Ambassador Negroponte on Iraq's Future

June 23, 2004 -- U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte is famous among diplomats for quiet determination.

In Vietnam, he learned Vietnamese; in Honduras, he learned Spanish.

Negroponte, 65, will head the largest U.S. embassy in the world, with about 1,700 staff, including 1,000 Americans, after the handover of political power by the U.S.-led coalition on June 30.

Where L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civil administrator in Iraq, stood astride in combat boots, Negroponte will walk softly working under the radar directing the world's largest embassy.

Negroponte came out of retirement three years ago, and will officially take the oath and face the unknown of possibilities in one of the most perilous assignments in the world.

Negroponte said he took the important and dangerous post because the president asked him to and because he felt it was his responsibility.

"I'm a career foreign service officer," Negroponte said in an exclusive interview with ABC News' Diane Sawyer. "I thought that it was my duty to take on this job."

Meanwhile, Negroponte said it wasn't a decision he came to completely on his own. He says his family has been involved every step of the way.

"We talked it through, talked it through quite a while with, particularly with my wife," he said.

His wife, Diana Negroponte, a history professor, will stay behind with their five children, which they adopted during his service in Honduras. At first, she said she was frightened by the idea of his new position. But after considering the options, Diana said she knew it was the right thing for her husband to do.

"I thought it was the craziest idea that had ever come after Santa Claus," Diana Negroponte said. "Gradually I came to see that somebody had to represent the United States and that if John Negroponte was ready to serve our country, I was going to support him fully."

Negroponte says he knows his five children will have a rough time with his absence.

"Of course the kids aren't happy that I'm going, and I'm going to miss them, although I'm sure they'll be with me in spirit," he said.

Negroponte said he realizes that someone in his position needs to have their wits about them during every moment of every day.

"Well, you think about it, you think about what's prudent, what you should do, and you don't take silly chances," Negroponte said.

Diana Negroponte says she knows her family will have a very difficult time while her husband is in Iraq. But she says she's prepared for the worst.

"They'll be days when my chin will wobble and the tears will pour out of my eyes. There'll be days when I will be angry, but that's what you've got to mature and learn to cope with," she said.

Negroponte said his own family recognizes the challenges ahead and how important it is to try to resolve the issues Iraqis and Americans currently face.

"My family understands the seriousness of the situation in Iraq just the way the American people do," Negroponte said. "Even those who might have qualms about how we got into the situation in Iraq, would agree that we have to have a solid plan going forward, that we can't just up and leave and leave the country in chaos."

Negroponte said Americans should try to focus on the future of Iraq, despite the current violence and the attacks on U.S. citizens in Iraq.

"I think we'd expected that during this transition period, that the enemies of democracy in Iraq were going to make a major push to try to prevent this transition from happening," Negroponte said. "I'm not arguing or suggesting that the situation can be turned around completely, overnight, nor that every problem can be solved right away.Sometimes, as Americans we, we tend to be a bit impatient. But I do think it's possible to get the trend moving in the right direction."

In the end, Negroponte said, the goal is to let the Iraqis take the reigns with the tools they'll need for a stable future.

"Americans have sacrificed, and sacrifices will continue, but our objective here, and the whole purpose of our programs, and the focus of our effort, going forward, is going to be to enable, to empower the Iraqis to take more and more responsibilities."