Read
How the Press & the CIA Killed Gary Webb's Career
Today's
Stories
December
16, 2004
Christopher
Brauchli
Interest Rates, Credit Cards &
the Lethal Fine Print
December
15, 2004
Robert
Fisk
Who Killed Baha Mousa?
Jennifer
Van Bergen
The Monster Under the Bed
Heather
Gray
Will the Real Christians Please Stand?: a Personal Testimony
Dave
Lindorff
The DNC, Albright and the Iraq Elections
Luis
Hernandez Navarro
To Die a Little: Migration and Coffee
in Mexico and Central America
Joshua
Frank
The Ohio Recount: an Exercise in "Dumbocracy"
Greg
Moses
Eighty-Sixing Civil Rights in Ohio?
George
Caffentzis
The Petroleum Commons
December
14, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
DNC Meddling in the Ukraine Elections
Larry
Birns / Seth DeLong
Haiti is Unraveling and No One is Saying
Anything
Richard
Thieme
My Last Talk with Gary Webb: "I Knew It Was the Truth and
That's What Kept Me Going"
Patrick
Cockburn
A Year After Saddam's Capture, Iraq
is Getting Worse
Chris
Floyd
Client State: Moral Values and Voluntary Servitude in Bush's
America
Akiva
Eldar
A One-time Hanukkah Miracle
Burbach
/ Cantor
The Legacy of Pinochet: Kissinger
and the Teflon Tyrant
December
13, 2004
Cockburn
/ St. Clair
Gary Webb: a Great Reporter, Trashed
by the CIA's Claque
David
Phinney
"Contract Meal Disaster" for Iraqi Prisoners: Rancid
Food Sparked Abu Ghraib Riots
Paul
Craig Roberts
A Dose of Non-Delusional Reality
for Douglas Feith
M.
Junaid Alam
The War is the War Crime
Robert
Jensen
The US Has Lost the Iraq War...and That's a Good Thing
Richard
Oxman
Kafkaesque Lessons for the Left
Greg
Moses
Send No Messengers of Defeat
Douglas
Lummis
The Pentagon's Neurosis: Fallujah
Gulag
December
11 / 12, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Running an Empire on the Cheap
Ron
Jacobs
The Drugs of War: Getting High in the Green Zone?
Saul
Landau
Listening and Talking to God About
Invading Other Countries
Gary
Leupp
Bush's Capital
Sharon
Smith
The Horrible Toll on US Troops
Dave
Lindorff
Deja Vu All Over Again: 5,000 Desertions and Counting
Uri
Avnery
The Boss Has Gone Crazy
Jude
Wanniski
The Neo-Con Smear on Kofi Annan: What Food-for-Oil Scandal?
Heather
Gray
How the South Became Republican: an Interview with John Egerton
Patrick
Cockburn / Ken Sengupta
Fallujah: the Homecoming and the Homeless
John
Pilger
Return to Kosovo: Calling the Humanitarian Bombers to Account
Joshua
Frank
All the Rage: Mr. Solomon, Say You're Sorry
Ben
Tripp
O Canada!: the Truth About the Election of 2004
John
Stanton
God Speaks!
Laura
Nathan
Porn Stars are People, Too: a Talk with Christi Lake
Poets'
Basement
Capaccio, Davies, Louise, Ford and Albert
Website
of the Day
Fallujah Photos: Killed in Their Beds
December
10, 2004
Ralph
Nader
President Bush, Stop Destroying the
Mosques of Iraq
Greg
Moses
Whitewashing Voter Fraud
Nicole
Colson
Rebellion in the Ranks: Grunts Are Resisting Stop-Loss Orders
Frederick
B. Hudson
"They Still Got Those Dogs": A New Book Probes Old
Civil Rights Lessons
Patrick
Cockburn
Iraq's Insurgents Oppose the Occupation, Not the Elections
Kathy
Kelly
From Haiti to Iraq: Burying Water
December
9, 2004
Greg
Moses
Ask Not Who Bankrolled Fallujah
Joshua
Frank
Cobb and the Ohio Recount: Vote Fraud as Fundraiser!
