[Translated from Le Figaro (Paris)]

Debates and Opinions

International

United States

BUSH STRUGGLES TO IMPOSE BOLTON ON THE U.N.
By Philippe Gélie

** By choosing the widely denounced diplomat at his next ambassador, the president has entered upon a trial of strength with Congress **

Le Figaro (Paris)
April 28, 2005

http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/20050428.FIG0195.html

No doubt it's in the nature of things that in the first political battle of George W. Bush's second term it's the United Nations that's at stake. But by choosing John Bolton as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the president has entered into a trial of strength with a Congress that is forcing him to calculate just how much power he has.

It was a bold thing to do: John Bolton at the United Nations is a little like the story about the fireman who was a pyromaniac. This 56-year-old ultraconservative, till now the undersecretary of state charged with non-proliferation, has only expressed scorn for an international institution whose role in his eyes is limited to supporting American foreign policy. Some statements, notably the one where he opined that you could shave off ten stories of the United Nations building in New York "without it making the slightest difference," have called forth a special vigilance on the part of the Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where the confirmation procedure is unfolding. In the process, new damaging allegations have surfaced, to the point of turning his nomination into an affair of state.

Beneath his graying mane and his brush mustache, Bolton has been remarkable mostly for his own intemperance, as much in his working relationships as in interaction with interlocutors with a differing point of view. On at least two occasions, on Cuba in 2002 and on Syria in 2003, this highly ideological "hawk" violently reacted against CIA analysts who refused to allow his accusations of proliferation because of a lack of substantial evidence. In several cases, he tried to have those who got in his way transferred or dismissed. Accounts of his brutality toward colleagues have been multiplying, and sometimes even superiors are said not to have been exempt. In 1994, he is said to have chased a colleague in a Moscow hotel, throwing things at her and banging on her door.

Colin Powell, the former secretary of state, said in an interview with the *Washington Times* last year that, on a scale of conservatism going from 0 to 100, Bolton was "around 98." Recently Powell gave his view of him "privately" to several senators who asked him for it. That was enough to make four of the ten Republicans on the Senate committee hesitate. In order to pursue the investigation, the committee vote has been put off until May 12. From now till then, some twenty "interviews" are planned and a questionnaire is to be submitted to the nominee, asking him to turn over the contents of the e-mails and phone calls linked to these confrontations with the intelligence community. If confirmed, his intimidation of CIA agents and manipulation of sensitive information could cost him the job.

Powell's intervention has enraged the White House and sent it in formation to the battlements. George W. Bush has hailed John Bolton as the "the right man for this important job" and his vice president, Dick Cheney, a close associate of the prickly diplomat, has denounced "unfounded accusations." The administration's supporters began a campaign to pressure senators, the most resistant of whom may be invited to a discussion in the Oval Office with the president. Diverting the argument from the candidate's personality, the administration is now refocusing the discussion on the United Nations. "There is clearly a lot to do at the United Nations," Dick Cheney emphasizes. "We are the host country, the largest contributor, and its success depends on Americans' support."

"A vote for Bolton is a vote for United Nations reform, a vote against him is for the status quo," summarized Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman. The formula aims to put those with doubts on the defensive, since American opinion does not view the U.N. very favorably, especially since the war in Iraq and the "Oil for Food" scandal. But the real stakes remain domestic: "If this nomination fails, it will mean that there is a significant resistance among moderate Republicans to a unilateral foreign policy," says Richard Haas of the Council on Foreign Relations. Republican senators have begun counting votes to see if they can force Bolton's confirmation through the full Senate. "It would be a disturbing sign if the president doesn't have the support of his party," says a congressional aide.

Meanwhile, the affair is inspiring a lot of editorials. One of them even had a different post to propose: ambassador to France.

--
Translated by Mark K. Jensen
Associate Professor of French
Department of Languages and Literatures
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA 98447-0003
Phone: 253-535-7219
Home page: http://www.plu.edu/~jensenmk/
E-mail: jensenmk@plu.edu