Madam, - Tony Blair cannot be expected to see the irony in his appointment as a special envoy in the Middle East, immediately after his long overdue departure from British politics. The biggest obstacle for Tony Blair, peacemaker, will undoubtedly be the legacy left by Tony Blair, prime minister.
Gordon Brown will no doubt be relieved to see the back of his predecessor, but some apprehension about what Blair will get up to in the Middle East would also be justified.
Blair was appointed as the Quartet's special envoy in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the instigation of the United States. The Bush administration has made many mistakes in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but this is surely among the worst: it is hardly surprising that Russia had reservations about the appointment.
Blair deserves credit for many aspects of his career, but his policy in the Middle East has been consistently disastrous. He has attempted to impose democracy on the people of Iraq through the barrel of a gun and has succeeded only in causing a savage and protracted civil war, which will persist long after US and British forces have left the country. He gave tacit support to Israel's onslaught on Lebanon last year, which involved the indiscriminate slaughter of Lebanese civilians.
Blair's policy of "humanitarian intervention" became liberal imperialism in the Middle East, as he accepted Bush's assumption that military force could establish pro-Western democracies in the most unstable region of the world. The results of their failed adventure are clear enough: civil war and a humanitarian catastrophe in Iraq, constant instability and violence in the Palestinian territories and the real possibility of another civil war in Lebanon.
The only redeeming feature of Blair's appointment is that he himself will reap what he has sown in the Middle East: the peace envoy will have his work cut out to undo the damage done by the prime minister. - Yours, etc,
JOHN WALSH, Dunshaughlin, Co Meath.