Over a year ago, when Democrats (and one agnostic Republican) on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee blocked his nomination of John Bolton as UN Ambassador, President Bush used his executive authority to appoint him temporarily.
Bolton’s critics claimed that they obstructed a vote on his confirmation by the full Senate because they feared he was “too combative for international diplomacy”. However, by all objective accounts, his stint at the UN has been a surprising success. Indeed, so much so that when US reporters tried (even off the record) to get his fellow diplomats to validate those fears, they could not find anyone at the UN who shared the Democrats’ ironic view of Bolton as the stereotypical ugly American.
They chose to obstruct his confirmation, even though he enjoys majority support in the Senate, and even though their tactics will disrupt our diplomatic work at a sensitive and important time….This stubborn obstructionism ill serves our country, and discourages men and women of talent from serving their nation.
[President Bush begrudgingly accepting Bolton’s resignation yesterday]
But it is truly extraordinary that UN diplomats held Bolton in such high esteem. After all, Bush dispatched him to the organization to execute a “take-no-prisoners” reform agenda, which included streamlining the UN bureaucracy, demanding greater transparency and accountability for its expenditure of funds, and eliminating the farcical Human Rights Commission (where despotic nations like Libya, Sudan and Cuba had a forum to condemn the relatively good human rights record of other nations).
I am very disappointed to see my friend and colleague John Bolton go.…He was an exceptionally skillful diplomat at the UN at a time when we face very difficult issues like…reform.
[Japanese Ambassador to the U.N. Kenzo Oshima pictured here with Bolton]
Nonetheless, one can only imagine the frank discussions he was compelled to have with these foreign dignitaries for whom, in too many cases, the UN is more of a country club (funded mostly by the U.S.) than a forum for discussing and resolving issues of serious international consequence.
In fact, the only people at the UN who seem to have found Bolton too combative for international diplomacy were those who were up to their gills aiding, abetting and / or profiting from corruption (whether tied to the Oil for Food Programme, the serial sexual abuse of refugees being guarded by UN peacekeepers, or one of the other numerous scandals that have plagued this organization). And Bolton clearly provided them no aid and comfort by calling repeatedly for all UN staffers implicated in these scandals to forfeit their club membership when Kofi Annan retires, in disgrace, in a few weeks (31 December).
Despite his good deeds, however, Bolton appreciated that there was simply no chance of his temporary appointment being extended when it terminates, by law, in early-January. After all, this would require confirmation by his Democratic critics who seem pathologically unimpressed by his performance on the job and have even more power to obstruct it now that they control the Congress. Therefore, Bolton knew he had to bolt, and tendered his resignation accordingly.
As remarkable as this may seem, however, I sympathize with Bush’s dismay over the partisan way Democrats treated Bolton’s nomination. Moreover, I agree with his assessment of the consequences it portends for U.S. diplomacy and reform at the UN. Because it is self-evident that if the U.S. does not leverage its financial and political power to reform the UN bureaucracy and enforce its resolutions, then the UN shall remain little more than a tower of Babel despoiling the skyline of New York.
Therefore, I hope Bush nominates someone who can be easily confirmed (i.e., not a rabid Republican), but one who shares Bolton’s commitment to executing his reform agenda.
NOTE: Rumors are rife in Washington that the man Bush will nominate to replace Bolton is former Democratic Senator George Mitchell (best known in the US as the quaint politician who was supposed to rid Baseball of steroid abusers like Barry Bonds; and on the international scene as one of the U.S. Special Envoys to Northern Ireland who helped broker the Belfast Peace Agreement between warring Catholics and Protestants).
But if Mitchell turns out to be Bush’s new nominee, this, more than anything, would signify his utter capitulation to Democrats as the only relevant political power in town. Because the Democrats could not have chosen a nominee more sympathetic to their views. In fact, where Bolton was regarded warily as the enforcer – executing Bush’s unilateral reforms, Mitchell will undoubtedly be greeted heartily as a compromiser – more interested in reforming Bush’s reform ideas than in reforming the UN itself.
But, if this is what it takes to restore America’s international goodwill…God help us (the world that is)!
Related Articles:
Bush Appoints Bolton to the UN over Congressional Objections!
The United Nations’ Oil-for-Food Saga: The Final Chapter…
The United Nations: Corrupt from Head to Toe?
The UN (continues to) dither and debate as Africans die by the thousands…everyday!
The indictment of Barry Bonds would be an error for Baseball…
John Bolton UN Ambassador
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