Gary Fitleberg, December 4, 2004

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations quit after five months.

John Danforth said Thursday that he wants to spend more time with his wife, who is suffering the aftereffects of a fall she took a year and a half ago.

Danforth mostly was preoccupied with peace-brokering in Sudan, but he kept a promise made during his Senate confirmation hearings to counter imbalanced anti-Israel resolutions. In October he vetoed an Arab-backed Security Council resolution on an Israeli raid in the Gaza Strip because it made no mention of Arab "Palestinian" rocket attacks on Israel that precipitated the raid.

Gary Fitleberg is a Political Analyst specializing in International Relations with emphasis on Middle East affairs.

Copyright © 2004 Gary Fitleberg