PHILIP KLEIN: His Way
Bolton, John
B O O K SI NR E V I E W N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 7 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R 7 5 and the President's desire to receive legal advice...
...DuringhistimeattheUN,theprovocativeactionsof B O O K SI NR E V I E W 7 6 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 7 This is a limited time offer...
...a subordinate, John Yoo, was part of an informal five-member council including Alberto Gonzales and David Addington andwrotemostoftheopinions;whenBybeewasconfirmed, the White House wanted to promote Yoo but Attorney General John Ashcroft vetoed him...
...But they're something we should all keep in mind, not least the Democratic candidates who hope to succeed GeorgeW.Bush...
...HisWay CONDOLEEZZA RICE had once again capitulated...
...Afterlawschool,Boltonbecamealawyerinprivate practice, though he remained connected to politics by workingonthelandmarkcampaignfinancereformcase Buckley v. Valeo...
...As Bolton's recess appointment came close to expiration, there was a second push to get him confirmed, but Sen...
...HereferstoSyriaas"theAlCaponeoftheMiddleEast...
...To say that Florence King doesn't suffer fools gladly is an understatement akin to suggesting that Fred Astaire could maneuver quite nicely on the dance floor...
...Atthe beginning of a conservative administration, political appointeesmaybeabletokeepthebureaucracyincheck, butovertime,asthehardlinersbegintoleave,thebureaucracyendsupincharge.Boltoncomparesthelossofthe "hardliners"overthecourseoftheBushyearstoremoving defensive players from a football team...
...One of the key problems Bolton identifies is that there is an entrenched bureaucracy within the State Department that often tries to set policy rather than implement the policy of the administration...
...pullout from the AntiBallistic Missile Treaty, a relic of the ColdWarthatimpairedAmerica'sability to develop its missile defense system...
...Which may be why any collection of her writings goes off like a fireworks display...
...IAVAILABLE WHEREVER BOOKS ARE SOLD New York Times Bestseller America: The Last Best Hope (vol...
...Imightas well have been a space alien," Bolton writes, describing how he felt as a self-described libertarian conservative who had volunteered for Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign...
...For months, United Nations Ambassador John Bolton had been fighting valiantly for a binding resolution in the Security Council that would include tough sanctions to pressure Iran to abandon its nuclear weapons program...
...Eventually, evenabureaucraticoffensecouldstartscoring...
...Theoverlawyeredwarisnotgoingaway...
...Neither do Democratic presidential candidates out on the stump denouncing "domestic wiretapping"(actuallythereisnotappingofwiresandatleastone end of the surveilled communications must be foreign...
...That is, instead of seeing themselvesasadvocatesfortheU.S.,theybehaveasiftheir jobistopromotetheinterestsoftheirgivenregion...
...In both cases, the problem was a combination of intransigence by Russia and China and acquiescence by the EU that eventuallyledtocompromisebytheStateDepartment...
...HewentontoYaleLawSchoolfollowing graduation, where he studied underRobertBork...
...And all under intense pressure and, as time went on, reckless partisan attack...
...The only way to make a difference, he argues, is to change the fundingmethodfromoneofassessedcontributionsto a system of voluntary contributions, which would forcetheworldbodytobecomemoreaccountable...
...In a section of the book entitled, "So Many Bad Deals to Kill, So Little Time," Bolton describes a number of other unfavorable foreign agreements that tied down America, including theRomeStatutethatcreatedtheInternationalCriminal Court...
...Any attempt at transition between the blasts would be ludicrous, like playing a waltz between artillery barrages...
...OLCsinadministrationsof differentpartiestendtofollowOLCprecedent...
...On a Friday afternoonduringtheheightoftheIsrael-HezbollahWarin the summer of 2006, most delegates were more worriedaboutwhentheycouldtakeofffortheHamptons...
...When the circus erupted in Florida in 2000, Bolton flew down to add legal firepower to the Bush effort, and was rewarded with the job of undersecretary of state for arms control...
...901, Arlington, VA 22209 Deja Reviews: Florence King All Over Again - Selections from National Review and The American Spectator Get the very best of Miss Florence King from both National Review and The American Spectator in our new book, Deja Reviews...
...Laws and sausages...
...Former Deputy Attorney General Jim Comey, the most levelheadedpersonIknewingovernment,"Goldsmithwrites, "saysthatreadingaboutplansforchemicalandbiological andnuclearattacksoverdaysandweeksandyearscauses you to `imagine a threat so severe that it becomes an obsession.'" Another official is quoted as saying that "readingthematrixeverydayis`likebeingstuckinaroom listening to loud Led Zeppelin music,'" to the point that you begin to "`suffer from sensory overload.'" The New YorkTimesreporterswhogotaPulitzerforrevealingthe NSA terrorist surveillance program did not feel similar pressures...
...Throughout the book, Bolton mocks foreign policy elitesasthe"HighMinded"andEuropeansas"EUroids...
...He held a number of positions in the Reagan administration and the first Bush administration, during which time he coordinated the successfulSurrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad By John Bolton (THRESHOLD EDITIONS, 496 PAGES, $27) Reviewed by Philip Klein Philip KleinisareporterforTheAmericanSpectator...
...InBush'ssecondterm,Boltonwasnominatedfor the higher-profile role of ambassador to the UN, but months of obstruction by the Democrats forced PresidentBushtoinserthiminthepositionasarecess appointment...
...Unfortunately, the culture of the UN was so poisoned, that he often ended up with smaller victories...
...The first, and most revolutionary thing I wanted to do,wasstartmeetingsontime,"hewrites...
