TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Mitchell's 'Iron Trousers'

ADVERTISEMENT

By PAUL RICHTER and HENRY CHU

Los Angeles Times

Published: January 26, 2009

WASHINGTON - During a grinding 18-month stretch in the 1990s, U.S. envoy George J. Mitchell crossed the Atlantic more than 100 times in a dogged search for peace between Northern Ireland's Protestants and Catholics.

Even though he is a Catholic, Mitchell persuaded Protestant Unionists of his even-handedness, eventually reaching the "Good Friday" agreement in 1998 to help settle the 800-year dispute.

"He's got this incredible patience to sit there until the deal is done," said Ross K. Baker, a political scientist and former congressional aide. Mitchell, he said, "deserves the iron trousers award."

President Barack Obama hopes that the former Senate majority leader, as his new Middle East peace envoy, is prepared to sit a while longer in an effort to settle the conflict between Israelis and Arabs. The 75-year-old Mitchell is widely considered up for the challenge.

Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton chose Mitchell to convey the administration's determination about Middle East peacemaking.

Mitchell won a reputation for even-handedness in his first foray into Middle East peacemaking, in 2000 and 2001, when he led a six month fact-finding effort probing the reasons for a convulsion of Palestinian violence.

The Mitchell Commission report gave each side something to like and dislike. The panel urged Israelis to halt all settlement activity and to stop shooting at unarmed demonstrators, while calling on Palestinian authorities to stop violence and punish those who commit it.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT