Weekly Shredder 36:
The Bolton Hearings
by James Norton
Never let it be said that the Republicans are afraid of big adventures.
First, the adventure of Iraq. They said it couldn't be done. They said it would be a disastrous quagmire. They were at least partially right on some of the caveats, but it was a great deal of fun (at first), extremely lucrative for a number of well-connected companies, and in the long run, fairly wild and crazy. The exciting part is that we don't even know how it'll turn out.
Then, the adventure of privatizing — sorry, personalizing — Social Security. Sure, privatizing doesn't address the program's solvency. Sure, it failed in Britain, Argentina and Galveston, Texas (where the rich got richer, and the poor got poorer). But attempting to introduce more risk into the most successful, popular, and humane program offered by the US government? Adventurous.
For archives, audio, and background about the column, click here.
|
And now: the adventure of nominating John Bolton to be the US ambassador to the United Nations.
The reductionist argument is that nominating Bolton to be ambassador to the UN is like nominating Gargamel to be ambassador to the Smurfs.
But more intelligent criticism of the nominee has fallen into two general schools of thought.
One, he hates the United Nations.
Bolton is pretty well hoisted by his own petard on this count. Which is a fancy way of saying he's gone on record talking about how he hates the United Nations and thinks it's little more than America's bitch.
During Bolton's Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., put it a little more respectably:
BIDEN: You said there's no such thing as the United Nations. Quote, "There's no such thing as the United Nations." You said, and I quote, that — excuse me — you said that if you removed 10 stories from the 38-story UN headquarters, quote, "it wouldn't make a bit of difference," end of quote.
That's hard to read charitably.
BIDEN: You said that if the Security Council were remade today, that you would have only one permanent member, the United States. You said that international law really isn't, quote — that really isn't law and that, quote, "while treaties may well be politically or even morally binding, they are not legally obligatory," end of quote.
Whoops. There goes international law.
BIDEN: You said the International Court of Justice, a body created under the UN Charter, is a, quote, "travesty and a pretend court," end of quote.
And, uh, ba-zing.
BIDEN: You said that the peace enforcement operations and nation building should, quote, "be relegated to history's junk pile at the first opportunity," end of quote, because they result in, as you said, quote, "American personnel and resources being committed to UN operations far removed from America's vital interests," end of quote, even though they wouldn't be there unless we — if we didn't want them there, we could veto the effort.
To put this into perspective: The United Nations has been the most cunning, sophisticated and enlightened tool for the projection of American diplomatic power and alliance-building prowess since its creation in the wake of World War II.
Granted, its member states can sometimes frustrate American ambition, and the institution can be as volatile and hard to control as an actual bickering parliament. Granted, it can sometimes maintain peace in places that don't have any direct bearing on US security or economic interests.
But in situations ranging from the Korean War, to patrolling the borders of US ally Israel and keeping the Greek and Turkish bits of Cyprus from tearing one another apart, the UN has been bringing multinational forces together to keep dicey situations from escalating into full-blown wars — wars that would directly threaten US interests around the world.
The beauty of the UN, of course, is that through it the US can lead world opinion without necessarily assuming the mantle — and the sometimes murderously dangerous responsibility — of sole leadership. It's a collective effort. Thanks to Security Council vetoes, other major powers have a real say. And thanks to the General Assembly, all countries have a voice.
But Bolton doesn't know when to quit. During the hearings, he says:
BOLTON: If confirmed, I look forward to working closely with this committee to forge a stronger relationship between the United States and the United Nations, which depends critically on American leadership.
Does the UN depend critically on American leadership? Yes. Is it smart for a nominee who has been righteously blasted for saying that the UN's only purpose is to serve US needs to point out that leadership while trying to mollify his critics?
Maybe not.
A diplomat, he ain't.
Two, he is also a total bastard.
When Carl Ford, an enthusiastic and long-standing supporter of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, testifies about how John Bolton is known as "a kiss-up, kick-down" sort of fellow, it's time to consider whether he'll be the right guy to make friends around the world.
What set Ford off? Bolton, a lordly undersecretary of defense, reamed out a humble State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research analyst who had the stones to point out that a statement Bolton wanted to make about Cuba's (non-existent) biological weapons program was, well, false.
In other words: Bolton — the Bush nominee for a position that calls for cool-headed credibility — wanted to report bad intelligence to the public. An intelligence analyst tried to stop from doing it. He pushed for that analyst to be fired. The analyst's boss, Ford, saved the guy's job.
Now, Ford is angry.
FORD: I've never seen anybody quite like Secretary Bolton. I don't have a second, third or fourth in terms of the way that he abuses his power and authority with little people.
CNN sums up Ford's testimony quite neatly: "'He's a quintessential kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy,'" Ford said, calling him a 'serial abuser.'"
All in all, an adventurous nomination for an important spot. If Bolton's defeated when he's put to a vote next week, the Republican administration suffers an embarassing black eye. And if he's confirmed ... who knows?
Perhaps he'll magically transform into a suave, patient, superhero of international diplomacy.
And perhaps Cuba has an incredibly deadly hidden biological weapons program that only Bolton knows about.
E-mail James Norton at jim@flakmag.com.
— graphic by Derek Evernden (derek@ocellus.net)
