Veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke died Monday at George Washington University Hospital in Washington after surgery to repair a tear in his aorta, the State Department announced. He was 69.
The special U.S. representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan was taken there Friday after collapsing during a meeting on the State Department's seventh floor, where his longtime friend Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's office is located. He died after undergoing surgery for more than 20 hours Friday-Saturday, followed by a second procedure Sunday designed to improve his circulation.
"Tonight America has lost one of its fiercest champions and most dedicated public servants," Clinton said Monday. "Richard Holbrooke served the country he loved for nearly half a century, representing the United States in far-flung war-zones and high-level peace talks, always with distinctive brilliance and unmatched determination. He was one of a kind — a true statesman — and that makes his passing all the more painful."
Her husband also paid tribute to his memory:
"In a lifetime of passionate, brilliant service on the front lines of war and peace, freedom and oppression, Richard Holbrooke saved lives, secured peace, and restored hope for countless people around the world," Bill Clinton said.
"Tomorrow marks the 15-year anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Accords - the agreement Dick negotiated which stopped the killings in Bosnia and paved a path to peace in the Balkans that endures today. He was central to our efforts to limit ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and pave the way for its independence, and he found a way to break the stalemate in talks in Cyprus. I was proud to nominate him as the United States' ambassador to the United Nations, where he helped equip the UN to meet the challenges of our 21st century world. For the last two years, he worked hard to counter terrorism and to build a secure, democratic future for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Our nation is safer, and our world stronger, because of the work he did."
Several colleagues were surprised to hear that Holbrooke had suffered a serious health issue having seen him in recent days at various high-profile diplomatic events that were part of a jam-packed schedule.
"I just saw him at a dinner on Wednesday and he was totally fine," one said.
But in April, Holbrooke was grounded by doctors from traveling due to clogged arteries, and underwent a procedure to clear them.
"I am fine, I just need to undergo this procedure," he e-mailed at the time, saying he planned to be in the office the next week.
The hard-charging Holbrooke is best-known for leading U.S. efforts to negotiate the end to the Bosnian war, and has been a longtime adviser to Democratic politicians. He began his diplomatic career as an adviser to the team at the Paris negotiations to end the Vietnam War, and was one of the 100 global thinkers of 2010 honored at a party last month by Foreign Policy magazine, which Holbrooke previously edited.
"When I became president," President Obama said in a statement, "I was grateful that Richard agreed to serve as Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. The progress that we have made in Afghanistan and Pakistan is due in no small measure to Richard’s relentless focus on America’s national interest, and pursuit of peace and security. He understood, in his life and his work, that our interests encompassed the values that we hold so dear."
Earlier Monday, Obama had met with Holbrooke's family and saluted Holbrooke at a holiday gathering for the nation's diplomatic corps:
"Richard Holbrooke has been serving this nation with distinction for nearly 50 years — from a young foreign service officer in Vietnam to the architect of the accords that ended the slaughter in the Balkans, to advancing our regional efforts as our Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and countless crises and hot spots in between. He is simply one of the giants of American foreign policy. And as anyone who has ever worked with him knows —- or had the clear disadvantage of negotiating across the table from him -— Richard is relentless. He never stops. He never quits."
Poster Comment:
There's more to the article at the URL ... but since I loathed this murdering motherfucker all I can say is his fate should be shared by every zionazi Jew scumbag of his ilk like Madeleine Albright, Dennis Ross, and Wm.Cohen who sat across from the PLO and acted like there was a credible desire for peace. Burn in hell, Mr. Holbrooke.
