2008 Woodie Awards
Bush's UN appointment is poor choice
Resistance
Brian Fanelli
Issue date: 4/5/05 Section: Forum
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President Bush?s choice for United Nations ambassador is John Bolton, a tough-talking conservative aligned with administration hawks who has alienated several countries in the last few years by his comments. This appointment is another sign that the Bush administration is not receptive to world opinion and has little regard for the United Nations.
Bolton was nominated for the position of United Nations ambassador by the president in the beginning of March and has a career of working with conservative administrations. Under Reagan, he worked at the U.S. Agency for International Development, and he also worked with former president Bush as Assistant Secretary of State in International Affairs.
Over the last four years, Bolton has worked closely with Bush administration hawks, serving as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs within the State Department.
After Bolton?s nomination as United Nations ambassador, the New York Times described Bolton as close in his views to Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld: two men seen as the driving force for the war in Iraq, caring little for world opinion and dissent against the war.
Bolton seems just as polarizing to the world as Cheney and Rumsfeld but administration hawks pushed for his nomination. "A top Republican policy official close to the administration said that it was well understood that Mr. Bolton might alienate Europeans, but Mr. Cheney had pushed for him for
the United Nations job," the New York Times said in the beginning of March.
In serving under the current administration for the last four years, Bolton?s outrageous comments have shut down diplomatic talks, while sparking tension with threatening countries, such as North Korea.
Diplomatic talks between the United States and North Korea ceased in August 2003, when Bolton referred to Kim Jong II, North Korea?s leader, as a "tyrannical dictator." He also stated that life under the ruler is a "hellish nightmare," according to the MSNBC Web site after Bolton was nominated.
Bolton was nominated for the position of United Nations ambassador by the president in the beginning of March and has a career of working with conservative administrations. Under Reagan, he worked at the U.S. Agency for International Development, and he also worked with former president Bush as Assistant Secretary of State in International Affairs.
Over the last four years, Bolton has worked closely with Bush administration hawks, serving as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs within the State Department.
After Bolton?s nomination as United Nations ambassador, the New York Times described Bolton as close in his views to Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld: two men seen as the driving force for the war in Iraq, caring little for world opinion and dissent against the war.
Bolton seems just as polarizing to the world as Cheney and Rumsfeld but administration hawks pushed for his nomination. "A top Republican policy official close to the administration said that it was well understood that Mr. Bolton might alienate Europeans, but Mr. Cheney had pushed for him for
the United Nations job," the New York Times said in the beginning of March.
In serving under the current administration for the last four years, Bolton?s outrageous comments have shut down diplomatic talks, while sparking tension with threatening countries, such as North Korea.
Diplomatic talks between the United States and North Korea ceased in August 2003, when Bolton referred to Kim Jong II, North Korea?s leader, as a "tyrannical dictator." He also stated that life under the ruler is a "hellish nightmare," according to the MSNBC Web site after Bolton was nominated.
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