I think George Mitchell will do an excellent job.

He played an important role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland, and has a deep understanding of what it takes to make progress in a long running conflict. The fact that he has support from the very top (i.e. President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) will be a great help to him, and ensure that everyone in the region takes him very seriously.

It's also greatly to his advantage that he is going to get a long run at this, with the Obama administration getting to work on the issue right away, and ready to stick with it over the long haul.

You can read more about the man, and see a video of him speaking to his new State Department colleagues here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7846229.stm

His brief speech is excellent, and leads me to think there could hardly be a better man for the job.

Permalink | Report