The dam is cracking on Bolton's nomination

[quaoar]

There was the story today on the woman who says Bolton was physically and verbally abusive to her, and now this:

Bolton Often Blocked Information, Officials Say

By Dafna Linzer
The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — John R. Bolton — who is seeking confirmation as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations — often blocked then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and, on one occasion, his successor, Condoleezza Rice, from receiving information vital to U.S. strategies on Iran, according to current and former officials who have worked with Bolton.

In some cases, career officials found back channels to Powell or his deputy, Richard Armitage, who encouraged assistant secretaries to bring information directly to him. In other cases, the information was delayed for weeks or simply did not get through. The officials, who would discuss the incidents only on the condition of anonymity because some continue to deal with Bolton on other issues, cited a dozen examples of memos or information that Bolton refused to forward during his four years as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security.

Two officials described a memo that had been prepared for Powell at the end of October 2003, ahead of a critical international meeting on Iran, informing him that the United States was losing support for efforts to have the U.N. Security Council investigate Iran’s nuclear program. Bolton allegedly argued it would be premature to throw in the towel. “When Armitage’s staff asked for information about what other countries were thinking, Bolton said that information couldn’t be collected,” according to one official with firsthand knowledge of the exchange.

Intra-agency tensions are common in Washington, and as the undersecretary of state in charge of nuclear issues, Bolton had a lot of latitude to decide what needed to go to the secretary. But career officials said they often felt his decisions, and policy views, left the department’s top diplomat uninformed and fed long-running struggles inside the agency.

[Pirate Smile]

1. On CNN's Late Edition today, former NSA Zbigniew Brzezinski was

worried where John Bolton would be placed if he wasn't at the UN.

He was concerned about Bolton being in a position where he would be involved in actually formulating POLICY. He said that at least as UN Ambassador, he wouldn't be involved in policy making.

It was certainly not an endorsement of Bolton as UN Ambassador. He was just commenting on how scary it is to have that guy in a position to actually influence policy.

The fact that this "madman" is anywhere near either of these types of positions just demonstrates the current insanity taking place in our Gov't.

Here is the link. :)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61304-2005Apr17.html

[MollyStark]

2. Why does Bolton have to have any position?

Does he have something on someone?

[Tanuki]

4. Payback ...

...for helping Bush steal the election in Florida in 2000:
http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/index.php?ntid=36007&ntpid=1

[Trajan]

5. He is hard core PNAC ....

He is the American Curveball with a bad attitude ...

He is Wolfowitz on crack ...

[Polly_Tricks]

6. Quid pro quo. After the (s)election of 2000, Bolton, who was working

with James Baker was the man that walked into (I'm not sure what County), and told them the Supreme Court had ordered the Counting of votes to stop.

After Bush was in office as well as VP Cheney, Cheney promised him publically any job he wanted.

Why he wants the UN position has to do with their plans for going into Iran in June/July (rumors)but I believe plausable, and that is why all the Social Security bru-ha-ha.

They always have "Weapons of mass distraction."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/13/opinion/main687887.shtml

Again, quid pro quo.

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[Polly_Tricks]

25. thanks proud2blib

[tanyev]

10. They are starting to run low on uber-loyal

foot soldiers. Everybody is being pressed to do something.

[DulceDecorum]

3. Ya know

in the Bible,
King Solomon, the womanizer,
is succeeded by Rehoboam.

Rehoboam found Solomon a tough act to follow and decided to be a Macho Macho Man.
He took direction and orders from his friends
(who were the previous incarnations of the neocons)
and he severely oppressed the nation.
When the dust settled,
ten out of twelve (plus one) tribes had vanished, never to be seen again.

Taking all this into consideration,
it looks like Dubya is trying to reduce the number of States in the Union
down to about thirteen.

[Polly_Tricks]

8. I'm moving North then. (nt)

[RevCheesehead]

13. well, to be fair, "presidentin' is hard work."

And 13 is more managable than 50. :evilgrin:

[RaleighNCDUer]

15. Hey, that's appropriate -- if we're going to take the constitution back to

1790, it would make sense to take the nation back to 1790 as well.

[BlueManDude]

9. ZB has it exactly right. Once agaim Dems barking up the wrong tree

the UN job is a joke. Bolton is a kook but he can do no harm at the UN. If Bush wants him there so be it. I wouldn't vote to confirm but I certainly wouldn't expend all this energy to defeat him.

God, Negroponte is a freaking criminal and he's about to get the Intel Czar job. THAT'S something the Dems should be concerned about.

Bolton is a loon who will embarrass himself, embarrass Bush and further alienate this administration from the rest of the world. I consider those all to be good things. The Dems are doing Bush a favor by working to shitcan him.

[BlueManDude]

7. I can't understand the anti-Bolton obssession

send him to the UN - big deal. It's a nothing job. He'll be a glorified messenger boy. I'd rather have him doing something in public than sneaking around behind the scenes.

Negroponte is the real danger. He's the one they should be focussing on.

[Dave Sund]

11. We win a fight

Negroponte's going to get confirmed anyway, and if we try to hold that up, we'll be seen as impeding the intelligence community from getting organized.

With Bolton, it's quite possible that we're going to win. It's a victory, hopefully the first of many.

