US Senator: Send Hill to Baghdad now

A top US Senator warned his colleagues Wednesday against delaying a vote to confirm North Korea nuclear diplomacy point person Chris Hill as the new US ambassador to Baghdad.

"This is not a time for delay," Democratic Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said as Hill, a veteran US diplomat, faced stiff opposition from a handful of conservative senators.

Kerry implored his colleagues at a hearing with Hill not to use parliamentary tactics to freeze action on the nomination until after a Senate recess that begins April 6.

"I could not stress more urgently to my colleagues the counter-productivity of such a move," Kerry said.

"Senators have every right to vote against Ambassador Hill. But I believe that using Senate procedures to delay his arrival to Baghdad at a critical time in this war would do a serious disservice to our efforts there," said Kerry.