By Jeremy Gillick Yes, it's true. Barack Obama has ordered Guantanamo closed. That's big news, at least symbolically. But the bigger news, the decision that could really change things in the Middle East, is his selection of George Mitchell as special envoy for the Middle East. Unlike the other candidates for the position-Dennis Ross and fellow Clintonites like Martin Indyk, Aaron David Miller, and Dan Kurtzer-Mitchell's resume includes making peace in addition to policy. And critics of the Mitchell appointment (lefties: the special envoy doesn't matter anyway, righties: Mitchell is too "fair") are not very convincing. Perhaps the most fascinating tidbit I stumbled on while parsing through old magazine articles about Mitchell was a piece by Atlantic Editor Andrew Sullivan titled "Fighting Irish" from the New Republic's August, 2001 issue. Sullivan argues that Mitchell, among others, was...

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