What can we do?

Editorial

On this page we honor those whose public activities personify peace on earth. Content will change as events develop.

Hans Blix
Jimmy Carter
Karen Greenberg
Shirin Ebadi
Colin Powell
Shannen Rossmiller
Colleen Rowley
Michael Tarazi
Dominica de Villepin

Hans Blix "... has made a career out of keeping his cool." A career diplomat in Sweden, Blix is everything his predecessors were not on the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission. Cooler, calmer, and more respectful, he got on better with the Arabs than did Richard Butler, his predecessor. By the same token he was harder to fool. Hans Blix: "Not seeing something, not seeing an indication of something, does not lead automatically to the conclusion that there is nothing"says it all.

Blix was well trained by experience for the job. For example, he stood up to the hawks in the Administration who wanted their own people to be on the inspection team. He was adamant because such a move would undermine the neutrality his inspection team must have to be effective in dealing with both the Iraqis and the UN. His team was not only well trained in weapons of mass destruction, but in personal diplomacy as well. "We are not coming to Iraq to harass or to insult or humiliate them," he told the BBC's Breakfast with Frost. "That's not our purpose."

Blix's job was cut short by Mr. Bush and his march to war. Blix only partly completed his weapons search and had indeed discovered some violations of the agreement Iraq was working under. What has Mr. Bush found since?

Jimmy Carter, excerpts from his 2002 Nobel Peace Prize text say it all:


Statement by Jimmy Carter, 11 October 2002:


For more, see The Carter Center.

Karen Greenberg brought together a group of who's who in counter terror to clarify and update al Qa'ida as the movement it has become. Although largely ignored by the press, public and government officialdom, her candid reporting and editing (Al Qaeda Today) nevertheless provides the best reference available for information on the operations and reach of al Qa'ida. Greenberg is also nominated for her books "The Torture Papers" and "The Road To Abu Ghraib." Greenberg is Executive Director of of the Center on Law and Security at New York University.

Shirin Ebadi won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize "for her efforts for democracy and human rights". Ms Ebadi is a consummate conciliator via dialogue and the first Muslim woman to win the prize and also the first Iranian to do so. We offer our congratulations. We also admire her courage in an environment too often hostile to her support for the rights of women and children. She knows the feeling of fear:


Small in stature and soft spoken, Ms Ebadi is made of steel. She has to be to stand up to her bearded adversaries who accuse her of undermining the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Before the revolution, she became famous for being the first female judge in Iran. Then of course she was forced to resign.

More recently, she played a key role in the election of the reformist Mohamad Khatami to the presidency. Khatami has not the power typical of the title because the real power remains vested in the Irani Ayatollahs who prefer to force strict Islamic interpretations upon their subjects.

In the voting, she obviously was preferred over such notables as the Pope and the dissident cleric Hassan Yousefi-Eshkevari both of whom also worked for peace on earth.

Colin Powell, Secretary of State under George Bush, for his combat service in Vietnam, his Powell Doctrine (misused by his boss), his role as described in Bob Woodward's book Plan of Attack, and for his own memoir My American Journey. Most of all, Powell deserves mention here for his courage in coming out of the closet regarding events that led up to the Iraq War.

Shannen Rossmiller, Amateur terrorist hunter. Rossmiller haunts jihadist web sites the world over. Her Arabic gives her credibility and entrees to coming terror events. Her amazing record, from "Wired" Nov 2007:

"Ryan Anderson
Who: Army National Guard tank crew member
Crime: Attempted espionage to help al Qaeda
Rossmiller's role: Posing as Abu Khadija, a terrorist operative based in Germany, she befriended Anderson in a Yahoo chat group. He sent her information on US military strategy and defense weaknesses.
Status: Convicted in Washington state, serving life sentence.

Michael Reynolds
Who: An aspiring domestic terrorist living in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Crime: Aiding al Qaeda, distributing explosives
Rossmiller's role: Posing as a terrorist financier named Abu Zeida, she got Reynolds to agree to a rendezvous on a highway. He was met by the FBI instead.
Status: Convicted in Pennsylvania, sentence pending

"Hakim"
Who: Jihadist based in the Middle East
Alleged crime: Planning suicide attack on US forces in Iraq
Rossmiller's role: Posing as Abu Musa, a fellow jihadist she created as a financier of terrorist operations, she persuaded Hakim to meet in a public area to make further arrangements.
Status: Apprehended by Middle Eastern intelligence agents

"Rocket Man"
Who: Weapons dealer based in Pakistan
Alleged crime: Trying to sell nine US Stinger missiles
Rossmiller's role: Posing as Abu Issa, an operative who claimed to have bombed United Nations facilities in Afghanistan, she got the dealer's contact info and photos of the missiles. She then passed these to the Feds.
Status: Unknown"

Colleen Rowley, FBI Field Agent and mother of four, is that rare true patriot with the courage to stand up and tell it like it is. Low in the FBI hierarchy, Ms. Rowley set the stage for changes in the Bureau with her thoughtful 13 page letter to Robert Mueller. Whistle blowers are typically retaliated against because they basically attack the system and those with vested interests. Yet she was quoted: "I've repeatedly been promised no retaliation." If such a threat were not real in fact, why was it necessary for her superiors to repeatedly reassure her that it was not?

Months later, Ms. Rowley again found fault with Washington procedures. It seem the FBI did not even interrogate Massaoui for the kind of information it will take to crack Al Qaida. Sources: NY Times.

Michael Tarazi did not know that he was Palestinian until he was 15 years old. Born in Kuwait, he came to America as a child. He learned of his origins only after the massacre of hundreds of Palestinian refugees in the Sabra and Shatilla camps in Lebanon when his mother tearfully told him, "We are Palestinian." Mr. Tarazi went on to a law degree from Harvard and established strong connections with the Jewish community along the way. His legal papers are well researched. At this writing in 2002, he lives in Ramalla and is part of the legal team advising the PLO peace-talks unit. Mr. Tarazi's speeches are as realistic and thoughtful as they are compelling. He can be contentious on the issues of Zionism and makes no apology. At the same time he recognizes and defends the rights of the Jewish people. He just wants the same rights for the Palestinians. Palestinian statehood with the 1967 borders is his main goal. Source: Wall Street Journal.

Domenica de Villepin worked closely with Secretary Powell to arrive at a Security Council resolution that was acceptable to all members. Villepin is a career diplomat of first rank, and a pragmatic dove who believes in the power of dialogue. He granted a written interview to "Discover India." Excerpts follow:


The fact that subsequent events, thanks to George Bush, beyond his control, rendered the Council Resolution meaningless, does not diminish his contribution.

Each of these heroes is professional in approach. Each leaves biases at home. Each has insights and methodologies worth noting.