Oppose Bolton’s Nomination to the UN

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has released a statement opposing the nomination of John Bolton to be the new ambassador to the United Nations:

“John Bolton openly and repeatedly demeaned the United Nations, worked against non-proliferation, abused the intelligence process and dangerously inflated assessments of weapons of mass destruction. He seems to reject the value of peacekeepers and their role in civil conflicts and undervalues the principle of international law itself.”

Meanwhile, Chuck Hagel has discovered that Bolton abused a member of his staff:

The analyst, a State Department employee who now works on Hagel’s Senate staff, is the third intelligence analyst who was reported to have been threatened or intimidated by Bolton, who has served since 2001 as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security.
The Seattle Times

I have already mentioned the alleged harrassment of Melody Townsel:

Mr. Bolton proceeded to chase me through the halls of a Russian hotel — throwing things at me, shoving threatening letters under my door and, generally, behaving like a madman. For nearly two weeks, while I awaited fresh direction from my company and from US AID, John Bolton hounded me in such an appalling way that I eventually retreated to my hotel room and stayed there. Mr. Bolton, of course, then routinely visited me there to pound on the door and shout threats.

Keep reading to hear what Steve Clemons of The Washington Note says is coming in the Sunday morning papers.

I am in a position to say that new information will hit the press — most likely tomorrow — that takes Bolton’s intelligence obsessions and reckless behavior to yet another level of concern.

What I think and suspect is coming is a bombshell set of articles that profile Bolton’s obsession with intelligence and how his zealotry and overwhelming desire to compete with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Secretary of State Colin Powell resulted in the frequent mismanagement of intelligence for both personal aggrandizement as well as foreign policy crusades that undermined the effectiveness of his boss, the Secretary of State.

If Hagel cannot even stick up for a member of his staff, when there are mountains of evidence that Bolton is a vindictive and unstable maniac, then Hagel has no balls. What’s worse, it appears Lincoln Chafee has determined that no one in Rhode Island knows or cares who John ‘Stalker’ Bolton is. He thinks he can vote for Bolton, make Darth Cheney happy, and there will be no consequences.

If you live in Rhode Island, please flood Chafee’s office with evidence that you do know who Bolton is, and you are not too impressed with him.

If you live in Nebraska, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, Virginia, Alaska, Tennessee, New Hampshire, or Florida, you have a GOoPer senator on the Foreign Relations Committee. Make sure to tell them you know who Bolton is too.

Author: BooMan

Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.