...People magazine "The lady knows nothing of mediocrity...
...ThingswentfrombadtoworseforBoltonwhenon May 30, 2006, he found out about the decision that the UnitedStateswouldengageindirecttalkswithIranalong withtheEuropeanUnioniftheregimeagreedtosuspend uraniumenrichment.RiceinvitedBoltontodinnerthat night at Aquarelle, a restaurant at the Watergate complex, to discuss the decision and ask him to spin it positively to the conservative press...
...ThejokewaslostonRice...
...The socalledcareeriststendtobeliberal,andsufferfromadisorder Bolton calls "clientitus...
...Lincoln Chafee, a nominal Republican who supported him the first time around, changedhismind.(Sen.GeorgeVoinovichtoldBolton that, among other concerns, Chafee thought he was "tootiedinwiththeJewishcommunity...
...As Bolton describes it, the UN is a place where process is valued oversubstanceandrepresentativesviewmeetingsasif they were group therapy sessions...
...This was seen as the Bush administration allowed theEUtotaketheleadindealingwithIran,fearingany perceptionthatitwasacting"unilateralist"inthewake oftheIraqWar.Inaddition,namingNorthKoreaaspart of the "axis of evil" gave way to the Six-Party Talks,whichledustoacurrentpolicythatisdifficulttodifferentiatefromtheClinton-eraAgreedFramework...
...In response," Bolton writesinhisinstructivenewmemoir,"formyappetizer,I orderedcarrotsoup...
...Goldsmith was a friend of Yoo and admires his expertise and energy, but once at OLC regardedsomeofhisopinionsasgravelyflawedand,in contraventionofusualOLCpractice,reversedthem...
...Beyond demonstrating Bolton's cutting sense of humor,theincidentisillustrativeofhismountingfrustration after years of watching the permanent State Departmentbureaucracywrestcontrolofforeignpolicyawayfromconservatives.Inhisnewbook,Surrender Is Not an Option, he describes this period as one of the lowpointsofhiscareerintheBushadministration...
...When Bolton finally arrived in Turtle Bay, it was as if he were a man who had walked onto aMarx Brothers set attempting to restore order, because nobody ever let him in on the joke...
...Kofi Annan, who treasured multilateralism as an end in itself,isportrayedbyBoltonasbeinganegomaniacalofficialwhowantedtobeviewedasakindof "secularpope...
...We did not have an extended conversationwithSinatra,however,becauseeveryfemaleinthe placerapidlyelbowedusaside,"Boltonwrites...
...For instance, when it was his turn to become head of the Security Council (which rotates every month), Bolton rocked the boat...
...DeterminedtoreformtheUN,Boltonaimedhigh, attempting to remake the absurd Human Rights Commission (of which Libya had once been elected chairman) into something functional...
...Duringasummerinternshipfor Vice President Spiro Agnew in 1972, Bolton got into a hotel elevator, and encountered none other than Frank Sinatra...
...For just $24.95 (includes S&H) take a trip down memory lane, or begin the journey anew with these delightful selections of Miss King's voluminous collection of essays from 1991-2002...
...Please call 800.524.3469, visit www.spectator.org/DejaReviews, or mail a check to: The American Spectator, 1611 N. Kent Street, Ste...
...The son of a Baltimore firefighter, John Bolton attendedboardingschoolbeforeearningascholarshipto Yale, which had been taken over by the anti-war movementbythetimehearrivedinthelate1960s...
...But despite her tough rhetoric, the secretary of state continued to make unnecessaryconcessions.The idea was to pursue a policy of "carrots and sticks" toward Iran, but in the absence of any mechanism to administer "sticks," in reality, the policy was about offering "lots of carrots...
...Oneofhisfirsttaskswastohelporchestrate the U.S...
...UNFORTUNATELY,OLCseemstohavebeenindisarray in the months after September 11...
...1) also available w w w. t h o m a s n e l s o n . c o m...
...and Goldsmith, after a couple of White House interviews, was given the job...
...When it was unsigned in 2002, Bolton told Colin Powell,"IfeltlikeakidonChristmas...
...AlthoughtherewasthepossibilityofPresidentBush making a second recess appointment, Bolton decided thatitwouldbebestifhemovedon.Asheexplaineditto DickCheney,he"hadn'tspentamonthinFloridain2000 toseeforeignpolicygointhedirectionitwasheading...
...The head of the office, Jack Bybee, was waiting to get approved for a federal judgeship...
...The Department of Defense was said to have mocked this brand of diplomacybycallingit"speaksoftlyandcarryabigcarrot...
...Ol' Blue Eyes,thrilledtofindoutthatBoltonwasworkingforhis buddyAgnew,invitedBoltonandacolleagueforbeersat the hotel bar...
...In the end, Bolton's experience is representative of the frustration felt by many movement conservativesastheinitialpromiseoftheBushpresidencygave waytoweaknessandconfusion.B O O K SI NR E V I E W N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 7 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R 7 7 New York Times bestselling author, continues his narrative through American history in the sequel to America: The Last Best Hope vol...
...B O O K SI NR E V I E W N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 7 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R 7 5 and the President's desire to receive legal advice that helpshimdowhathewants...
...Paul Greenberg, Introduction to Deja Reviews NorthKoreaandIranforcedtheSecurityCounciltoact, but it failed to put real pressure on the regimes...
...drive to repeal the UN's pernicious "Zionismisracism"resolution...
...After his Herculean attempts to reform the UN mostly failed, Bolton came to the conclusion that incremental reform of the UN won't work...
Vol. 40 • November 2007 • No. 9