[KoKo]

12. They are BOTH terrible dangers. You can't separate them from the

harm they would do. Bolton will undermine the UN until it can no longer function and he wants it to disband. That was his reward for Florida 200 and the Iraq Invasion. Now they put him in to thwart all UN efforts for peace or humanitarian aid and there's the Iran question.

Negroponte is a thug whose record in Iraq is even worse than Bremer's tenure but he's rewarded for what we've done over there and for what he did in SA with being Intelligence Czar.

They are both terrible. That our Dems don't walk out in disgust says that those on the Intelligence Committe and Foreign Relations Comittee long ago singed on with the NeoCons and are okay with what Bush does. But, they are watching their backs to see how the rest of the Dems and those out there in the country are feeling about their decisions. If the Dems in Senate and House had stood together and blocked this then they would know that we out here were after them...on their trail.

I guess all those petitions we sign don't get enough signatures, and the letters and e-mails and phone calls aren't listend to that either of these two could possibly be confirmed.

Bolton may go down...but it's Repug heat...Negroponte has had a "sail through." So, maybe Negroponte is considered more important to be in charge of US Death Squads and more invasions and Bolton's ambitions for the UN can be achieved another way through Bush's Might and some more maneuvering.....so they could cut Bolton loose to keep Negroponte.

:shrug:

[Dave Sund]

14. We can't possibly win on Negroponte

And, as bad as he is, if we try to fight him, we'll be seen as against a National Intelligence Director.

Criminals, liars, and crooks will be appointed by Bush to every position. We've got to pick our battles. Gear up for the judicial battle that's sure to come. Negroponte's temporary. Judges aren't.

[RaleighNCDUer]

17. Don't bet on it. Central American death squads made judgeships

very temporary in those countries, and we know who was in charge there.

He needs to be put before the Haige, not put in charge of intelligence.

[Dave Sund]

18. I agree

I think he's a terrible choice, and putting him in charge of the entire intelligence community is possibly dangerous. I'm just saying it's a fight we cannot win. Liars, crooks, killers, and criminals are in charge of this administration, so anyone they will put up for the post will be a liar, crook, killer or criminal. It's an unfortunate reality, but one that we cannot change, because we're a heavy minority right now. We don't have the votes to filibuster, and without that, we can't beat him.

[RaleighNCDUer]

22. And I contend that just because we may not be able to beat them

is no reason to not fight. And certainly no reason to support him.

So they'll call us obstructionist. So what? When faced with the intolerable it is not only our prerogative but our responsibility to be obstructionist. Let the other side know that we will vigorously oppose their willful destruction of our nation. We are the opposition party, and it is about time that we began opposing, rather than enabling.

We didn't fight hard enough to oppose Negroponte becoming ambassador to Iraq. Now they can point at his being approved there as reason for his being approved as boss of our new KGB. We should have had people speaking out about his support of Honduran death squads, the funding of the contras and the murderous Salvadoran military before he was ever put in a similar position in Iraq. But just cause we didn't do it then is no reason not to do it now. Force the republicans to go on record supporting him against the opposition of all the democrats.

When your opponent takes a radical stance he must be opposed with an equally radical stance. To be defeated is to lose a vote; to compromise is to lose the vote and lose your soul as well.

[KoKo]

26. Agree with you ....but understand the "odds" against us that make

some DU'ers think we should hold off. But...I think we should go after him all the same as Bolton. Both are bad..we need to target both.

[DulceDecorum]

20. Negroponte is another Bolton

sent to destroy Latin America.
The evil that man does lives after him.

How can you just lie down and spread your legs for Negroponte
when you can
get your chompers out and offer him a Lewinsky?

Who said we can't possibly win?
Rove?
Tell him to break out the KY and assume the
criminal, liar, and crook
position of his choice.
Jeff is still in town.

[BlueManDude]

16. Stopping Bolton will be doing Bush a favor

You overestimate his powers. The UN job has never been a powerful position and Bush and Bolton are in no position to bring about the demise of the UN.

Bolton is a kook who will bring untold embarrasment to himself and Bush. He will foster even greater suspicion between Bush and the rest of the world - which I consider to be a good thing at this point. I'm in favor of anything that steers Bush's agenda farther off the tracks - and Bolton does. Bolton at the UN further isolates Bush from the only people that can bail him out of the messes he's created (namely the rest of the world). I don't want him bailed out. I want him to crash and burn and Bolton helps bring about the ultinate meltdown.

[DulceDecorum]

19. Saddam was ousted over UN resolutions,

so why would you then turn around and infer that the UN job means nothing?
And then in the same breath say that the UN will not be terminated.
Have you heard of The League of Nations?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Nations

Do you realise just how much you sound like those Rapturists
when you say "Bolton helps bring about the ultinate meltdown"?

The Rapturists are doing everything in their power to bring the AntiChrist to earth,
supposedly because they love the Lord.
EXACTLY WHICH Lord, we do not yet know.

[Bridget Burke]

24. So--things need to get much worse before they can get better?

Where have I heard that before?

Those "messes" tend to get people killed--even if we might eventually get a political boost.

[lonestarnot]

23. Hang it on him! He is an arrogant, know-it-all when in all he really

knows is how to lick bushitler's ass!