Senator George Mitchell was recently appointed as the Obama administration’s special envoy to the Middle East.  Senator Mitchell is a Senior Research Scholar at the Center for International Conflict Resolution, an affiliate of the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies.  In 2001, Mitchell led an international commission to investigate violence in the Middle East.  Prior to that, Mitchell helped broker the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland; he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his efforts.