This Richard Haass seems to be important... Might want to look into his sayings and doings
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=haass&btnG=Search+News http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=373753 News Publication Date: 29 January 2003 Haass likely to take up new job in USA By Sean O'Driscoll and Chris Thornton THE US envoy to Northern Ireland, Richard Haass, is expected to quit his post in favour of a high-powered job in Washington. Mr Haass, who is due in Belfast next week for talks with the parties, is believed to have been offered the presidency of the Council on Foreign Relations. The organisation is an influential group of business, union and political leaders which advises the US government on foreign policy. Mr Haass was due to meet Sinn Fein negotiator Martin McGuinness in Washington today. Council on Foreign Relations spokeswoman, Lisa Shields, declined to say if Mr Haass would be taking up the post but said that an announcement would be made next Monday. However, a well-placed source in the council said that it was "very likely" that Mr Haass would be offered the post. Mr Haass, who plays a key policy planning role in the State Department over and above his work on Northern Ireland, has declined to comment about the reported offer. Thomas R Donahue, a former president of the AFL-CIO union who ended his 11-year tenure on the CFR board last summer, said that he was told last week that Haass was on a shortlist for the presidency of the organisation. "I think he would make an excellent president of the Council on Foreign Relations," he said. "He has a strong understand on foreign policy and he acquitted himself with great merit in the Northern Ireland post." Mr Haass has a strong track record in foreign relations and served on the National Security Council under the first Bush administration before taking a post in the Brookings Institute, a Washington-based foreign policy think tank. He is currently head of the State Department's policy planning division as well as envoy to Northern Ireland. He is to travel to Belfast next week but is not expected to make a statement on whether or not he will take up the post. In his role as envoy, he strongly opposed UUP leader David Trimble's plan to suspend the assembly last year if the IRA did not decommission its weapons by January. However, events overtook the crisis, and the assembly and executive were suspended after accusations that Sinn Fein was running a spy ring from within the government. Mr Haass has since worked to restore the Northern Ireland government and has said that no one party should be held responsible for its collapse. Leslie H Gelb, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, will leave the job in June. -- Glenda http://world.std.com/~snet/thegrid.htm http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Heart_Daughter/ What happens next loves me.... Monday, February 03, 2003 6:48:12 PM TheBat V.1.51