Ralph
Nader
An Open Letter to Bush: It's Time to
Disclose the Real Casualty Figures
Lee
Sustar
Bhopal: the Making of a Disaster
Tom
Barry
Restrictionist Resurgence
Mickey
Z.
Sander Hicks and the 9/11 Truth Movement
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush in the Bubble
Mark
Donham
Why are House Democrats Trying to
Deny Cynthia McKinney Seniority?
Gary
Corseri
On the Anniversary of John Lennon's Death, 2012
Paul
de Rooij
The Voices of Sharon's Little Helpers
December
8, 2004
Ralph
Nader
Will the Real Michael Moore Ever Re-Emerge?
Ann
Harrison
The Ohio Recount: Reluctant Officials
and Few Rules
Paul
Craig Roberts
War Crime
Dave
Lindorff
They've Got a Secret: Inside the $40 Billion Black Budget for
Spying
Patrick
Cockburn / Andrew Buncombe
CIA Warning on Iraq: Fallujah Did Not Break the Back of the Insurgency
Col.
Dan Smith
Rules of Engagement in Iraq
Emily
Alves / Michael Johnson
Paradise Lost: Corruption and Clientelism in Costa Rica
Richard
Oxman
The Dylan Bob Wouldn't Mention: Up With Dylan Thomas
Ron
Jacobs
In Fallujah, Freedom Isn't Free
December
7, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
Running Battles in Baghdad
Behrooz
Ghamari
Lost Muslim Voices of Dissent
Dave
Lindorff
American Fantasies: Psst! Hey Buddy,
Did You Hear How Well the War's Going?
Joshua
Frank
Dean at the DNC?
Richard
Oxman
Down with Dylan: the Insufferable Interview
Ray
McGovern
All Mosquitoes, No Swamp
John
Chuckman
The Invasion of Hallifax: The Imperial Wizard Visits Canada
James
Petras
Latin America: the Empire Changes Gears
Website
of the Day
ToxMap: Who's Poisoning You
December
6, 2004
Paul
Craig Roberts
Paranoia and Pre-emption: Is the
Bush Administration Certifiable?
December
4 / 6, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Politicize the CIA? You've Got to
be Kidding
Joe
Bageant
Dining with the Rhinos
Alan
Maass
Reporting from the Ground in Iraq: an Interview with Patrick
Cockburn
Brian
Cloughley
Democracy, Bush-style, in the Gulf
Laura
Carlsen
Latin America Shifts Left
Lenni
Brenner
Jefferson, Madison, Bush and Religion
Anna
Ioakimedes
Brazil's Haitian Mission: Doing God's Work or Washington's?
Uri
Avnery
Widow of Opportunity?
Fred
Gardner
Supreme Court Hears Medical Pot Case
Dave
Zirin
Steroids to Heaven
Jackie
Corr
Mining Camp Blues: the Red State Variation
Don
Fitz
Will Greens Abandon IRV?
Lucy
Herschel
"Art can be a Weapon of the Oppressed": an Interview
with Artist Anthony Papa
Richard
Oxman
No Angels in America: Bashing the Gay Play
Ron
Jacobs
Holiday Greeting Card
Poets'
Basement
Collins, Albert, LaMorticella
December
3, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Lie Then Escalate
Ben
Tripp
Fun With Boycotts: How to Shop in a
Time of Crisis
Joe
Allen
Murder in El Salvador: the Assassination of Teamster Organizer
Gilberto Soto
Matthew
B. Riley
Human Rights Court Fails Lori Berenson
Meir
Shalev
In the End, It is the Violin that Wins
Bob
Wing
The White Elephant in the Room: Race and Election 2004
Christopher
Brauchli
When McCain Bit His Tongue
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
The EU, the US, Israel and Iran
December
2, 2004
Tito
Tricot
No Justice in Chile: I'm a Torture
Survivor in a Country Where Torturers Still Run Free
Behzad
Yaghmaian
The Murder of Theo Van Gogh and Muslim Migration
Dr.
