| John Bolton was a prominent figure in the lie-fest that led to Bush's War On Reality (the Iraq invasion) and he has no business anywhere near the United Nations. (It has NOTHING to do with his personality.) |
| Senate Republicans and Bolton apologists have tried to frame the Bolton debate as one of diplomatic temperament. Maybe Bolton is a bully and maybe he isn't (all indications are that he is a bully), but his temperament is not the real crux of the debate over his confirmation as U.N. delegate.
The Bush administration has a record of distorting or flat-out fabricating intelligence in order to justify its military ambitions. It has been incredibly frustrating to watch the architects of this policy promoted or honored for these travesties. * John Bolton is only the latest example. Multiple witnesses at his Senate hearing confirmed that he tried to have subordinates fired when they insisted that he not exaggerate intelligence findings related to weapons procured by Cuba and Syria. (The Republicans point to the fact that he failed in his efforts to have them fired as making these incidents irrelevant!) When will someone be held accountable for the deception fostered by Bush and his congressional allies??? (Incidentally, John Bolton was also instrumental in the Florida 1999 recount fiasco, an often overlooked miserable chapter in his miserable political career. His nomination as U.N. Ambassador is a thinly veiled reward for his efforts in that charade.) Mr. Bush has rewarded the people who drafted the policies that led to the illegal detention, abuse, humiliation and, ultimately, torture and even killing of prisoners at the hands of American military forces. A couple were nominated to the federal appeals court. One became attorney general. Mr. Rumsfeld still has his job. Source: "Abu Ghraib, Rewarded" - NY TIMES - 6/22/05 * Despite Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo - not to mention Iraq and the failure of intelligence - and the various roles they played in what went wrong, Rumsfeld kept his job; Rice was promoted to secretary of state; Alberto Gonzales, who commissioned the memos justifying torture, became attorney general; deputy secretary of defence Paul Wolfowitz was nominated to the presidency of the World Bank; and Stephen Cambone, under-secretary of defence for intelligence and one of those most directly involved in the policies on prisoners, was still one of Rumsfeld's closest confidants. President Bush, asked about accountability, told the Washington Post before his second inauguration that the American people had supplied all the accountability needed - by re-electing him. Only seven enlisted men and women have been charged or pleaded guilty to offences relating to Abu Ghraib. No officer is facing criminal proceedings. Source: Abu Ghraib - by Seymour Hersh May 23, 2005 And now…the results: John Bolton, the American ambassador to the United Nations, blocked a United Nations envoy on Monday from briefing the Security Council on rights violations in the Darfur region of Sudan, ...despite pleas from Mr. Annan and the 11 other Council members. Mr. Mendez later briefed reporters, saying Sudanese officials were taking only cosmetic steps to prevent systematic human rights abuses there. He accused the Sudanese government of refusing to cooperate with the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, a tribunal strongly opposed by the Bush administration on grounds it might pursue frivolous prosecutions of American soldiers or officials overseas. Source: "Bolton Blocks a Briefing on Sudan" By REUTERS - NY Times - October 11, 2005 |
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| Comments | Contributor | Date Submitted |
| And not that Bush appointed him during recess, knowing that many in the Senate have serious misgivings, our standing in world opinion will plumment even farther as Bolton bullies his way through the U.N. | Linda Denton |
8/18/2005 |
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