Mitchell urges U.S. to pursue peace
Wednesday, January 29, 2003 9:01 AM PST
By M.L. Madison
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E-mail this articlePORTLAND --- Even in an era of war, Americans should not despair and think that world peace is impossible, former U.S. Senator and diplomat George Mitchell of Maine told a Portland audience Tuesday night.
Introduced by former Oregon Sen. Mark Hatfield, who hailed him as "a peacemaker and a statesman," Mitchell, 69, spoke mainly about his efforts towards making peace in Northern Ireland, where he served as President Clinton's Special Advisor in the mid- and late 1990s. Peace in that region had been deemed impossible even by some of its own politicians, but Mitchell helped negotiate a cease-fire agreement after five years of work.
"It is especially important that we Americans not succumb to despair -- that we not lose hope, not lose confidence," he said. "I ask you to share my conviction that there is no such thing as a conflict that can't be ended."
Mitchell drew parallels between making peace in Northern Ireland and the potential for peace in the Middle East. In October 2000, Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Council Yasser Arafat requested that Mitchell serve as chairman of an international fact-finding committee that examined the crisis between Israelis and Palestinians.
The violence must stop and the two sides must resume negotiations by respecting each other's right to exist, he said.
"I believe that neither (side) can attain its objective by denying the other its objective," Mitchell said, specifically mentioning the creation of a Palestinian state and the existence of Israel as a Jewish state.
When asked about his feelings about a possible U.S. war with Iraq, Mitchell urged the Bush Administration to work through the U.N. Security Council and support "military action sanctioned by the U.N., as opposed to unilateral action." Doing so would "help us gain respect of other governments," he said.
He urged Bush to wait for the next report from U.N. weapons inspectors, which is due Feb. 14. In that time, "it's possible that France, Japan, Russia and China will support or acquiesce" to U.S. demands that Iraq disarm, he said.
Fielding questions about the administration's war on terror, Mitchell said that pre-emptive action is necessary to prevent acts of terrorism. But he emphasized that force alone will not prevent violence.
"To think that you can stamp out violence and terror by a strong and aggressive police force ... is in my view, a mistake," he said. "There has to be a parallel effort to attempt to understand why people act the way they do."
"There are some people who are undeniably evil and irrational and have to be dealt with that way," he continued. But in Northern Ireland, "I met many who I judged to be wrong, who didn't have jobs and couldn't look their children in the face. When they became gunmen, they achieved status they never could have gotten in life."
Mitchell, whose parents were laborers, served in the U.S. Senate from 1980 until 1994. He is the author of four books, including "Men of Zeal," about the Iran-Contra affair, and practices law in Maine. He also has set up a foundation, the Mitchell Institute, which awards scholarships to students in his home state.
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