Richard Holbrooke

Jim Mann (International Outlook, Jan. 27) was right to draw attention to the pending confirmation of Richard Holbrooke to become U.S. envoy to the United Nations. Where Mann and I might disagree is over the rationale for the heightened scrutiny. Holbrooke came to prominence as the Balkans peace negotiator for the Clinton administration. He was widely praised for orchestrating the Dayton accords that formally ended the ghastly conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Subsequently, Holbrooke left government to join Credit Suisse First Boston, a global investment bank. Holbrooke was recently appointed as the administration’s part-time trouble-shooter on the intractable dispute in Cyprus.

As a political operative, Holbrooke is quite useful to the administration. An unusually candid diplomat in perpetual motion, Holbrooke is ever-ready to shuttle between foreign capitals in search of fixes to nasty problems. Regrettably, as was the case in Kosovo several months ago, what often emerges are interim fixes, at best, or simply cynical measures designed to allow the administration to claim that it is doing something.

The post of ambassador to the U.N. is an extraordinarily important one. The candidate deserves scrutiny about the policies he or she will advocate before the world body. But it is policies that matter, not lunches with former colleagues.

ANDREW J. MICHELS

Los Angeles