Richard Holbrooke's last words were spoken to his surgeon before surgery to repair his torn aorta. Holbrooke died at the age of 69 after almost half a century of public service.
Holbrooke first served under JFK in a foreign service posting in Vietnam, and he served under every Democratic President since. On January 22, 2009 President Obama appointed Holbrooke Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Rajiv Chandrasekaran of the Washington Post writes:
The death could have a profound impact on the administration's efforts to implement aspects of its strategy for the war in Afghanistan, which relies not just on military gains but development assistance and diplomatic initiatives with the governments in Kabul and neighboring Pakistan that had been his principal focus.
This is a short hit and run, since I have a long day at work today (there are no computers at the pre-school in Frankfurt where I work ;-) but I wanted to get something posted since I didn't see any diaries about this.
I first paid attention to Holbrooke in 1994 when I was a student of Germans Studies and he was Ambassador to Germany. Among other important contributions Holbrooke founded and later served as Chairman of American Academy in Berlin which was announced the day after the US Army Berlin Brigade left, and in the Words of Henry Kissenger "symbolizes the spirit of the new era based on intellectual rather than military ties."
Among many highlights of Holbrooke's career were his role in ending the Balkan conflict and serving as chief negotiator of the Dayton Peace Accords. As US Ambassador to the United Nations Holbrooke was instrumental in modernizing the UN financial system and in passing a UN resolution on HIV/AIDS.
I had hoped that Holbrooke's crowning achievement would be to help finally end the war in Afghanistan. And I still hope that President Obama will heed Holbrooke's last words. But for now I'll just say to a man I've admired for many, many years: Rest in peace Richard Holbrooke.