RogerRabbit
Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined: 05 Sep 2004
Posts: 748
Location: Oregon
|
 Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2005 11:16 pm Post subject: Wrong man at the wrong time |
 |
|
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=4/27/2005&Cat=14&Num=001
If Mr Bolton sends shivers through the 191-member organization and the international community then he definitely should be our Amb. to the UN
Come on Senators, get on with it and tell the world what we think.
| Quote: |
By M. A. Saki
John R. Bolton's nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations sent shivers through the 191-member organization and the international community. All were stunned at the choice of a man whose unilateralist and unrealistic attitudes toward international issues have made the world a less safe place.
His nomination appeared more appalling since the Bush administration had previously announced it planned to repair its image, which had suffered greatly due to the scandal-hit invasion of Iraq launched under the guidance of hawks like Bolton and other officials who Nelson Mandela once called the dinosaurs surrounding Bush.
Certain revelations after his nomination forced the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to unexpectedly decide to spend a few more weeks investigating allegations about his bullying tactics against subordinates, attempts to suppress opposing views about foreign policy and national security, threats to a female government contractor, and misleading the committee about his handling of classified materials. His record is so dark that even some Republicans sitting on the committee are finding his appointment hard to swallow.
His intimidation of intelligence analysts has been confirmed by the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency. For instance, Carl Ford, former chief of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, told the senators that Bolton is a "serial abuser who bullied subordinates… an 800-pound gorilla." He said Bolton "abuses his power and authority over little people." "He's a quintessential kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy." He accused Bolton of seeking the dismissal of a State Department official with whom he disagreed.
Former secretary of state Colin Powell, who was never really a member of the dinosaur club during Bush’s first term, has expressed some reservations about the Bolton nomination in private consultations with some members of the committee. According to U.S. media outlets, Bolton, who delivered a stinging speech about North Korea in 2003 that nearly derailed regional negotiations on the country, did not respond to a question about whether he was "ever asked by Secretary Powell to refrain from making public comments about North Korea's nuclear issue."
Bolton also clashed repeatedly with U.S. intelligence officials in 2002 and 2003 as he sought to prove that Syria was making efforts to acquire unconventional weapons that the CIA and other experts rejected as exaggerated. The CIA report to Congress said only: "In principle, broader access to Russian expertise provides opportunities for Syria to expand its indigenous capabilities, should it decide to pursue nuclear weapons."
The mustachioed hawk, who wants to see his nightmare worldview translated into reality, has repeatedly claimed that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapons program, despite announcements by the UN nuclear agency that it has found no evidence indicating that Tehran has a nuclear weapons program.
According to current and former officials who have worked with Bolton, he often blocked Powell and, on one occasion, his successor, Condoleezza Rice, from receiving information vital to U.S. strategies on Iran.
Two officials described a memo that had been prepared for Powell at the end of October 2003, ahead of a critical international meeting on Iran, informing him that the United States was losing support for efforts to have the UN Security Council investigate Iran's nuclear program. Bolton allegedly argued that it would be premature to throw in the towel. "When Armitage's staff asked for information about what other countries were thinking, Bolton said that information couldn't be collected," according to one official with firsthand knowledge of the exchange.
U.S. officials have said Bolton let Rice go on her first European trip without knowing about the growing opposition there to Bolton's campaign to oust the head of the UN nuclear agency. "She went off without knowing the details of what everybody else was saying about how they were not going to join the campaign," according to a senior official.
Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed that Rice recently told her senior staff that she was disappointed about the stream of allegations against Bolton and said she did not want any information coming out of the department that could adversely affect the nomination.
Publicly, Rice has staunchly defended Bolton's credentials and urged the Senate to quickly confirm him. But privately, officials say, she has kept him out of key discussions on Iran since taking over in January.
Despite the fact that his nominee for UN ambassador has openly displayed his contempt for internationalism and post-World War II international treaties, Bush has insisted that Bolton is the "right man at the right time for this important assignment." But Bolton is actually the wrong man at the wrong time because he represents the intolerant and unilateralist tendency in U.S. foreign policy which has only served to increase international tension and hatred of the United States throughout the world. |
_________________
"Si vis pacem, para bellum" |
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
