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How The Americans View Fred Mitchell

In 2005, United States Ambassador to The Bahamas John Rood remarked that there seemed at times to be “two Fred Mitchells” — the polite and polished public Mitchell and the more private, but more revealing Mitchell, according to one of the cables in The Nassau Guardian’s treasure trove of diplomatic documents secured through WikiLeaks.

Because of his position as foreign minister for most of the years covered by the cables, Mitchell is mentioned in the documents more than any other person.

The view of Mitchell is a mixed bag.

One U.S. diplomat wrote of Mitchell, “He is one of the government’s sharpest and most active ministers.”

The cables expose fascinating, behind the scenes insights into how country-to-country diplomacy works, and in unpolished details, how the Americans truly viewed Fred Mitchell.

Their assessment was amazingly candid.

One embassy official wrote in one of the cables: “In public, FM Mitchell studiously avoids commenting on scandals and making overly-provocative speeches.

“A pretentious and intellectual man, he prefers to remain above the fray in these situations.”

Mitchell has a desire to be seen and heard in the international arena, wrote a diplomat in another cable.

A U.S. diplomat observed in a 2004 cable:  “Despite a life-long career as a politician in a country where politics is personalized to the extreme, neither kissing babies nor making small talk comes naturally to Mitchell.

“He prefers to deal with agendas expeditiously and then engage in philosophical discussions or reviews of international relations drawing on his seminars at Harvard’s Kennedy School.”

The Americans recognized these qualities in Fred Mitchell, although they seemed deeply concerned about the foreign policy stance on a number of issues, which he drove. In some ways, the Americans viewed Mitchell as unhelpful.

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