Bolton's British Problem - Fresh complaints of bullying dog....

[Roland99]

Bolton's British Problem
Fresh complaints of bullying dog an embattled nominee.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7614769/site/newsweek/

May 2 issue - Colin Powell plainly didn't like what he was hearing. At a meeting in London in November 2003, his counterpart, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, was complaining to Powell about John Bolton, according to a former Bush administration official who was there. Straw told the then Secretary of State that Bolton, Powell's under secretary for arms control, was making it impossible to reach allied agreement on Iran's nuclear program. Powell turned to an aide and said, "Get a different view on . Bolton is being too tough."

Unbeknownst to Bolton, the aide then interviewed experts in Bolton's own Nonproliferation Bureau. The issue was resolved, the former official told NEWSWEEK, only after Powell adopted softer language recommended by these experts on how and when Iran might be referred to the U.N. Security Council. But the terrified State experts were "adamant that we not let Bolton know we had talked to them," the official said.

The incident illustrates a key allegation that now bedevils Bolton's nomination to be America's next ambassador to the United Nations. Bolton's critics contend that he has consistently taken an extreme and uncompromising line on issues and that he has bullied subordinates and intel analysts who disagreed with him. President Bush last week stood by his embattled nominee, blaming "politics" for Bolton's difficult confirmation process. But it was members of the president's own party who were holding things up. After GOP Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, unexpectedly blocked a vote last week, it was clear that Bolton's nomination was in trouble. Powell himself, in reported remarks to several senators, expressed worries about Bolton's temperament. Because the eight Democrats on the 18-person committee are solidly against Bolton, a single GOP defector could kill the nomination when it comes to a vote on May 12. The White House still believes that only a hard-liner like Bolton can reform the U.N.

But the London story is further evidence that Bolton and the White House have their work cut out for them. On several occasions, America's closest ally in the war on terror, Britain, was irked by what U.S. and British sources say were efforts by Bolton to undermine promising diplomatic openings. Perhaps the most dramatic instance took place early in the U.S.-British talks in 2003 to force Libya to surrender its nuclear program, NEWSWEEK has learned. The Libya deal succeeded only after British officials "at the highest level" persuaded the White House to keep Bolton off the negotiating team. A crucial issue, according to sources involved in the affair, was Muammar Kaddafi's demand that if Libya abandoned its WMD program, the U.S. in turn would drop its goal of regime change. But Bolton was unwilling to support this compromise. The White House agreed to keep Bolton "out of the loop," as one source puts it. A deal was struck only after Kaddafi was reassured that Bush would settle for "policy change"—surrendering his WMD. One Bush official called the accounts of both incidents "flatly untrue."

[Catt03]

1. So sick of this behavior of people in the Bush administration

I think it is because they are so insecure that they have to be in control.

Europe is to blame also. Speak up you cowards Just say no for Christ's sake.

[Pachamama]

2. Bolton can't even play well with our "friends" the Brits....This guy is a

train wreck! Amazing, even our allies have had bad experiences and don't want to work with him....Remind me again why the White House (aka * and Cheney) want this guy? Oh yeah, to "reform" the UN - translation, destroy the UN, dismantle the UN, cause upheaval and breakout of confrontations in the UN....Yeah, I guess they are right ole * and Cheney, Bolton is the man for that! :eyes:

[enough]

3. "Bolton is being too tough."

Here we are again.

Somehow this thing is turning into the White House supporting the tough guy and the opposition having to complain that the guy is "too tough."

[creeksneakers2]

4. They are also going to try

to shift the debate. They are going to attack the UN and make this a referendum on the UN.

[PurityOfEssence]

14. Yep, more hypermasculine horse shit

These guys make me puke. Their whole appeal is being tough, steadfast and oh-so-manly. There's a sick bully-worship that pervades conservative thought: how dare a bunch of inferiors tell US what to do; we want a man who doesn't take any guff from the rest of those Lilliputians.

Weaklings love to watch gangster movies, and strutting popinjays like Junior have the same appeal: hero-worship and identification with a leading man who takes what he wants. This is the dark side of humanity, and it's being nurtured like nothing before. Selfishness and greed are now the most prized personality traits in our culture, and there's not even any embarrassment about it.