Susan Block
Lana and Me: Meetings with Remarkable Apes
Frank
/ Chowkwanyun
Liberalism and Its Bounds
Lee
Sustar
Standoff in Ukraine: the Bad v. the Corrupt
Patrick
Cockburn
Another Grim Record in Iraq
Mark
Engler
Seattle at Five
Michael
Donnelly
Something Stinks in South Bend: the Firing of Tyrone Willingham
Nate
Collins
The Bay Area Mall on an Ohlone Burial Grounds
Saul
Landau
The Assassination of Danilo Anderson
December
1, 2004
Phillip
Cryan
Associated with Whom? Rightist Bias
in Wire Coverage of Colombia
Dave
Zirin
What's the Matter with "Leon"?:
Budweiser's Racist Commercial
Ghali
Hassan
Iraq's Health Care Under the Occupation:
200 Children Die Every Day
Donna
J. Volatile
Beware Western Nations Threatening "Democracy"
Patrick
Cockburn
How Saddam Tried to Arm the Insurgency
Nick
Meo
Chemical War Over Afghanistan
Mike
Ferner
The Battle of Toledo
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Shame and Determination on Global AIDS Day: 40 Million and Rising
Kathy
Kelly
Looking the Other Way: the Real Crimes
of the UN in Iraq
November
30, 2004
Jennifer
Van Bergen
The Veil of Secrecy
Toni
Nelson Herrera
Meeting Kurtz: When Art is a Crime
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Bush Delusions: Successful at Incompetence
Patrick
Cockburn
The Insurgency Strikes Back: There Are No Safe Havens in Iraq
Chuck
Munson
WTO Protests Five Years Later: Seattle Weekly Trashes Anti-Globalization
Movement
Adam
Williams
Citizenship Sold: Back to Business in Indiana
Gregory
Elich
A Dangerous Turn in the US Plans for
North Korea
Website
of the Day
Read Lynne Cheney's Lesbian Novel Online!
November
29, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Blowback in Ukraine: The Hand of
the CIA?
Omar
Barghouti
"The Pianist" of Palestine:
Roadblock Concerto at Gunpoint
Mike
Whitney
The US Media and Fallujah: How to
Market a Siege
Uri
Avnery
The Abu Mazen Style: "Give Me
Some Credit!"
Matt
Vidal
Globalization and Economic Inequality: a Look at the Numbers
Patrick
Cockburn
An Interview with Iraq's Foreign
Minister
Alan
Farago
Sex Change and Salvation: God, Girly Men and Endocrine Disrupters
Justin
Huggler
Bhopal 20 Years Later
Antony
Loewenstein
How Australia Reported Arafat's Death and Legacy
Gary
Leupp
Ukraine: Poll Results Aren't the Real
Issue
Website
of the Day
Mosul: Images from a Kill Zone
November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
November
26, 2004
Peter
Feng
Gavin Newsom: Man or Machine?
Greg
Moses
It's the White Vote, Stupid
Liaquat
Ali Khan
The Devil's Work: Bush's Minority Appointments
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should Be Banned from Canada: a Memo to the Ministry
of Immigration
Dave
Lindorff
Nation of Sheep, Turkey of an Election: Urkrainians Show the
Way
Gary
Corseri
When Black Friday Comes...
Paul
Craig Roberts
Whatever Happened to Conservatives?
Website
of the Day
Iraq Pipeline Watch
November
25, 2004
Willliam
Loren Katz
Giving Thanks to Whom?: "Thanks
to God We Sent 600 Heathen Souls to Hell Today"
Mitchel
Cohen
Why I Hate Thanksgiving
Mike
Ferner
An Uncommon Mom
November
24, 2004
Gila
Svirsky
License to Kill: the Example of Violence
is Set by the State
Winslow
T. Wheeler
The
Other Mess in Congress
Christopher
Brauchli
The Company He Keeps: the Syndicate of Tom Delay
Dave
Lindorff
Double Standards on Exit Polls: Hypocrisy Sans Irony
Ron
Jacobs
The Occupation of Iraq is the Root of t he Problem
Ken
Sengupta
Witnesses: War Crimes in Fallujah
Diana
Barahona
The Final Holocaust or Why I Voted for Ralph Nader
John
L. Hess
Safire the Shameless
Jason
Leopold
Did Harvard Hire (Another) War Criminal?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Mark of McCain: the Senator Most Likely to Start a Nuclear
War
Map
of the Day
Now and Then: 2004 v. 1860
November
23, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
Bush and Uribe at the Beach
November
22, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Fight Night in the NBA: Selective Outrage
in Detroit
Paul
Craig Roberts
On to Iran: We Won't Get Fooled Again?
