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James Morrison

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James Morrison

jmorrison@washingtontimes.com

James Morrison joined the The Washington Times in 1983 as a local reporter covering Alexandria, Va. A year later, he was assigned to open a Times bureau in Canada. From 1987 to 1989, Mr. Morrison was The Washington Times reporter in London, covering Britain, Western Europe and NATO issues. After returning to Washington, he served as an assistant foreign editor until his transfer to the Metro desk as the Virginia editor. Mr. Morrison returned to the Foreign Desk in 1993 to launch the Embassy Row column, a diplomatic news column primarily focusing on foreign ambassadors in the United States and U.S. ambassadors abroad. The column is the only one of its kind in U.S. journalism.
Mr. Morrison was born on Nov. 27, 1950, in Charleston, W.Va. His father worked as a printer for the Charleston Gazette and later relocated to Washington to work as a photo engraver at The Washington Post until his retirement. Before joining The Washington Times, James Morrison was a reporter for the Springfield, Va., Times, the Northern Virginia Sun and the Alexandria Gazette. He attended American University.

Articles by James Morrison

Embassy Row

In the hottest diplomatic dispute facing Congress as it convenes next week, Armenian-Americans are stepping up their campaign to prevent Matthew J. Bryza from serving as U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to consider his nomination on Tuesday.

September 16, 2010

**FILE** Alex Salmond, the first minister of Scotland (The Washington Times)

Embassy Row

The leader of the Scottish government this week angrily criticized U.S. senators who continue to question Scotland's decision to release the Libyan terrorist convicted in the Lockerbie bombing.

September 14, 2010

**FILE** Ayman Nour (Associated Press)

Embassy Row

Foreign visitors in Washington this week include Ayman Nour, a former Egyptian presidential candidate.

September 12, 2010

Embassy Row

A Florida pastor's plan to burn the Koran on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks hit the diplomatic community worldwide this week.

September 9, 2010

**FILE** Colombian army soldiers unload supplies from a helicopter during a February operation to relieve troops in Alto Guaduas, Caqueta state, in southern Colombia, a region with a strong presence of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. (Associated Press)

Embassy Row

A terrorist rebel movement in Colombia is in a "political quagmire," as leftist parties that gained democratic power in South America shun the violent communist army they used to embrace, according to a former Latin American ambassador to the United States.

September 7, 2010

**FILE** Syrian President Bashar Assad (Associated Press)

Embassy Row

Top Israeli defense officials privately support President Obama's decision to send a U.S. ambassador to Syria with the hopes that U.S. diplomatic pressure and financial aid will persuade President Bashar Assad to break ties with Iran and Hezbollah terrorists.

September 5, 2010

Embassy Row

Kenya's ambassador to the United States is defending his government's refusal to arrest the president of Sudan on war-crime charges when he visited Kenya for a celebration of the new constitution.

September 2, 2010

**FILE** Italian Ambassador Giulio Terzi di Sant'Agata (The Washington Times)

Embassy Row

The call in Iran's state-run media for the execution of France's first lady, the Italian-born model and actress Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, sent shock waves through the French and Italian embassies in Washington on Tuesday.

August 31, 2010

Embassy Row

The senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is worried that President Obama is risking U.S. relations with Southeast Asia by failing to nominate an ambassador to an area where China already is spreading its commercial influence.

August 29, 2010

Embassy Row

As Americans debate the wisdom of building a mosque near ground zero in New York, a former journalist at the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington shows that a Muslim nation can display religious tolerance.

August 26, 2010

**FILE** In this photo from April 2, 2009, President Obama meets with India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the G-20 summit at the ExCel Centre in London. (Associated Press)

Embassy Row

India will take "counter-measures" to protect its security if regional rival Pakistan tries to install a Muslim fundamentalist regime in Afghanistan, India's former foreign secretary warned in an article previewing President Obama's trip to New Delhi in November.

August 24, 2010

**FILE** Sen. Mark Steven Kirk, Illinois Republican (AP Photo)

Embassy Row

Congressmen Mark Steven Kirk and Ron Klein may not have a lot in common, but they are on the same page, literally, on the urgency to enforce sanctions against Iran.

August 22, 2010

Embassy Row

Sen. Sam Brownback is blocking the appointment of a new U.S. ambassador to Turkey because he doubts the nominee's commitment to democratic reform in the Middle East.

August 19, 2010

**FILE** Sri Lankan Ambassador Jaliya Wickramasuriya (The Washington Times)

Embassy Row

The ambassador from Sri Lanka says 58 members of Congress were "duped" by terrorist supporters into signing a letter calling for a war-crimes investigation into a 26-year civil war against rebels who pioneered suicide bombings and forced children to fight against the government.

August 17, 2010

**FILE** Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, Maryland Democrat

Embassy Row

The United States has a "moral obligation" to resettle tens of thousands of Iraqis who helped U.S. troops and civilian groups and who now face death threats from al Qaeda terrorists, members of Congress told Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.

August 15, 2010

Embassy Row

Fifty-eight members of Congress are calling for an international investigation into charges of war crimes against the Sri Lankan government during its 26-year civil war against rebels who pioneered terrorist tactics and used civilians as human shields.

August 12, 2010

**FILE** Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger

Embassy Row

A frustrated Henry Kissinger once complained about a Europe of more than two dozen countries, divided by the Iron Curtain and each with a different foreign policy challenge for the United States. "If I want to call Europe, who do I call?" asked the German-born secretary of state. Europe finally has an answer.

August 10, 2010

**FILE** President Barack Obama (Associated Press)

Embassy Row

European lawmakers are warning President Obama that his failure to remove an exiled Iranian opposition group from the U.S. terrorist blacklist gives the brutal Iranian regime an excuse to execute domestic dissidents and pursue nuclear weapons.

August 8, 2010

Embassy Row

International hip-hop/reggae artist Wyclef Jean this week ended months of rumors and declared his candidacy for president of Haiti, setting up a possible family feud with his uncle, the former Haitian ambassador to the United States who also is planning to run for president.

August 6, 2010

FILE - This May 20, 2008 file photo shows Wyclef Jean speaking during a news conference in New York. The former head of Haiti's Chamber of Deputies says singer Wyclef Jean is about to announce his candidacy for president of a nation struggling to recover from the Jan. 12 earthquake, Aug. 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, file)

Embassy Row

Haitian Ambassador Raymond Joseph this week left Washington to return to Port-au-Prince, where he is expected to announces his candidacy for president in the Nov. 28 election. His decision to run could set up a political showdown with his nephew, the popular hip-hop performer Wyclef Jean, who has hinted that he also might return home from the United States to campaign for president.

August 3, 2010