Posted on 12/13/2010 4:59:54 PM PST by Ravnagora
ABC News has learned that Richard Holbrooke, the US Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, has died.
On Friday, Holbrooke was rushed to the hospital with a torn aorta. He went through more than 20 hours of surgery. Earlier this evening, speaking at the US State Department, President Obama sang Holbrooke's praises and called him "a tough son of a gun."
Holbrooke, 69, was a former ambassador to the United Nations and served as chief negotiator at the Dayton Peace Accords, which ended the war in Bosnia.
The New Yorker's George Packer wrote a nice story about Holbrooke last year, which you can read HERE.
Thank you for your voice of experience..Anything that complicates things terribly for our brave troops is not to be admired..no matter how sincere his goals are.
He served Obama after all...
His 72 virgins await, this fool did enough when he was alive. Let Soros mourn over his sorry carcass.
"Don't worry, this Serbian Jew won't....!!!"
Shalom! And Hvala!
Obama? What about Clinton? He looked like he's aged 40 years in the past 5. And that entire press conference--well, the first 30 seconds of it--was just jaw-dropping. Something I have never witnessed in all my life of following politics. Talk about a guy who just does not even want to be bothered with his freaking job. What did he really have to go do? Tee time?
A lot of people are glad that b*****d is dead. A lot of other people don’t understand what Holbrooke, Clinton, Obama, Soros, the Rockefellers and others have done to our country and to the Serbs.
I’m dogmatic about this: He was one of the worst people ever. All the negative things are true.
And don’t worry about being sad because it’s Christmas, it’s 24 days until Christmas!
Can you enumerate the "good stuff everyday" that the UN does, other than appoint the most outrageous nations to the Human Rights Council who have THE WORST track record of human rights in the last decades?
Thank you for your service.
Got my vote for post of the thread.
Let me ask you something, but preface it with the fact that we ALL die:
Am I or anyone supposed to believe we owe respect to someone just because they died? Not to compare, but just to make my point - Hitler died; Stalin died; Mao died, the gangsters on the street die, et al. So, just because they died, we are supposed to show some respect?
I know little about Holbrooke, but your thinking is misguided and possibly your compassion is misplaced.
It's depth of our character our actions for the betterment of mankind that earns respect, not because we simply died. Dying is the easiest part of life. It's inevitable and has nothing to do with respect.
Sorry, to go off topic, but this idea of "respect the dead" simply doesn't make sense. You don't know me, but when I die and you're invited to my funeral, you're suppose to be somber and care just because my brain pan went defunct (or soul if you prefer)? If I was known to have done good things, then you can respect me and miss me and revere me, but not simply because my heart organ stopped working.
You're good to go...
your Aorta got pickled.
There was an article, in I seem to remember Time magazine, last year talking about medical issues on retirement.
For men one issue was the Aorta scan.
My mother was diagnised with it but refused to have the operation (insert a stent) at age 80..told the chief sugeon "I passed my shelf life...you're not going to muck me about"....she passed away 5 years later of natural causes.
I get my scan tomorrow.
If he had 14 hours of heart/aorta surgury he was most likely on a heart /lung machine.
There is are reports that extended use of an artificial heart does something to the blood (churns it too much ?) and this affects the brain function resulting in short term memory and psychological issues after.
My best friend from work suffered both an upper and lower dissection early one morning while arriving at the office. She did not lose consciousness and was taken to the hospital immediately. She was properly diagnosed within a few hours but there was no surgical team immediately available (and this was in downtown Los Angeles). She remained fully conscious and was advised that even with the surgery she would be permanently paralyzed from the waist down and, since her kidneys had failed, she would be on dialysis. She still wanted to live despite this prognosis. Finally late that night a surgical team was organized. She made it through the surgery but never came out of the coma (induced for the surgery). Two days later her family asked to take her off life support. It was all just horrific. I don’t know much about Holbrooke but have been following the story since his surgery. It really is a horrible thing to go through for family and friends.
That’s sad for his family and friends.
The last one of those was Christ!
If you’re 69 YEARS OLD why don’t you retire? I don’t understand these politicians and government officials that work beyond age 65 (well, maybe Reagan being the exception) and into their 70’s and 80’s (Ted Stevens, John McCain, Richard Lugar-age 80 and running for re-election, and too many more to mention).
You have a family that would like to spend time with you, you probably have enough money to live comfortably, you have time to focus on your health, and you are REPLACEABLE!
Maybe if you weren’t flying non-stop around the world trying to be a superhero saving the world you would have maybe discovered this condition and taken care of it before it killed you. I don’t mean disrespect to Mr. Holbrooke, but really, these old people that can’t let go of power really irk me.
I’ll bet he doesn’t get ha;f the coverage of Elizabeth Edwards
This is a diplomat?
Thank you for your service, Poundstone. Have a blessed Christmas!
Perfect point, Doctor13, thank you. I was unaware of Holbrooke’s “Vietnam” legacy.
*****
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.