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should be Banned from Canada
Kathie
Helmkamp
Our Son: a Marine Who Won't Kill
Ken
Sengupta
The Triangle of Death: "This is Now the Most Dangerous Place
in Iraq"
Mike
Whitney
Greenspan's Hammer
Roger
Burbach
Why They Hate Bush in Chile
Website
of the Day
Fed Up with Government Lies and Corporate Spin?
November
20 / 21, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Poisoned Chalice
Todd
May
Religion, the Election and the Politics of Fear
Abbas
Ahmed Ibrahim
The Horrors of Fallujah: a First-Hand Account
Kevin
Zeese
Mishandling Nader
Landau
/ Hassen
After Arafat
Tom
Barry
The Vulcans Consolidate Power: The Rise of Stephen Hadley
Fred
Gardner
Pot Shots: Ask Dr. Todd
Justin
E.H. Smith
Triumph of the Will: the Sequel
Carl
Estabrook
Where We Are Now
Gary
Leupp
Imperial History-Making vs. Reality-Based Thought: a Dialogue
Dave
Lindorff
Apocalypse Soon
Jenna
Michelle Liut
Plans Colombia and Patriota: Wanton Wastes of Money, Manpower
and Lives
Mickey
Z.
The Granma Moses of Radical Writing: an Interview with William
Blum
Greg
Moses
The Same Old Struggle Against Imperial America
Sharon
Smith
Abortion Rights and the Election: What Now?
Ron
Jacobs
Sandwiches and Car Bombs
Ben
Tripp
Raising d'Etre: Finding Money in Hollywood These Days
Richard
Oxman
Basketbrawl Two Pointer: Iraq Rules!
Gilad
Atzmon
Politics and Jazz
Poets'
Basement
LaMorticella, Albert, Ford, & Anon.
Website
of the Day
Voice of the Forest
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
|
December 16, 2004
The Dubious Career of John Bolton
The
Latest Mad Man at Foggy Bottom
By
GABRIEL ESPINOZA GONZALES
On November 17, 1997, the Wall Street
Journal published an Op-Ed in which the author expressed,
in unequivocal terms, his intemperate and dismissive attitude
towards Washington's adherence to multilateral international
accords, writing "treaties are law only for U.S. domestic
purposes. In their international operation, treaties are simply
political obligations." The author of this piece, whose
conclusions were widely disputed by individuals far more knowledgeable
on the subject than himself, is current Undersecretary for Arms
Control and International Security John Bolton, the man now being
mentioned to replace Richard Armitage as Deputy Secretary of
State under Condoleezza Rice and an unwavering neoconservative
ideologue in the most ultra sense of the word. Ultraright elements
in the White House, the Pentagon and Congress are strongly pushing
for Bolton to be nominated, for they see in him the ideal candidate
to help Rice mold the State Department to their profile. Such
an appointment will assure that State officials will harmonize
their thrust with the rest of the Bush administration's ideologically-driven
foreign policy agenda.
For a government agency whose
stated mission is to "create a more secure, democratic,
and prosperous world for the benefit of the American people and
the international community," to have as one of its chief
policymakers a man who whose career reads as a what-not-to-do
handbook on consensus building and international diplomacy, would
be totally incomprehensible. In fact, it is nearly unfathomable
to imagine a candidate less qualified and more ill-prepared for
the State Department's second highest-ranking position and dangerous
to long-term U.S. national interests as Bolton. The singularity
of the stand that he has taken over the years on a wide range
of issues underlines this claim. His nomination will signify
to the world that Washington believes constructive engagement
is neither required nor desirable for self-serving U.S. objectives
to prevail.
