Gene Cretz, Ambassador to Libya Outed by WikiLeaks, Returns to DC

The American ambassador to Libya who wrote secret cables about Moammar Gadhafi, including one about his reliance on a blond Ukrainian nurse, has been recalled to Washington and, according to one report, may be leaving his post.

Ambassador Gene Cretz, a longtime diplomat, was in Washington for consultations, the State Department said Tuesday. Citing unidentified U.S. officials, McClatchy Newspapers said Cretz is likely to leave his job, making him the first casualty of the latest WikiLeaks documents.

US ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz speaks during a ceremony for re-opening a visa office at the US mission in Tripoli on April 2, 2009. The United States re-opened a visa office in Libya, 29 years after it was closed, in a new step toward cementing diplomatic ties between the two nations. (AFP/Getty Images)

AFP/Getty Images

U.S. ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz, seen here in April 2009, may be leaving his post after cables he wrote were released by WikiLeaks, McClatchy reports.

In diplomatic cables released last year by online whistle-blower site WikiLeaks, Cretz wrote about Gadhafi being unable to go anywhere without his Ukrainian nurse, a "voluptuous blonde," speculated about his health and talked about his personal habits, according to reports. The Libyan leader was said to be afraid to fly over water and to have extreme vertigo.

The documents may have upset Tripoli, but the Libyan government has not commented on them, according to reports.

The cables are not the only reason Cretz was brought back to Washington, a senior State Department official told McClatchy, noting the frustrations of U.S.-Libyan relations.

"It's a complicated relationship, and WikiLeaks just added to that complication," the official told McClatchy, demanding anonymity because no announcement has been made on Cretz's status.

The State Department said it brought him back for talks during a review of relations between the two nations, Agence France-Presse said.

"Ambassador Cretz is here for consultations," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters. "This does happen. We bring our ambassadors back routinely for consultations, and we will be evaluating in these discussions where we are in terms of ... U.S.-Libyan relations. And one of the issues to be discussed will be when he goes back."

The State Department had no update today on Cretz.

The WikiLeaks revelations have affected some diplomatic meetings with foreign leaders, with some insisting on excluding American staff and note-takers, McClatchy reported.

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"Obviously, this has been a difficult period for a lot of U.S. diplomats," David Mack, a retired State Department official who served in Libya, told McClatchy. He was in Libya recently and was told the controversy over Cretz's cables would pass.

The two nations, former enemies, restored diplomatic relations in 2004, after Libya gave up its quest for weapons of mass destruction, AFP said.

Cretz assumed the ambassadorship in 2008, becoming the first U.S. ambassador to Tripoli since 1972. He joined the State Department in 1981 and has held posts in Pakistan, Syria, India, Israel, China and Egypt. A native of Albany, N.Y., he speaks Dari, Urdu, Arabic and Chinese, according to his State Department biography.