http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/washington/24ross.html
February 24, 2009
Negotiator Picked for Post at State Dept.
By MARK LANDLER [Obama administration] [111th congress, 1st session] [bureaucracy] [state department] [surely White House hence NSC vetted] [now comes Dennis Ross again for special work on Iran] [competent negotiator, in my opinion] [nevertheless, the narrow gene pool in Washington] [Obama’s continuity] [archive in individual-role] [use psci355, 455] [followup] [*****]
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday appointed Dennis B. Ross, a seasoned Middle East negotiator under Republican and Democratic presidents, as her special adviser for the gulf and Southwest Asia, a portfolio that will include Iran.
Mr. Ross, whose appointment had been rumored for weeks, will provide Mrs. Clinton with “strategic advice and perspective on the region, offer assessments and also act to ensure effective policy integration throughout the region,” said the acting State Department spokesman, Robert A. Wood.
Mr. Ross’s appointment adds another prominent name to the ranks of special envoys, emissaries and advisers in the State Department. Former Senator George J. Mitchell, the special envoy for the Middle East, and Richard C. Holbrooke, the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, have both returned from their first visits to their regions. [***]
Unlike Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Holbrooke, who are presidential envoys, Mr. Ross will report exclusively to Mrs. Clinton. [***]
Mr. Ross, who advised President Obama during the campaign, has worked in the State Department and the Pentagon. But he is best known for his lengthy negotiations to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Mr. Ross had advocated a tough approach toward Iran that included persuading Europe to increase economic pressure on the government in Tehran. He is a co-founder of United Against Nuclear Iran, a group dedicated to stopping the country from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
(govt)**
(individual-role)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/us/politics/05cheney.html
February 5, 2009
Cheney Predicts ‘Probability’ of Attack
By MICHAEL FALCONE [former Bush administration] [individual: Cheney] [wholly against role expectations] [Cheney trashes new administration just a couple weeks after they took office] [incredibly, this guy is like the little teapot that cannot keep on its lid] [he cannot wait to lecture America and Obama administration on why they and we will all learn how right he and the Bush team were] [incredibly, some of the dire predictions indict Cheney-Bush: they are the only ones to date who have let gitmo folk leave and insofar as some of them have returned to the battle field—and to be clear the DoD’s figures are clearly problematic—it was Bush-Cheney who released them] [he has some brass to warn Obama about hasty reactions to TSPs] [use psci355, 455, 469b] [***]
WASHINGTON — In an interview two weeks after leaving office, former Vice President
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