Talk Forcefully
and Carry a Big Stick
Throughout his career in both
the public and private sector, John Bolton has demonstrated a
disturbingly constant tendency to disregard facts, as well as
a self-righteous attitude towards achieving selfish and even
dangerous foreign policy goals, always seen through the prism
of a U.S. unilateral agenda. In 2001, at the onset of the Bush
administration, Bolton set the tone for what would turn out to
be his unique contribution when he pontificated that, "It
is a big mistake for us to grant any validity to international
law even when it may seem in our short-term interest to do so
because, over the long term, the goal of those who think
that international law really means anything are those who want
to constrict the United States."
Accordingly, in an article
published in the Winter 1998 issue of the conservative journal
The National Interest, Bolton expanded on his vehement
opposition to the International Criminal Court (ICC). In it,
he reasoned that if Washington were to ratify the accord, it
would limit this country's foreign policy initiatives, since
"the president, the cabinet officers who comprise the National
Security Council, and other senior civilian and military leaders
responsible for our defense and foreign policy," would become
"the potential targets of the politically unaccountable
Prosecutor created in Rome." What he failed to consider
is that prosecution before the ICC would be reserved as a last
resort to redress blatantly criminal behavior such as genocide;
his words suggest that, according to his view, Washington's actions
should not be restricted by or put to the test of any notion
of international legality or, for that matter, morality.
In support of his position
he goes on to criticize Judge Baltasar Garzón for having
the audacity to attempt to detain and extradite Augusto Pinochet
during a trip that the former Chilean dictator was making to
the U.K. The famed Spanish jurist wanted Pinochet to be brought
to Spain to stand trial for a number of Spanish victims among
the estimated 3,000 killings and missing-persons cases blamed
on Pinochet's rule. According to Bolton, after seventeen years
of military dictatorship, several thousand forced disappearances,
institutionalized torture and politically motivated assassinations
under Pinochet, "Chileans made their choice, and have lived
with it." This type of callous and uninformed assessment
of the situation reflects the type of prescriptive policymaking
Bolton calls for towards the region and indeed the world.
A major component of Bolton's
foreign policy agenda has focused on a strict advocacy of structural
market reforms meant to further enrich multinational corporations
at the expense of efforts aimed at significantly improving basic
living standard in developing countries. His position on the
subject is starkly evident in a June 25, 1995 Op-Ed published
in the Washington Times in which he criticized the Clinton
administration for continued funding of "programs on international
population control and environmental matters rather than fundamental
economic policy reforms in developing countries" and further
assailed then Vice-President Al Gore for his "preference
for condoms and trees instead of markets." These will be
the types of initiatives that are sure to gain credence if Bolton
is chosen as the State Department's second in command.
In the aforementioned The National
Interest article, Bolton also briefly refers to Washington's
decision to withdraw from the mandatory jurisdiction of the International
Court of Justice (ICJ), the predecessor to the ICC. In 1986,
the ICJ ruled that the U.S. had violated its obligations not
to use force against and not to violate the sovereignty of another
state as a result of its continued "military and paramilitary
operations in and against" Nicaragua's Sandinista government.
Instead of Washington abiding by the ruling in other words,
accepting responsibility for what was found to be its criminal
behavior the Reagan administration decided to ignore the
court's decision. Washington continued to support the Contras'
violent insurgency against a government with which Washington
had full diplomatic relations, until the Sandinistas were democratically
defeated (with the U.S. providing major funding for the opposition)
in the country's 1990 presidential elections. Bolton refers to
the ICJ's ruling as "erroneous," a position that is
consistent with his belief that the White House must be free
to act without restriction or fear of reprisal.
