New U.S. Ambassadors to Iraq and Afghanistan Say U.S. Should ‘Selectively Engage’ Iran

ABC News’ Z. Byron Wolf Reports: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee doubled up this morning and held a duo confirmation hearing for the men nominated to be Ambassador to the countries where the US is embroiled in ongoing military action — Iraq (Ryan Crocker, currently the ambassador to Pakistan) and Afghanistan (William Wood, currently the ambassador to Colombia).

But it was the country between Iraq and Afghanistan — Iran, which shares a borders with both Iraq and Afghanistan — that colored much of the hearing.

Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel quoted from a 2004 report ("Iran: Time for a New Approach") co-authored for the Council on Foreign Relations by the now-Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

The report asserts that the US should "selectively engage" Iran.

Crocker and Wood both agreed that increased engagement with Iran would be to the United States’ benefit, but Crocker also noted the "complexities" of this — the Iran nuclear program and that "Iran is playing a deeply disturbing role in Iraq."

Wood pointed out a similarity between the US and Iran – that Iran is strongly counter-drug, but added, "At the same time we have to get past the issue of WMD and … there is some involvement by Iran in providing weapons to people who are shooting Americans."

Iran came up in questioning by other Senators as well.

Both men are career foreign service officers. Crocker is currently ambassador to Pakistan. He has served in the Middle East, including Iraq and Iran, throughout his career and was stationed there from May to August of 2003 as the chief state department administrator under the Coalition Provisional Authority.

When Crocker left, he was thought to be frustrated with the way Former Coalition Provisional Authority administrator, Ambassador Paul Bremer, and the CPA were handling things. He addressed this in questioning by New Jersey Democrat Senator Robert Menendez.

Wood is the current ambassador to Colombia, which has drugs in common with Afghanistan. While he has spent time working on details to NATO and on NATO negotiations — there is a NATO force in Afghanistan — Wood is not a Middle East or terrorism expert, but a Latin America expert. What would Afghanistan have to do with Latin America? Drugs. Wood is the current ambassador to Colombia and its notable that the reintroduction of poppy and heroin are the mainstays of Afghanistan’s economy since the defeat of the Taliban.

In questioning by the ranking Republican on the Committee, Richard Lugar of Indiana, Wood spoke eloquently about the narcotics issue and how drug dealers are lower than terrorists.

"Colombian drugs represent a world trade center tragedy every year in the United states," Crocker said. "Illicit narcotics trade corrupts everything it touches. We think of terrorists as the lowest form of life because they target innocents. In Colombia we have seen terrorists corrupted by the drug trade … not even an ideology."

For his part, Crocker defended the President’s Iraq surge strategy. "In questioning by Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry, who chaired the hearing, Crocker said the increased security in Baghdad created by the surge will be "reinforced by political and diplomatic efforts." He said these prongs are necessarily "interlocking."

Later he said, "I think that the Baghdad security plan is an essential endeavor if the tide is going to turn in Iraq. It will not in itself be sufficient, but it is necessary if the Iraqis are going to get to a better place."

Both Crocker and Wood are expected to be confirmed without issue.