Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)
The current Bush administration has had plenty of special envoys, to the Middle East and everywhere else. The Clinton administration also had its share of special envoys, including one to the Middle East. With all due respect to these dedicated public servants, they cannot be compared with someone at the level of a former head of state, granted necessary scope, authority, and autonomy to work with the parties in a sustained and consistent manner and on a full time basis for as long as necessary to both manage the conflict and ultimately steer it toward resolution.
What is required now for the Middle East is someone of this stature, with a mandate that extends more broadly to cover the entire region, not only the Arab-Israeli conflict, who can roll up his or her sleeves, understands the politics, policies, and processes of all the players on the ground and in the international community, can bring the weight of the United States to the table when and as needed, and has the wisdom and perspective to know how to manage these various elements. …
[T]his mission now demands, and the parties, and the world, deserve, an envoy of the nature and stature of Tony Blair, with mandate to match, and Quartet representatives reporting to him while appropriately integrated into their governments’ national security processes. Access the full article>>