Secretary of State Condi Rice was on “Meet the Press” on Sunday. During her appearance she spoke about new US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton, a close friend of VP Cheney and a far Right-Wing nut who doesn’t even believe that the UN should exist. Watch how perfectly Condi stays on message. I have to give it to her, she’s good.
MR. RUSSERT: Let me turn to the appointment of John–nomination of John Bolton as ambassador of the United Nations. President went to Europe and said, “You know, we had our differences about the war in Iraq, but now we must come together.” You had a tour across Europe embracing people, the French, the Germans and others. And yet the appointment of Mr. Bolton has raised a lot of eyebrows in Europe and around the United States. Comments like these, an interview he gave with National Public Radio. Bolton: “If I were redoing the Security Council today, I’d have one permanent member because that’s the real reflection of the distribution of power in the world.” Question: “And that one member would be, John Bolton?” Bolton: “The United States.” Great Britain, France, China, Russia, all permanent members, pretty much left out. And then this interview comment from Mr. Bolton. Let’s watch.
(Videotape, Citizens For Global Solutions Convocation, February 3, 1994):
MR. JOHN BOLTON: “There is no such thing as the United Nations.
The secretariat building in New York has 38 stories. If you lost 10 stories today, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”
(End videotape)
MR. RUSSERT: Why are we sending him to the United Nations?
DR. RICE: Because John is a very good diplomat. He has a lot of experience in U.N. affairs. But the fact of the matter is there are five permanent members of the Security Council. John Bolton knows that and he’s going to be perfectly prepared to and ready to work with them, as well as other members of the Security Council, with Secretary-General Annan and with the agencies of the United Nations.
MR. RUSSERT: Does he sometimes say undiplomatic things?
DR. RICE: Well, sometimes we all say undiplomatic things, but the key is that this is a very good diplomat. I can tell you, Tim, that I had the opportunity to work with John when we were developing the Proliferation Security Initiative, from which he did a lot of the negotiation. When we were doing the global partnership for removing nuclear materials and weaponry from the old Soviet Union in concert with our G8 partners, he did the negotiation on that. John is one of the few Americans who actually, on his own nickel, supported a U.N. project when he worked as the special assistant to secretary–former Secretary of State Jim Baker on the western Sahara problem in the U.N.
The United States needs a U.N. that is efficient, that is effective, that can meet the challenges of the 21st century. The U.N. itself, Secretary-General Annan’s people, the members of the U.N. all know that the U.N. needs reform, that there are problems that have been exposed, for instance, through the oil-for-food program, or through some of the problems with peacekeeping. The United States is going to work with the secretary-general and with the U.N. to make sure that we address these problems, and John Bolton, who’s going to be a very important part of my team–and I expect to see him often in Washington, I expect to be in constant contact with him–John Bolton is going to be someone who’s going to be a strong voice for U.N. reform and for an American role in that.
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