From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Tony Blair, from Northern Ireland to the Middle East.

Hello again, I'm Aronaldi, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues, Americans care about most.

Parts of central London are locked down for a manhunt after a massive car bomb was found unexploded

in the heart of the city. Shades of the so-called troubles in Northern Ireland, resolved in

part by the efforts of Tony Blair, who's now a special envoy to the Middle East. On to the

point, can the lessons of one intractable conflict be applied to the other?

Among our guests, former U.S. Senator George Mitchell,

who's been deeply involved in both issues.

Does Blair have the authority to make a difference?

Will American Jews play a supporting role the way Irish Americans did?

On reporter's notebook later on, the Supreme Court and Guantanamo

Bay. First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John

D. and Catherine T. MacArthur

Foundation. Hello again, Mormon-Aldy back with To the Point. Tony Blair helped resolve the

troubles in Northern Ireland. Now he is special envoy to the Middle East. On To the Point,

will the lessons of one conflict apply to the other? We'll look at Blair's authority, his

credibility, and the kind of help he might get

or might not get from other outsiders. On reporter's notebook, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to

...