Inside File By George, Haass he got it?

By Ray O’Hanlon

Given the fact that George W. Bush is Gerry Adam’s new best pal, there is reason now to expect good things from Richard Haass, the newly appointed State Department director of policy and planning and soon-to-be roving ambassador with responsibility for Northern Ireland.

Haass must be confirmed as a roving ambassador by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "IF" expects that he will be closely questioned by Irish-American senators such as Chris Dodd and Joe Biden with regard to his comments and writings on Northern Ireland over the years.

Haass has lavished both criticism and praise on President Clinton’s policies. Six years ago, he told the Boston Globe that Clinton was paying too much attention to the Catholic minority in the North and was being too soft on the IRA. At one level, Haass appears to be a thinker of the big-is-beautiful foreign policy school, the kind of guy who is wary about U.S. involvement in deep-rooted, but relatively small-scale conflicts such as the one in the North.

His mid-’90s criticism of Clinton, however, was not untypical of Republican Party foreign policy heavies at that time. Similar criticism came around that time from the likes of Sen. John McCain and former Secretary of State James Baker, the man who has a problem with the Boston Tea Party. But with regard to Haass, there is comfort to be taken from the fact that his digs at Clinton were mostly made before, not after, the Good Friday agreement, an outcome which more than justified Clinton’s Irish efforts and one, lest we forget, was also signed by those very special friends in London.

King’s coup

Pete King seems to have given her majesty’s servants yet another reason to permanently put off the Long Island congressman’s honorary knighthood. King seemingly engineered that walk down the Capitol steps for Gerry Adams last week in which the company was provided by George W. and Bertie.

The Daily Telegraph reported one British official as describing King’s engineering of the scene as "crass" and "upstaging the democratically elected leaders of Northern Ireland," who were left twiddling at the top of the steps. The paper also made much of the fact that Adams secured 15 minutes all on his lonesome with Secretary of State Colin Powell. But never mind, one always lives to fight another day and the Torygraph’s plucky readership was doubtless reassured by the final paragraph in the report: "British officials indicated that Gen Powell’s meeting with Mr. Adams was a sop to Irish nationalism after the decision to downgrade the Ulster issue by moving it from the White House to the State Department." Well thank Gawd for that!

Where they go?

Francis X. Clines penned an interesting piece in the New York Times recently on an effort to restore an old Irish immigrant neighborhood in Baltimore. But this line rather stood out and "IF" is certainly not alone in being a bit confused by it: "Census figures show a 45 percent drop across 20 years in the number of Americans — currently 22 million — who claim some Irish heritage." Which census? It was the 1990 U.S. Census that threw up the now famed figure of 44 million Americans who point to the auld sod as their number one ethnic root. The 2000 census did not contain a follow-up question, so there is no way of assessing any numerical change over 1990 at this point. At the same time, one can only assume that Irish Americans are still having babies, so the 44 million figure, if anything, has risen over the last decade. Go figure!

Kelley’s heroes

Paul X. Kelley has been a man of many missions over the years. One of them was to lead the last combat marines out of Vietnam 30 years ago. In a distinguished military career that saw him serve as commandant of the Marine Corps and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1983-87, the man has never been inclined to turn his back on any task or target. With that in mind, the nine Irishmen who died in the Korean War and who have yet to attain the honor of being made American citizens must surely now have what every soldier, at the very least, deserves and that is a fighting chance.

You really mean it?

"IF" was delighted to read the statement in the New York Post "Official" parade supplement last week by parade committee chiefs Jim Barker and John Dunleavy. Especially welcome was the part where the dynamic duo took the opportunity to thank "all the people who have made our parade a success over the years."

Taking a truly global view of things, the lads went on: "Without them and their efforts this tradition would not have become the great event that is recognized throughout the world as the oldest and largest Catholic parade in the world in celebration of our patron saint." Sure that must mean us too! Such grace under fire, what?

Hamill straddles

Well, well, Pete Hamill is back at the Daily News. That’s like Simon and Garfunkel getting back together after all those artistic differences. "IF" was wondering if Hamill will actually make the trek to the Daily News offices or work out of his own office. The News is long gone from 42nd Street and is so far over on the west side of Manhattan these days that they say you can see the Rockies from the canteen.

Hamill himself has his own working pad down on the lower east side — 210 South St. to be exact. Newspaper junkies will know that address. It’s the old New York Post building. The building is now partly made up of condos and private offices and Hamill, according to a source, has one of them. Hamill, of course, edited the Post on South Street for a time before he became editor of the News, only to lose that job for no good reason yet known to rational man. You can’t beat the old newspaper business for the bit of irony.

Meanwhile, columnist Jim Dwyer — whose departure from the Daily News presumably has something more than a wee a bit to do with Hamill’s return to the Daily Planet — is to be a reporter with the New York Times Metro section. You’ve got to hand it to Dwyer. He has a Kerryman’s cunning, for sure. Not many journalists out there who win a Pulitzer Prize before getting a real job.