After a brief delay orchestrated by Senate Democrats, Bush’s controversial choice for UN ambassador, John Bolton will likely get a Senate vote this week, says Senate Democrat Joe Biden.
Opposition to Bolton’s nomination arose when his former colleagues in the State Department accused the deputy secretary of heavy-handedness, ill-temper, micro-management, and abusiveness toward State Department employees.
Bolton’s opponents have cited his dismissive remarks about the United Nations and allegations that he shut out or retaliated against any voices of caution or dissent.
With regard to weapons of mass destruction, Bustani’s organization would likely have found exactly what US military experts have found since: nothing. Thus a major pillar in Bush’s rationale for war would have disappeared.
More recently, however, detailed information about Bolton’s activities as deputy secretary has raised serious concerns about his ability to be "diplomatic" – a crucial temperament required as UN ambassador.
New allegations that Bolton improperly pressured the UN to fire José Bustani, a Brazilian arms-control specialist who headed the UN’s Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), were revealed in an Associated Press story last week.
According to AP, Bustani had tried to send chemical weapons inspectors to Iraq in early 2002. The motive was to help "defuse the crisis over alleged Iraqi weapons," undermining the Bush administration’s rationale for war.
Bustani’s moves infuriated the Bush administration, and according to Bustani, Bolton initially threatened him by telephone and then eventually orchestrated a special session vote, later determined to have been conducted improperly, in which less than one-third of the members of the OPCW voted for Bustani’s removal.
Bustani was fired during the special session based on US-orchestrated charges of "mismanagement."
A former Bustani aide argues that Bolton sought Bustani’s removal not because of mismanagement, for which Bolton offered no evidence, but because Bustani wanted to avoid war.
OPCW official Bob Rigg, a New Zealander, told AP: "Why did they not want OPCW involved in Iraq? They felt they couldn’t rely on OPCW to come up with the findings the U.S. wanted."
Bustani told the French press that Bolton initially tried to push him around verbally and repeatedly demanded that Bush administration flunkies be hired by the OPCW. When Bustani refused, Bolton led a campaign to have him fired.
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Bolton’s first effort to have Bustani fired from OPCW failed to win support of a majority of the member representatives in the executive council of the OPCW. A month later, the US demanded a special session at which Bolton, addressing the entire body, threatened to withhold US dues from the OPCW if Bustani remained in office.
This time Bolton got his way. Forty-eight countries (of 145 members countries) approved Bustani’s removal.
Later Bustani appealed the vote to a higher UN administrative body that denounced Bolton’s charges and threats a "extremely vague" and "unlawful." Bustani did not seek reinstatement.
What does this episode show?
Bolton’s role in the Bustani Affair shows first that Bolton is willing to play the bully role. During Senate hearings, former Bolton colleagues accused him of using his power to bully and threaten subordinates. It is clear from the Bustani Affair that Bolton will use an abrasive, abusive personality trait on the international level.
Second, and far more sinister, is that Bolton was the point man for the Bush administration in thwarting UN efforts to defuse the drive to war with Iraq.
With regard to weapons of mass destruction, Bustani’s organization would likely have found exactly what US military experts have found since: nothing. Thus a major pillar in Bush’s rationale for war would have disappeared.
Throughout 2002 and up to early 2003 the Bush administration claimed to be seeking every diplomatic effort to avoid war. Bolton’s sordid role in the Bustani Affair paints another picture, however. Along with the recently released "Downing Street memo," which details a high-level British official’s belief, after meetings with Bush officials, that Bush wanted to go to war no matter what and that his case for war was weak at best, Bolton’s role in the Bustani Affair is evidence that the administration not only manipulated and fabricated evidence for war and that it wanted a war with Iraq as early as early 2002, but that it used it power in UN organizations to block efforts that would have peacefully accomplished the stated goal of disarming Saddam Hussein.
By any standard Bolton’s behavior (not to mention the Bush administration’s policy) is criminal and granting Bolton a seat at the UN mocks any pretense at respect for international law the Bush administration still claims.
Bolton is the poster boy for why much of the world hates the US.
--Leo Walsh can be reached at pa-letters@politicalaffairs.net.
