The U.S. Senate, early Saturday morning confirmed Ambassador Robert Beecroft as the new Ambassador to Iraq, and Ambassador Richard Olson as the new Ambassador to Pakistan.  It also confirmed a host of other State Department nominees but again, did not include Ambassador Carlos Pascual’s nomination to be Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Energy Resources (ENR).

Discharged the Foreign Relations committee and confirmed:

PN1923, Robert Stephen Beecroft, of California, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Iraq

State Department confirmations:

• Richard G. Olson—to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
• Sharon English Woods Villarosa—to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Mauritius, and to serve concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Seychelles.
• Dawn M. Liberi—to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Burundi
• Stephen D. Mull—to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Poland.
• Walter North—to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Papua New Guinea, and to serve concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Solomon Islands and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Vanuatu.
• Joseph E. Macmanus—to be Representative of the United States of America to the Vienna Office of the United Nations, with the rank of Ambassador.
• Joseph E. Macmanus—to be Representative of the United States of America to the International Atomic Energy Agency, with the rank of Ambassador.
• John Hardy Isakson—to be a Representative of the United States of America to the Sixty-seventh Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
• Patrick J. Leahy—to be a Representative of the United States of America to the Sixty-seventh Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

The Senate also confirmed the following nominations for the personal rank of Career Ambassadors in recognition of especially distinguished service over a sustained period:

• William R. Brownfield
• Kristie Anne Kenney
• Thomas Alfred Shannon, Jr.

And it adopted S.Res.588, Commending the 4 American public servants who died in Benghazi, Libya, United States Ambassador to Libya John Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty, for their tireless efforts on behalf of the American people, and condemning the violent attack on the United States consulate in Benghazi.

The Senate will have seven pro forma meetings between now until November 13 but will conduct no business.  It convenes and resume work on November 13, 2012.