The battle over John Bolton's nomination as the next American ambassador to the UN has entered a new phase, reports Sharif Abdel-Kouddous from New York The furore surrounding John Bolton's nomination as American ambassador to the United Nations on Capitol Hill entered a new phase last week after a Republican senator broke with his party and denounced the controversial nominee as unsuited for the post, set the stage for a protracted and bitter confrontation in Washington. During a hearing of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ohio Republican Senator George Voinovic issued a blistering indictment of Bolton, describing him as "the poster-child of what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be". With an opposing vote from Voinovic, the committee now faced a 9-9 tie along party lines -- rather than a 10-8 vote as was widely-anticipated -- which would have effectively blocked Bolton's nomination. To overcome the impasse the committee took the highly unusual step of sending Bolton's name to the Senate floor without a recommendation. The move marked just the sixth time in US history that a nomination passed out of committee without an endorsement. Bolton's fate now lies in the hands of the full Senate, where Republicans hold a 55 to 44 majority over Democrats. If his nomination comes to a vote, Bolton may very well be confirmed. But the fact that a Republican-led committee could not recommend him dealt a significant setback to President George W Bush who invested heavy political capital in putting Bolton's name forward. From the outset, Bush's choice of Bolton to serve as UN ambassador stunned many in Washington and around the world. He has served in the past three Republican administrations and has consistently been one of the party's strongest conservative voices. For the past 25 years he has worked mostly in the State Department where he presently serves as the undersecretary of state for arms control and international affairs. Throughout his career, Bolton has been one of Washington's fiercest critics of the United Nations. In 1994, he said, "if the UN secretariat building in New York lost 10 storeys, it wouldn't make a bit of difference." Four years later he said, "there is no United Nations. There is an international community that occasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world, and that is the United States, when it suits our interest, and when we can get others to go along." He has also called for the US to stop paying dues to the United Nations. Bolton has repeatedly opposed major global treaties including the 1972 Anti- ballistic Missile Treaty and the formation of the International Criminal Court. He described Bush's decision to pull its support for the court as "the happiest moment of my government service." More recently, Bolton unsuccessfully led a campaign to oust Mohamed El-Baradei from his post as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, because he has not ruled Iran in violation of its international obligations. Nevertheless, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came out in support of Bolton's nomination, praising him for what she called a "proven track record of effective multilateralism". Days later, 59 former US diplomats signed an open letter calling for the Senate to reject the nomination on the grounds that Bolton's unilateralist views would undermine negotiation efforts with other diplomats. While Bolton's was criticised for his blunt neo-conservatism, it was his record of politicising and manipulating intelligence that put his credibility and effectiveness at the UN sharply in doubt. During Senate confirmation hearings, Bolton was accused of repeatedly abusing his power, intimidating intelligence analysts, and damaging the integrity of the State Department. In 2002, Bolton sought to have two intelligence officials fired because they wouldn't support what amounted to his personal intelligence agenda. Neither Fulton Armstrong, a CIA analyst in Latin America, nor Christian Westermann, the State Department's top biological weapons analyst, would agree to back Bolton's claims that Cuba was building a bioweapons programme. In retaliation, Bolton tried to have them both "reassigned". A senior official characterised the incident as shaking the foundation of the intelligence bureau and said it prompted then-Secretary of State Colin Powell to intervene. "Bolton is someone who is known to do what is called 'stove-piping' and 'cherry- picking' intelligence," said Steven Clemons, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. "That is, picking pieces of intelligence that fit ideologically predisposed views on major weapons and WMD accusations against other countries." According to former intelligence officials, Bolton exaggerated intelligence in statements he made in 2002 and 2003 about Syria's effort to acquire unconventional weapons. One senior official told The New York Times that Bolton routinely sought to push his assertions beyond the views endorsed by intelligence agencies. Bolton's manipulation of intelligence ranged from exaggeration of facts to the withholding of information. During his time at the State Department, Bolton reportedly often blocked then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and -- on one occasion -- his successor, Condoleezza Rice, from receiving information vital to US strategies on Iran. Powell's former chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson told The New York Times, " [Bolton] is incapable of listening to people and taking into account their views. He would be an abysmal ambassador." Wilkerson went on to say that Bolton was ordered two years ago not to deliver any speeches or testimony unless it was personally approved by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. This was because Powell and Armitage felt Bolton had caused problems by inappropriately speaking out on several delicate foreign policy issues. This was starkly demonstrated on one occasion in July 2003. On the eve of crucial six-party talks with North Korea, Bolton delivered such a vehement speech against Kim Jong Il's government that the North Korean leadership called him "scum" and refused to deal with him. The controversy surrounding his nomination only continued to grow when it emerged that during the past four years, Bolton asked for -- and received -- the identities of 10 different US officials who were either involved in or talked about in top-secret National Security communication intercepts. "These are the nation's most secret secrets," said Clemons. "The speculation has been that Bolton was spying on his colleagues in matters that he was either blocked from, or that he became deeply obsessed with." Undaunted, the White House continues to express confidence that Bolton will win confirmation in the full Senate as the country's next ambassador to the United Nations. "The president continues to have confidence in John. He believes he's the right person for the job," National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said on Fox News Sunday. Manipulating intelligence, staunch unilateralism, bullying subordinates, spying on colleagues -- the international community should brace itself if John Bolton makes it to the halls of the UN.
