UPDATE #3 - 2:55 p.m. - President Bush met with newly named Islamic envoy Sada Cumber this afternoon in the Oval Office.

"The core of his mission is to explain to the Islamic world that America ... is a friend of freedom, is a friend of peace, that we value religion," Mr. Bush said.

Mr. Bush called the envoy post "an important job."

"There's a lot of misperceptions about America, and Sada is going to be a part of our effort to explain the truth," the president said. "And when people hear the truth about America, when they know that we're a land full of compassionate people and that we value other people's opinions, that they'll slowly but surely begin to better appreciate."

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UPDATE #2 - 11:54 A.M. - The White House tells me that the envoy position will not require Senate confirmation.

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UPDATE - White House press secretary Dana Perino announced this morning that Texas entrepreneur Sada Cumber will be the U.S. Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

"It is an important organization, it has a constructive role to play in the world, and the president is signalling our desire to have a greater dialogue with the organization as well as Muslims around the world," Mrs. Perino said.

Mr. Cumber is currently founder of Texas Global, a consulting company.

Mrs. Perino was asked why it took eight months to name the envoy after the president announced his intent to do so last June.

"He wanted to find the right person and he found that in Sada Cumber," she said.

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The White House announced today that President Bush will name a U.S. envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, after having first announced his intention to do in June.

An Oval Office meeting is scheduled for 2:10 p.m, the White House announced this morning.

When I last wrote about this, just before the president's trip through the Middle East in January, the White House said it wasn't ready to name anyone to the position. One analyst speculated that they might have been scared off of the idea by the prospect of a Senate nomination fight that would open them up to criticism of their Middle East policy, namely the Iraq war.

It will be interesting to see if the post will have ambassadorial rank, which would require Senate confirmation. It it does, perhaps the White House is more confident in their ability to parry attacks from Democrats, given the increasing consensus that Iraq is more stable and that the surge has been a success.

— Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times