pcteaser
04-25-2005, 04:15 AM
Time for Bolton to go
When the White House says Democrats are trumping up accusations against John Bolton, nominated to be U.N. ambassador, it's kind of like the White House saying Martin Luther King Jr. trumped up accusations of racial bias: sad, laughable and demonstrably untrue on its face.
But that's the line the Bush administration is taking on Bolton, despite an almost certainly fatal wound his nomination suffered Tuesday in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. After an impassioned plea by Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said what he had heard troubled him enough that he didn't feel comfortable voting for Bolton. If Voinovich voted no, the outcome would have been a tie, killing the nomination. So the vote was put on hold for a few weeks while more information is collected.
The best outcome of this hiatus would be for Bolton to do the right thing for himself, the administration and the country, and withdraw his name. He is unfit to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and he is now such damaged goods that his effectiveness as ambassador would be nil.
In fact, it approached nil the day he was nominated. Over the years, Bolton has shown himself to be an implacable enemy of the international body, a contemptuous diplomat, a bullying boss, a dissembler in Senate testimony and a man congenitally unwilling to accept any information that is at odds with his neo-conservative dogma.
But Bolton being Bolton, he is unlikely to withdraw, in which case the committee should use its additional time well. It should begin by taking formal testimony from Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as former Secretary Colin Powell's chief of staff. In an interview with the New York Times Monday, Wilkerson said Bolton "is incapable of listening to people and taking into account their views. He would be an abysmal ambassador."
Next on the witness list should be Rexon Ryu, an expert on the Middle East and nonproliferation, plus those who saw how Bolton treated Ryu. In 2003, Ryu, who now works for Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., was working closely with Powell on Iraq issues. Bolton sought to have Ryu ousted and accused him of withholding information and insubordination, other State Department officials have said. Ryu was described by colleagues as "brilliant" and a "rising star." His boss said Bolton's accusations were found to be baseless.
Then should come Melody Townsel, who wrote an open letter to the Senate committee detailing Bolton's abusive and harassing conduct toward her when she worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development and sought to blow the whistle on a contractor client of Bolton, then out of government. Although Townsel is aggressively anti-Bush, others have come forward to verify her account. Bolton even went so far as to tell Townsel's colleagues that she was under investigation for theft and fraud -- an outright lie. On and on the pattern goes, and it needs to be explored in detail if Bolton won't voluntarily take himself out of the game. No way should this destructive bulldozer be confirmed. By his own conduct, he has justified his rejection.
-- Minneapolis Star Tribune
When the White House says Democrats are trumping up accusations against John Bolton, nominated to be U.N. ambassador, it's kind of like the White House saying Martin Luther King Jr. trumped up accusations of racial bias: sad, laughable and demonstrably untrue on its face.
But that's the line the Bush administration is taking on Bolton, despite an almost certainly fatal wound his nomination suffered Tuesday in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. After an impassioned plea by Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said what he had heard troubled him enough that he didn't feel comfortable voting for Bolton. If Voinovich voted no, the outcome would have been a tie, killing the nomination. So the vote was put on hold for a few weeks while more information is collected.
The best outcome of this hiatus would be for Bolton to do the right thing for himself, the administration and the country, and withdraw his name. He is unfit to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and he is now such damaged goods that his effectiveness as ambassador would be nil.
In fact, it approached nil the day he was nominated. Over the years, Bolton has shown himself to be an implacable enemy of the international body, a contemptuous diplomat, a bullying boss, a dissembler in Senate testimony and a man congenitally unwilling to accept any information that is at odds with his neo-conservative dogma.
But Bolton being Bolton, he is unlikely to withdraw, in which case the committee should use its additional time well. It should begin by taking formal testimony from Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as former Secretary Colin Powell's chief of staff. In an interview with the New York Times Monday, Wilkerson said Bolton "is incapable of listening to people and taking into account their views. He would be an abysmal ambassador."
Next on the witness list should be Rexon Ryu, an expert on the Middle East and nonproliferation, plus those who saw how Bolton treated Ryu. In 2003, Ryu, who now works for Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., was working closely with Powell on Iraq issues. Bolton sought to have Ryu ousted and accused him of withholding information and insubordination, other State Department officials have said. Ryu was described by colleagues as "brilliant" and a "rising star." His boss said Bolton's accusations were found to be baseless.
Then should come Melody Townsel, who wrote an open letter to the Senate committee detailing Bolton's abusive and harassing conduct toward her when she worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development and sought to blow the whistle on a contractor client of Bolton, then out of government. Although Townsel is aggressively anti-Bush, others have come forward to verify her account. Bolton even went so far as to tell Townsel's colleagues that she was under investigation for theft and fraud -- an outright lie. On and on the pattern goes, and it needs to be explored in detail if Bolton won't voluntarily take himself out of the game. No way should this destructive bulldozer be confirmed. By his own conduct, he has justified his rejection.
-- Minneapolis Star Tribune