Dennis Ross is Finally an Obama Special Envoy

This took pretty much forever. Rumor has it — and it’s pure rumor, but blog-worthy rumor — that there was friction over making former Clinton administration peace-processor Dennis Ross essentially an envoy to Iran under a different name. (His official title: Special Advisor to the Secretary of State for The Gulf and Southwest Asia.) Then there was Richard Holbrooke, the special envoy to Af-Pak, acting in Munich like he was going to elbow Ross out of the Iran portfolio. I guess I’d say watch that tension — Holbrooke’s brief lies in southwest Asia, too, after all — especially if Holbrooke ally Chris Hill is going to be ambassador to Iraq. Much like Iran itself, Ross may find himself surrounded by hostile forces.