Tuesday morning was a special one for the U.S. State Department's first envoy for monitoring and combating anti-Semitism. Gregg Rickman had only been in the job for a few days, and was already being called on to carry out an important task. If the State Department spokesman was asked during a news briefing about the latest comments by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Rickman was asked, how should the spokesman reply? Rickman came up with the main points of a statement for journalists - a first, modest contribution to this important battle.
The appointment as special envoy was spurred by two key objectives, and Rickman will return to them over and over, as though memorizing the Talmud: Monitoring and combating. More than six decades after the Holocaust, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said during Rickman's swearing-in ceremony last Monday, anti-Semitism is not just a historical fact, but a current event.
"Anti-Semitic hate crimes are on the rise still at home and abroad," she said. Then she used the words typical of such events: decisive action, deep commitment. Rickman stood with his family, a little excited. After all, there has never been a special envoy like him.
Rickman is not quite sure what he plans to do, saying in an interview that he wasn't trying to hide the fact that there are a lot of things he still doesn't know. He noted the difficulties of being first: There's no one he can go to in an effort to find out what his predecessor did in the job, or what ought to be changed, or how his predecessor dealt with this or that issue. It's Rickman who will be the one to chart the path, for as long as he and the three or four assistants he will hire shortly remain part of the administration.
more...
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