As Assistant Attorney General,
a position he held from 1985 to 1989, he was also instrumental
in Justice Department efforts to withhold information regarding
the Iran-Contra affair, which included his own personal notes
on the scandal, and aided Congressional Republicans who were
hard at work attempting to obstruct ongoing investigations into
alleged Contra drug smuggling. He even went as far as to call
an unauthorized press conference in which he lashed out at the
investigating special prosecutors, leading then White House spokesman
Marlin Fitzwater, acting on behalf of the same government officials
Bolton was defending, to refer to him and his actions as "intemperate
and contentious."
No Evidence?
Just Make it Up
One of Bolton's most outlandish
public charges, but one that is quintessential of his method
of operation, was his May 6, 2002 claim that not only did Cuba
possess "at least a limited offensive biological warfare
research development effort," but that, indeed, it had provided
such technology to "other rogue states." Bolton's career
preoccupation with Cuba-bashing was now aimed at attempting to
have the Castro regime included among President Bush's infamous
Axis of Evil category. In what amounted to little more than preaching
to the choir, Bolton presented his thesis to an audience at the
conservative Heritage Foundation. As it turned out, his charges
were so bereft of any substance or even a tincture of verisimilitude
that even his Bush administration colleagues rushed to disavow
any association with them. In addition to refutations by both
Secretary of State Colin Powell (who said "we didn't actually
say it [Cuba] had some weapons") and former commander-in-chief
of the U.S. Southern Command Gen. Charles Wilhelm (who stated
he had never received any evidence to support Bolton's claim
and that he was within the loop for such privileged information),
even Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfield indicated to reporters
that he was unaware of any links connecting Cuba's biomedical
industry to bio-weaponry research.
Despite being called upon to
do so by several Senators, Bolton refused to attend a Senate
hearing where he could present any evidence of Cuba's alleged
bioweapons program, a rather telltale admission that he would
be unable to substantiate his charge under sworn testimony. The
dearth of any compelling evidence linking Cuba's highly lauded
pharmaceutical industry to terrorism was eventually confirmed
by a 2004 wide-ranging Congressional investigation into government
intelligence estimates, which peeled away at the last vestiges
of credibility behind Bolton's assertions.
Career Highlights
Bolton's 2002 Cuba charge is
emblematic of his contempt for the facts and his shoot-from-the-hip
style for which he has become infamous. In fact, a scrutiny of
Bolton's professional career reveals why he has become such a
favorite among hardline neoconservatives. Not only are his positions
on a wide range of issues stridently to the right of mainstream
opinion even by the standards of this administration
he also has shown an uncontrollable need to engage in hyperbole,
and, on more than one occasion, outright prevarication. Fortunately
for his critics, his excesses, coupled with his possessing perhaps
the most radicalized ideological profile in the senior ranks
of the State Department or in indeed perhaps the entire Bush
administration, are predictive of his habitually skewed way of
thinking.
At a 1994 panel discussion
sponsored by the World Federalist Association, for example, he
stated "There is no such thing as the United Nations,"
spookily adding "'if the U.N. secretary building in New
York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference."
If anything, Bolton's comments regarding the UN may have been
born more out of wishful thinking than anything else, considering
that he has always viewed the world body as an illegitimate and
bothersome restraint on what he believes is Washington's inviolable
right of unilateral action. In a direct attack on the UN's ability
to restrict the use of force, published in the Weekly Standard
in 1999 under the title Kofi Annan's UN Power Grab, he
reasserted his scriptural fidelity to unilateralism, writing
that if Washington were to overly legitimize the UN, "its
discretion in using force to advance its national interests is
likely to be inhibited in the future."
Bolton's unqualified attacks
on his chosen targets continued in 1999 when, following the Senate
defeat of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, a gloating
Bolton characterized supporters of the ban as "misguided
individuals following a timid and neo-pacifist line of thought."
