Speech Introducing Senator George Mitchell

Senator George Mitchell,

Mr President, Dean Fawaz, honorable guests, faculty and students of Tufts University.

This is a special occasion for me, and a unique opportunity for the Issam M. Fares Lecture Series at Tufts University. It is special because our Speaker this evening is half Irish and half Lebanese. However, above all, he is all-American. Our speaker is a great Statesman, a leading conciliator on world stage, and a man for difficult missions. I would have said he is the man for “mission impossible”. But he made the “impossible” possible. This is Senator George J. Mitchell.

In addressing the problems of Northern Ireland and the Middle East, our Speaker is addressing the problems of diverse societies under stress, and the process of bringing about peace and stability in these societies through compromise and conciliation.

The main issue facing the world today is the persistent conflict between different ethnic communities, different religions, different linguistics groupings, and different nations with different ideologies. The challenge is how to recognize the other, listen to the other, understand the other and live with the other in peace and dynamic interaction. This will not be easy, but it is something that we must work for, if civilization is to progress and endure.

Two major conflicts dominated the international scene for the past decades. These are Northern Ireland and Lebanon. Books will be written on how the Northern Ireland conflict was resolved by our Speaker.

The experience of Senator Mitchell, as a negotiator in international conflicts is relevant to the process that concern us in the Middle East. As he activated his Irish component to help resolve the Northern Ireland conflict. I am sure he will not shirk from activating his Lebanese dimension to help resolve the conflicts — potential and actual — that impact on peace, stability, and progress in Lebanon and the Middle East.

Senator Mitchell made his career as legislator. He crowned this career by becoming a missionary of peace. To move from the status of an American statesman to a world statesman, is not only a great honor, but, more importantly a great responsibility. As Chairman of the International Crisis Group, of which I am privileged to be a member, he works with a team of specialists throughout the World to resolve potential conflicts before they erupt into violence and war. This is a new approach to world affairs and one of great importance to the future of peace.

Senator Mitchell, we welcome you to this forum, and look forward to learning from you new approaches that will hasten the processes of peace, stability, and progress in Lebanon and the Middle East.