New Middle East envoy: Peace is Possible

[spanone]

c h a n g e


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell was named special envoy for the Middle East during an event at the State Department on Thursday afternoon.

The move could signal that Obama plans to get involved in the Mideast peace process early in his term. It was announced just before 3 p.m. at an event with President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Also Thursday, former U.N. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke was named special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced.

Holbrooke, who worked as a diplomat, journalist and investment banker, became one of the most influential diplomats in U.S. history when he worked in the mid-90s to end the brutal fighting in the Balkans.

He was the main architect of the Dayton Accords that ended the fighting in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

After he was officially named Obama's envoy, Mitchell said, "I don't underestimate the difficulty of this assignment."

"The situation in the Middle East is volatile, complex and dangerous. But the president and the secretary of state have made it clear that danger and difficulty cannot cause the United States to turn away," he said. Watch Mitchell accept his appointment »

Mitchell said that along with Obama and Clinton, he believed a goal of a Jewish state and a Palestinian state living side by side was possible and the conflict, even if centuries old, could end -- a lesson, he said, he learned during his negations in Northern Ireland.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/22/obama.mitchell/index.html

[BootinUp]

1. Its an important concept to put out there.

I have a lot of confidence in George Mitchell in this role.