire point of view and clearly recognizes the political realities in Iraq."

Negroponte, the current U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will take over an American embassy in Baghdad expected to become the largest in the world.

Negroponte is expected to take up his post as the United States hands over political power to Iraqi authorities under a June 30 deadline set by Bush. The current top U.S. official in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, is expected to leave the country once the political transition is completed.

Thousands of U.S. troops will remain in the country, though, battling an insurgency that has caused hundreds of American deaths since Bush declared an end to major combat a year ago.

Negroponte, 64, has served as foreign service officer on three continents since 1960.