John Bolton’s Senate confirmation hearing as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations will be held Thursday.
TOM BARRY
Barry is policy director of the International Relations Center and author of the recent article “UN Basher as UN Ambassador: Bolton’s Baggage.” He said today: “In early 2001 Bolton observed: ‘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.’ … Bolton earned his reputation as a hawk who dismantled the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, renounced President Clinton’s approval of the International Criminal Court, and blocked the efforts to add a verification clause to the bioweapons convention. … In the 1980s Bolton participated in Republican Party efforts to beat back the voter registration campaigns organized by labor and black organizations.”
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Bolton profile
LARRY BIRNS
Currently in New York City, Birns is director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs and author of the recent article “The Pathological John Bolton.” He said today: “In May 2002, Bolton outlandishly came out with a bombshell charge, with no supporting evidence, that Cuba not only possessed ‘at least a limited offensive biological warfare research development effort,’ but had provided such technology to ‘other rogue states.’ … Throughout Latin America, Bolton repeatedly has betrayed a total lack of comprehension of the policy consequences of his rhetoric…”
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DON KRAUS
Executive vice president of Citizens for Global Solutions, Kraus said today: “Bolton has proven himself to be a divisive diplomat, with a track record of breaking bonds rather than creating coalitions. He has argued that ‘there is no such thing as the United Nations … [but merely] an international community that occasionally can be led by … the United States when it suits our interest.’ He is the poster child for much of what our friends and allies feel is wrong with U.S. foreign policy.”
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
