Middle East/North Africa

President Obama on Monday named a former ambassador to Jordan to lead the world's largest embassy in Baghdad after his first choice was felled by a sex scandal.

Robert Beecroft served as ambassador to Amman from 2008 to 2011 before being named deputy chief of mission in Iraq since July 2011 and chargé d'affaires since June 2012. If confirmed, he will replace James Jeffrey, who stepped down in June to retire. 

Obama's first pick, Brett McGurk, withdrew his nomination in June when Republicans threatened to block him after racy e-mails with a Wall Street Journal reporter whom he later married became public.

Resettlement for Syrians displaced by the civil war in their country isn't on the agenda as the top U.S. official for migration issues visits Turkey this week, the State Department said Monday. 

Anne Richard, the assistant secretary for Population, Refugees and Migration, is scheduled to visit an Istanbul refugee processing center that mostly handles Iraqis during her week-long visit to Turkey. She won't be announcing any agreement to resettle Syrians, an agency spokeswoman told The Hill. 

Deborah Sisbarro said resettling the displaced Syrians to the United States would be “more of a last resort,” and the administration is not there “yet.”

“Right now everything is kind of based on the hope that the [Bashar] Assad regime will fall,” she said, adding that Syrian refugees would then be able to return home.

In an interview McCain urged the administration to “get them arms and weapons so it is a fair fight.” 

CHARLOTTE, N.C.– Opposition leaders said they made the case to both parties that military intervention in Syria is in America’s national interest.

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said the platform was changed to reflect Obama's views.

McCain, Graham and Lieberman were reacting to a report that Iran is using Iraqi airspace to supply the Syrian military.

Ambassador Michael Oren was reacting to comments by DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Democrats accused the Republican Party of a “Cold War mentality” in the national platform they unveiled Monday, suggesting that a Mitt Romney presidency would keep the United States at war around the world and unsafe at home.

The policy plank for the next four years builds off President Obama's high marks for going after Osama bin Laden while pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq and Afghanistan. And it mocks Romney's statement that Russia is the country's “No. 1 geopolitical foe,” saying such rhetoric endangers collaboration on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

“The president’s 'reset' policy toward Russia has produced significant cooperation in these areas, as well as in Russian support for the Northern Distribution Network that supplies our troops in Afghanistan,” says the plank, which vows to be “candid” about topics of disagreement with Russia.

At a campaign rally in York, Pa., Sunday, the vice president hammered Mitt Romney's foreign policy.

Democrats hope to draw contrasts with the Republican ticket, as the wars received little attention during the GOP convention.