In 2002 he went so far as to directly challenge Washington's
long-standing pledge to limit a nuclear response only to attacks
from a nuclear-armed foe, calling any such agreement "an
unrealistic view of the international situation." More recently,
Bolton has targeted two prominent and reputable international
figures as part of his vindictive campaign against all those
who oppose the White House's aggressive unilateral foreign policy
agenda. Both Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International
Atomic Energy Agency, and Hans Blix, head of the UN Monitoring,
Verification and Inspection Commission, had criticized the U.S.
invasion of Iraq, characterizing it as premature and unjustified,
and consequently Bolton is adamant about their removal. On December
12, the Washington Post reported that ElBaradei has earned
Bolton's ire as a result of both his Iraq position as well as
for his commitment to reaching a negotiated settlement regarding
Iran nuclear programs. Bolton has been instrumental in having
the CIA and the NSA spy on both men, hoping to discover evidence
that would lead to their removal from their posts.
Diplomacy:
Just Say No
During a 2001 UN Conference
on Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons, Bolton once
again came out with all guns blazing, telling delegates that
Washington was opposed to any move to restrict civilian access
to weapons or a treaty that would serve to "abrogat[e] the
constitutional right to bear arms." This extension of NRA-type
thinking into the international sphere effectively undermines
even preliminary attempts to demilitarize such ongoing conflicts
like those now seen in Colombia and the Sudan as well as multilateral
efforts to combat astronomically high rates of gun-related crime
in Latin America and elsewhere by curtailing the illegal shipment
of small arms from the U.S. to the region.
His lack of diplomatic tact
was again on display later that year, when he scuttled efforts
to add a negotiated verification process to an international
bio-weapons ban, by telling other conference participants that
the provision was, "dead, dead, dead, and I don't want it
coming back from the dead." He saw no discrepancy between
his accusations against Cuba and his negative stand on the international
bioweapons ban. Additionally, following the Bush administration's
decision to withdraw from the ICC, Bolton asked and was granted
permission to sign his name on the letter notifying the UN of
Washington's actions, which was somewhat bizarre since he had
played no official role in the decision-making process. The move
was simply symbolic, a need for a zealot to be heard: as he later
told the Wall Street Journal, it was "the happiest moment
of [his] government service."
Not surprisingly, according
to Bolton's view, constitutional protections of the right of
free speech do not appear to carry the same weight as the precious
right to bear arms. This is particularly true when political
dissent stands in direct opposition to his myopic worldview.
Regarding his ill-temper towards civic participation in the policymaking
process, he criticized "the promotion of international advocacy
activity by international or non-governmental organizations."
Latin America
has Much to Fear
If Bush nominates Bolton to
the second highest-ranking position at the State Department,
and if the latter survives what will likely be a very difficult
Senate confirmation process under the scrutiny of Senate Foreign
Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-IN), the decision
will have markedly long-lasting repercussions in Latin America.
Washington's bilateral relations with the newly emerging coalition
of left-of-center governments in Caracas, Brasilia, Buenos Aires
and Montevideo, among others, likely will rapidly sour, as the
latter will accurately interpret Bolton's ascension as reflecting
a significant shift of U.S. foreign policy much further to the
right than has been in evidence even during the last four difficult
years under Bush. Bolton's past actions and public record have
demonstrated that he is either oblivious to or unconcerned with
the root causes for Latin America's many ills, such as its pressing
need for socioeconomic and governmental reforms and its possessing
the most skewed wealth distribution in the world.
Bolton has otherwise focused
on counterproductive quick-fix solutions that usually end up
only responding to Washington's narrow self interests, such as
blind adherence to neoliberal reforms, while leaving a majority
of Latin Americans worse off than before. Furthermore, his overriding
obsession with U.S. dominance and the protection of its power,
his nostalgia for Cold War-era tactics and his fervent backing
of every one of Washington's frequent interventions in the region
will likely signify a quick death for whatever constructive dialogue
might have been possible between Washington and a continent increasingly
skeptical of the former's goodwill regarding its basic regional
interests.
Gabriel Espinosa Gonzales is a research associate at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs.
Weekend Edition
Features for November
27 / 28, 2004
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The Murder of Danilo Anderson
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Empire's Lawless Opportunities
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The Case of Captain R.
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Tabloid Justice
Stephen
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God's Kind of Men
Poets'
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Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
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