LONDON - The Quartet of Mideast peacemakers meets Tuesday to assess the Israeli-Palestinian situation for the first time since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, and U.S. officials said the group was expected to make Tony Blair its chief envoy.
Several officials said Monday that discussions about naming the outgoing British prime minister to the post had been completed and the issue was on the agenda of the Quartet — the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations.
The officials, who agreed to discuss the matter only if not quoted by name because of the sensitivity of the negotiations, said everyone but the Kremlin backed Blair. One official said the Kremlin had reservations.
The United Nations and the Arab neighbors of Israel and the Palestinian territories also were backing Blair, the officials said.
There aren't enough in the world for this one. What's next, Dick Cheney as head of Amnesty International? Bush as the new Poet Laureate? Guiliani as head of the 911truth movement? Who knows! Nothing would surprise me anymore.