[confludemocrat]

16. Less eloquently, these are lousy excuses for human beings n/t

[MissMarple]

5. Appointing Bolton is like putting a bull in the china shop, when you want

to change the china patterns and lay some new carpet. This is so incomprehensible. What could really be going on here, is this just more general obfuscation to cloud what is actually happening?

[0007]

6. John Bolton most certainly complements this administration

Like a glove fitting perfectly.

What could be a better augmentation?

[AngryWhiteLiberal]

7. Bolton is KEY to the INVASION OF IRAN...this is why they are backing him

Bolton was expressly chosen for his bullying behavior and neocon craziness. Bolton is needed to throw a wrench in any UN/Iran talks.

The Bushies want to torpedo ANY CHANCE of successful UN resolution on the Iranian nuke program, so they can use the "failure" as an excuse for a pre-2008 election invasion of Iran. Bank on it.

The UN is the ONLY procedural impediment to the neocon's delusion of "democracy at the point of a gun" in the Middle East.

JB

[AlCzervik]

8. The best hope now is that he withdraws his name

otherwise i'm afraid Bush will make him a recess appt which i didn't realize he could do until yesterday.

[ninkasi]

9. The most inept president

with the most corrupt administration, is again forcing one of his least qualified for the job choices upon the American people and the world. The last five years have been the most destructive I have ever seen, regarding our country and our relations with the rest of the world.

It astounds me to think that anybody with any functioning brain cells can approve of these people. The real kicker, though, is that this bullying, corrupt, destructive group have the utter temerity to call themselves the moral party, the party of values. They wrap themselves in flags and wave Bibles while they trample on the rights of anybody who gets in their way.

They take money from the poor, the elderly, children, the helpless, and shove it into the pockets of their hoggish cronies, who are already sitting on piles of treasure. All they can think of is getting more...more power, more money, more of everything.

They are like sharks in a feeding frenzy, who will rip the flesh from anything unlucky to get in the way of them and what they want, which is pretty much everything. In light of all of this, I guess Bolton does make sense to Chimpy and the rest of his thugs. It's just the rest of the world who doesn't want any more of their bullying tactics.

[rodeodance]

10. well, The WH said it "flatly untrue"--so it must be flatly untrue!!

yaddy yah--and to think that dittoheads will believe this!!

....One Bush official called the accounts of both incidents "flatly untrue."

[raccoon]

15. Well said! nt

[Moderator]

11. kick to combine

[NNN0LHI]

12. Bush Pick Bolton Is Under Fire From Brits

http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/45304.htm

April 25, 2005 -- WASHINGTON — President Bush's beleaguered nominee for U.N. ambassador is now taking direct hits from allies on the other side of the Atlantic, according to a new report.

British officials were so irritated by John Bolton's lack of diplomatic tact while serving as a top State Department lieutenant that they demanded the White House leave him off the negotiating team that brokered Libya's 2003 surrender of weapons of mass destruction, Newsweek reports.

The complaints are the latest in a string of allegations that Bolton has intimidated subordinates and lacks the deft diplomatic touch to deliver Bush's message at the United Nations.

more

[w4rma]

13. This guy is a crazy ideologue. (nt)

[katinmn]

17. The Times of London has this story today ("Last straw" for Bolton)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1585546,00.html
April 26, 2005

British complaint could be last straw for Bush's man
By Tim Reid and Richard Beeston

JACK STRAW became embroiled yesterday in the controversy surrounding John Bolton, President Bush’s choice to become the next US Ambassador to the UN, after it emerged that the Foreign Secretary had complained to Washington about his behaviour.
As a series of new allegations against Mr Bolton put his chances of confirmation further into doubt, details emerged of how a furious Mr Straw told Colin Powell, the former US Secretary of State, that Mr Bolton was trying to destroy a European initiative on Iran’s nuclear programme.

Mr Straw made the complaint after he became convinced that Mr Bolton was the source of an article on the front page of The Times last July quoting an unnamed senior US official who dismissed the initiative as “spring training” and advocated “regime change” in Tehran. The Times has never revealed its source.

A Foreign Office spokesman said last night that Mr Straw had “no recollection” of clashing with Mr Bolton. Privately, however, a senior British official recalled that Mr Straw had been very angry with Mr Bolton, whom he described as “extremely disobliging”.

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