Obama’s nominee to be US ambassador to Iraq withdrew his name from consideration Monday. Brett McGurk, a former Bush NSC Iraq director and “surge” proponent who negotiated a possible US Iraq follow on force for Obama last year, withdrew his name after his personal emails were leaked, leading his wife to resign her job and some Senators to say they would not support his nomination.

“Iraq urgently needs an ambassador,” McGurk wrote in a letter to President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking to withdraw his nomination, the New York Times’ Peter Baker reports.

McGurk, in his letter, “wrote that he decided to withdraw while visiting graves at Arlington National Cemetery of soldiers killed in Iraq,” Baker wrote, citing McGurk’s letter: “We have both lost friends in Iraq,” he wrote. “In their memory, I remain forever committed to helping the country I love and the country I have come to know forge a lasting partnership.”

McGurk’s nomination was due to be voted on by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday.