Appointing Emissaries, Obama and Clinton Stress Diplomacy (NYT)

[struggle4progress]

By MARK LANDLER
Published: January 22, 2009

... Mr. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton jointly introduced the emissaries, George J. Mitchell, who will be special envoy for Arab-Israeli affairs, and Richard C. Holbrooke, who will hold the title of special representative and will be responsible for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Mr. Mitchell, a former Senate majority leader, helped broker a peace agreement in Northern Ireland. Mr. Holbrooke, a longtime diplomat who was the American ambassador to the United Nations, played a central role in drafting the 1995 Dayton peace accords, which ended the war in Bosnia ...

Both Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Holbrooke will report to Mrs. Clinton, and through her, to Mr. Obama, according to a State Department spokesman ...

“The employees are ecstatic that we now have a secretary of state who is going to fight for the resources we need,” said John Naland, the president of the American Foreign Service Association, the professional association and labor union representing career diplomats. “For three years, there were almost no requests for additional staffing and resources” ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/washington/23diplo.html?ref=world