By Jeanine Poggi

Former Senator of Maine, leading U.S. advisor to peace negotiations in Northern Ireland and newly appointed chairman of the board of Walt Disney Company, spoke to the University on America’s role in the world, particularly in Iraq and the Middle East.

“George Mitchell is the protector of a national hero-Mickey Mouse,” Arnold Saltzman said as he introduced the first guest speaker in a new annual “State of the Union Lecture Series” sponsored by Honors College last Wednesday.

As a nation involved in a war to end violence and terror, Mitchell said, it is important we recognize our influence and prospect throughout the world.

“In the era of instant communication, every problem in the world is seen by someone as an American problem,” he said.

What makes America such a powerful nation is more than economic and military force, he said. While the use of power is important, it is America’s ideals of equal liberty and opportunity that really make the nation great.

Mitchell knows first hand the opportunities that come from living in America. Born of Greek immigrant parents who never had an education and could barely speak English, they were determined for their children to have a better life in America. From early on Mitchell saw the importance of working hard and getting an education. He went on to attend Texas A&M University and Columbia University and has won numerous awards and recognitions.

“I ask you never to forget the United States was a great nation long before it was a great military or economic power,” Mitchell said.

This is why it is so important we get involved in the crises of other countries, he said.

While many think the ousting of Saddam Hussein was the key step in the road to peace, Mitchell believes the most important issue to resolve is the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians who have a long history of violence.

“That argument has tremendous relevance because the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is at the frontier of Western politics versus Middle Eastern establishment,” freshman Mike LaFemina said. “If Israel and Palestine can find peace and coexist, it will be an example for the rest of the region.”

During the Clinton administration, Mitchell led a five-member commission to investigate what happened between the two groups and find out if the peace process could be saved.

The group’s neutral report called for ending violence, rebuilding confidence and resuming peaceful negotiations. Both sides accepted these recommendations, but no action was taken.

This conflict has currently not been settled because there is a deep mistrust on both sides, Mitchell said. Right now no one will cave and the only way they will is if a minimum level of trust is achieved. Negotiation is the only answer. They need a clear, non-violent alternative. There is no military solution.

“From my experience in Northern Ireland I learned there is no such thing as a conflict that can’t be ended,” he said. “Conflicts are created, conducted and sustained by human beings and can be ended by human beings.”

However, he said, it is not very likely any new initiatives will be taken until after the next presidential election.

Sophomore Kat Stent agrees.

“I don’t think the Bush administration can carry out the ideals he presented,” she said.

“We need all the help we can get. We must stop treating Iraq like a prize which we have won…in fact it is a burden which we must invite others to share,” Mitchell said.

Though the lecture drew few students, Mitchell was an appropriate speaker for the first annual examination and debate of the state of the union.

Stent said his speech was powerful and the issues he presented were relevant and eloquent.

“I don’t know if he believed everything he said or was just saying it because he knew it was what we wanted to hear,” she said. “If he does believe it, he is amazing and the ease in which he presented his speech made me feel like he does.”

Others said Mitchell was not being genuine.

“I wasn’t impressed by his speech or the answers he gave to audience questions,” junior Christina Cipriano said. “They seemed like text book answers and didn’t really answer any of the questions posed.”

At other college lectures, Mitchell was asked if world peace is an impossible dream.

“If what is meant by world peace is the complete absence of conflict, than it is not possible,” he said.

The rapid growth of the population, coupled with the large gap between the rich and the poor as well as the advancement of technology that is used for mass destruction, cannot rid the world of conflict. There is too high a demand for food, natural resources, and job opportunities for complete peace to ever be possible.

“But if by world peace you mean the absence of a major war and the effective containment of a region of conflict, it may be possible,” he said.

The proof comes from looking at our past, he said. America has proven time and again that it can change, evolve, and develop, righting the wrongs of the past to better the future.

“It took 75 years and the bloodiest war in our history to extend the right to vote to all black males. It then took another 60 years and a bitter political struggle to extend it to women,” Mitchell said. “And it wasn’t until a little over a decade ago, within the lifetime of every person in this room that Americans with disabilities were given the legal right to live full and meaningful lives. And to this moment the struggle goes on all across our country to expand our definition of human and civil rights to every American.”