Blackwill to quit

Robert Blackwill, the tough-minded diplomat brought to the White House last year take charge of the troubled Iraq policy, announced his resignation on Friday. He had been mentioned prominently in speculation about President Bush8217;s second term foreign-policy team, with some observers pegging him as a possible successor to national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.

But in an e-mail to colleagues on the National Security Council staff Friday afternoon, Blackwill said he8217;d told Rice several weeks ago he would continue working through the US Presidential election but leave soon afterward. White House officials said Blackwill8217;s departure three months before the crucial elections should not be interpreted as a sign of disagreement in its Iraq policy.

In another high-profile departure, Cofer Black, a 28-year CIA veteran who headed the agency8217;s hunt for Osama after 9/11, and moved over in 2002 to run the State Department8217;s counter-terrorism effort, announced he is retiring next week. Black8217;s claims to fame were in his role in capturing the infamous assassin Carlos the Jackal and in presenting dramatic testimony before Congress after 9/11 attacks, where he announced that 8216;8216;the gloves are off.8217;8217; 8212; LAT-WP