WHEN asked if he saw a role for himself or his colleagues on the suggested independent commission to oversee the decommissioning process, Senator Mitchell said they had devoted a lot of time and effort to the task and on a personal level each of them was anxious to be reunited with their families, "and so we're not volunteering for anything".
However, Senator Mitchell said he could not think of a person who would be better suited by knowledge, background, experience, intelligence and temperament for such a task than General De Chastelain.
Amid laughter from the press, he added "And I think Prime Minister Holkeri would second that motion".
In regard to the division of work between himself and his two colleagues, he said. "To me, surprisingly, and perhaps to others as well, there was never a single disagreement among us on any issue. And I mean that. No issue, large or small, was the subject of disagreement."
They had decided early on that the report would be a collective effort. However, given their various backgrounds, different areas were initially of concern to each of the three panel members.
General De Chastelain, for example, had worked very hard on the modalities of decommissioning, and Mr Holkeri had devoted particular attention to the issues of trust and confidence.
But they had all exchanged ideas and assessments throughout the process, and the extension of the deadline by a week had, given them a further opportunity in complete isolation to discuss their conclusions. "So I think it is accurate to say that this is a combined effort," he commented.
Mr Holkeri agreed that they had been working as a unit, and Genera `De' Chasteiain also endorsed Senator Mitchell's comments.
Finally, Senator Mitchell said he had been asked what they would take away from this process.
He said "Given the intense analysis of words that goes on here words being acceptable or unacceptable based upon who uses them I think a benefit we have achieved from being here is a vast expansion in our vocabulary of synonyms. We have got very good at learning five words to describe every event."