NYT: 3 Ex-Officials Describe Bullying by Bolton

3 Ex-Officials Describe Bullying by Bolton
By DOUGLAS JEHL
Published: May 3, 2005

ASHINGTON, May 2 - Three former senior government officials have provided new accounts of what they described as bullying and intolerance shown by John R. Bolton to subordinates and other officials who disagreed with his views on policy and intelligence matters.

The three former officials provided the accounts in interviews with the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to transcripts of the conversations. The committee is reviewing Mr. Bolton's nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations.

The firsthand accounts came from a former ambassador to South Korea, a former assistant secretary of state, and the former head of the Central Intelligence Agency's weapons proliferation center. All three described Mr. Bolton as unwilling to listen to alternative views, the transcripts show, and two provided new details about episodes in which he sought to punish those who challenged his positions.

-snip-
In each case, the former officials said, Mr. Bolton sought to portray American foes like North Korea, Syria and Cuba as a greater threat to American security than many diplomats and intelligence analysts believed accurate. The former officials did not describe any case in which Mr. Bolton criticized an intelligence report for overestimating a threat, as turned out to have been the case in prewar intelligence on Iraq.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/03/politics/03bolton.html?

How fitting that the nominee for the post to the UN would be so overwhelmingly qualified to demonstrate the very same characteristic of not getting along with others stridently pursued by the current war criminal regime inhabiting the executive branch.

in a way, I hope he gets the job - because at this point in history, lets face it - Bolton IS the face of US diplomacy. He will cause America endless embarassment, but then again... Bush enjoys having minions act as lightning rods, so he can pretend to be the sensible moderate guy.

That said, lets drag him through the mud for a few more weeks. Fun!

says Bush. We got it Bush, you want someone you can count on to deliver faulty inteligence info directly to that worthless organization. Don't need to waste time coaching people from the CIA, etc. to make statements to the U.N. Bolton would have all the info he needs.

or august.

This administration will go down in history as the worst ever, assuming we survive long enough to have a history to write it down in.

I was going to respond exactly as you just did.

Those who say let Bolton in to fail should bite their tongues. Bush has a special purpose for Bolton and he's probably the only person available who would deliver such a strong-arm ultimatum to Europe via the U.N. that would force a war with Iran.

The political resistance to Bolton is inspired by his failure to conform to the false PR image of American policy as an inspiration to the world.

A nation repudiating international law and criminally invading another country should be represented by a man such as Bolton. It is only fitting. Our elites can't withstand their image coming out in the light of day. They should be seen for who and what they are. A refined and articulate murderer, such as Negroponte, is much more tho their taste.

Unleashing the feral Bolton upon the UN would be the most honest and representative choice.

When we cease being a brutal empire--whether through choice, defeat, or bankruptcy--then the need for Boltons will have passed.

But while we still lance the world for profit and whim, let's send mustachioed motherfuckers. Daylight is a good place for monsters.

on the WRONG SIDE. just like all of the neocons.

they take the job description for the ideal candidate, turn it on its head and nominate someone who fits THAT description. you know, BIZARRO WORLD.

whose ethical sense initially resists in this thread. It clarifies a great deal that we need to pay attention to and goes quite a way to explaining why they want Bolton:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1755978&mesg_id=1755978
Thread title: "Guardian: How the UK was persuaded that the Iraq invasion was legal"

Bolton is a lying, ruthless, quite possibly psychopathic bully and that makes him valuable to them. They don't want honesty or statecraft, they WANT a conscienceless, deceitful bully who can eliminate discourse and "justify" wars of convenience and misrepresent the reality of what other nations are doing.

If Bolton gets this nomination, it will be pointed to as as affirmation of his "get tough with the whole damn world" policies. He will say that the American people are with him in his quest to "reform" the UN.

A loss will kick any momentum he has among wavering Repubs for his domestic agenda right in the berries.

Let's not cut off our nose to spite our face.

Our own Nikita Khruschev. Give that man a shoe.




And some Grecian Formula for that spooky moustache.

It's wonderful listening to certified assholes defend the actions of a world-class dick. Nothing could show the flagrant disregard for truth or decency like an ongoing equivocation of how it's just fine to be a flaming son of a bitch with thuglike retaliation against colleagues and a systemmatic need to lie in order to get his way for world conquest. May it last for months.