2011.01.19: January 19, 2011: Togo RPCV George Packer writes: Holbrooke Remembered
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Special Report: Country Director for Peace Corps Morocco Richard Holbrooke:
Richard Holbrooke: Newest Stories:
2010.12.22: December 22, 2010: Richard Reid writes: I was nominally Dick Holbrooke's boss for a year as I ran a Peace Corps regional operations desk from Washington, but I doubt that anyone was ever able to really boss Holbrooke for long :
2011.01.19: January 19, 2011: Togo RPCV George Packer writes: Holbrooke Remembered
Togo RPCV George Packer writes: Holbrooke Remembered
"Richard was indeed one of kind. Besides a deep sense of personal loss, he will be sorely missed not only for his knowledge and skill but particularly, I believe, because he was the sole civilian at the top of our government who had actually served on the ground during a similar struggle even though it was long ago and in a different place. He had been there and worked at that, giving him more than a fleeting notion of what it was going to take to change the population's mind in Afghanistan and Pakistan. That he felt, I believe, was key to any reasonable outcome." Richard Holbrooke, Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan under the Obama administration, is a top-ranking American diplomat, magazine editor, author, professor, and investment banker who served as Country director for Peace Corps Morocco between 1970 and 1972.
Togo RPCV George Packer writes: Holbrooke Remembered
Holbrooke Remembered
from Interesting Times by George Packer
Last Friday, the late Richard Holbrooke was remembered at the Kennedy Center in Washington. In keeping with Holbrooke's life, the ceremony transcended his pay grade: the lineup of onstage speakers included the President, both Clintons, as well as friends and family. Joe Biden, other American luminaries, and a bunch of foreign heads of state and dignitaries were in the audience, which ran somewhere over a thousand people, and which also included Rufus Phillips, an eighty-something retired C.I.A. legend, who was Holbrooke's first boss from his Vietnam years. (I wrote about Phillips in my Holbrooke Profile, and you can read about him in this post as well.)
Phillips sent me this remembrance of his rambunctious young protégé:
Barbara and I were seated with Vlad Lehovich and his wife. I was reminded that Vlad and Richard first arrived in coat and tie at the Saigon airport together as young Foreign Service officers in June, 1963. They were greeted by our administrative officer, Ralph Boynton, who said, "Take off those coats and ties; this is a shirtsleeves outfit." That specific side of his character was not much talked about at the memorial, but in my mind he remained at heart under all that sophistication a shirtsleeves guy who loved being out on the ground where the action was.
As you remember, when I saw him in Kabul in July 2008 at a dinner party in his honor at the Ambassador's residence he had just returned from the field. Our meeting was very emotional, and when he spoke before dinner he singled me out as his first boss in extravagant terms-nothing about Richard was ever half-hearted-and seated me at his table. As you described in your New Yorker profile he had been briefed that same day in Ghazni Province about some successful but exclusively American-administered project. His reaction was that wasn't good enough, we had to get the Afghan government involved; we weren't going to be there forever. That came straight from his counterinsurgency experience as a provincial rep in a tough Mekong Delta Province where I had sent him at age 22.
While I think about what an enormous loss his passing means for his family and for all those in so many walks of life who were his friends, I am also saddened by what it may mean for his unique mission to help resolve favorably the Afghanistan- Pakistan conundrum. I last saw him this past October at a 90th birthday dinner party for a former American official in Saigon, Barry Zorthian, who has since died himself. Naturally all the table talk was about Vietnam. But as we were shaking hands to say goodbye, I brought up Afghanistan, asking him directly, "Does anyone at the top of this Administration understand how long this is going to take?" He replied, "They'll have to learn the hard way." Then when we were at the elevator he said, "I am reminded of a scene in ‘Blazing Saddles' where the sheriff says, ‘Stop or I'll shoot!' while pointing his gun at his own head." That irreverent comment referred, I think, to the American inclination to threaten Afghan and Pakistani leaders when they failed to take certain actions with an "or else," without having an answer to the question "or else what?" It was the last time I saw him.
Richard was indeed one of kind. Besides a deep sense of personal loss, he will be sorely missed not only for his knowledge and skill but particularly, I believe, because he was the sole civilian at the top of our government who had actually served on the ground during a similar struggle even though it was long ago and in a different place. He had been there and worked at that, giving him more than a fleeting notion of what it was going to take to change the population's mind in Afghanistan and Pakistan. That he felt, I believe, was key to any reasonable outcome.
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Headlines: January, 2011; Richard Holbrooke - Country Director for Peace Corps Morocco; Diplomacy; Country Directors - Morocco; Peace Corps Morocco; Directory of Morocco RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Morocco RPCVs; Peace Corps Afghanistan; Directory of Afghanistan RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Afghanistan RPCVs; Peace Corps Pakistan; Directory of Pakistan RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Pakistan RPCVs; RPCV George Packer (Togo)
When this story was posted in January 2011, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| How Volunteers Remember Sarge As the Peace Corps' Founding Director Sargent Shriver laid the foundations for the most lasting accomplishment of the Kennedy presidency. Shriver spoke to returned volunteers at the Peace Vigil at Lincoln Memorial in September, 2001 for the Peace Corps 40th. "The challenge I believe is simple - simple to express but difficult to fulfill. That challenge is expressed in these words: PCV's - stay as you are. Be servants of peace. Work at home as you have worked abroad. Humbly, persistently, intelligently. Weep with those who are sorrowful, Care for those who are sick. Serve your wives, serve your husbands, serve your families, serve your neighbors, serve your cities, serve the poor, join others who also serve," said Shriver. "Serve, Serve, Serve. That's the answer, that's the objective, that's the challenge." |
| Support Independent Funding for the Third Goal The Peace Corps has always neglected the third goal, allocating less than 1% of their resources to "bringing the world back home." Senator Dodd addressed this issue in the "Peace Corps for the 21st Century" bill passed by the US Senate and Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter proposed a "Peace Corps Foundation" at no cost to the US government. Both are good approaches but the recent "Comprehensive Assessment Report" didn't address the issue of independent funding for the third goal at all. |
| Memo to Incoming Director Williams PCOL has asked five prominent RPCVs and Staff to write a memo on the most important issues facing the Peace Corps today. Issues raised include the independence of the Peace Corps, political appointments at the agency, revitalizing the five-year rule, lowering the ET rate, empowering volunteers, removing financial barriers to service, increasing the agency's budget, reducing costs, and making the Peace Corps bureaucracy more efficient and responsive. Latest: Greetings from Director Williams |
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Story Source: The New Yorker
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Diplomacy; Country Directors - Morocco; COS - Morocco; COS - Afghanistan; COS - Pakistan; Packer
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