Today, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton
announced his resignation as U.S. Permanent Representative to the
United Nations. It is highly regrettable that the nation will not
have this hard-working diplomat at the head of our U.N. team in the
years ahead. As the following quotes by journalists, U.S. and
foreign government officials, and policy experts show, Ambassador
Bolton has been a "competent" and "eloquent" leader who has
successfully and effectively gotten the U.N. to act on serious
issues and who, with laser-beam clarity, has demonstrated why the
U.N. needs drastic reform. He will be a tough act to follow.
The Media
"Rather than merely erupt at everyone around him, as his
adversaries claim, Bolton brokers peace agreements, frustrates
despots, fights genocide and steers nuclear weapons from the
twitchy fingers of tyrants."
-Deroy Murdock, Scripps Howard News Service, 11/30/06
"Mr. Bolton has been a competent ambassador. He
has diligently worked to impose international pressure on North
Korea, in an admittedly failed attempt to get that regime to back
off from developing nuclear weapons. He has championed the
positions of the United States and its allies forcefully without
being obnoxious. He has eloquently questioned the moral
standing of brutal and staggeringly hypocritical regimes, so well
ensconced in the United Nations, that are quick to attack free and
democratic countries that promote tolerance, freedom and democracy.
And he has stalwartly fought for reform of financial and other
corruption at the U.N.-an ethical position that has angered corrupt
elements at the U.N. but is crucial to making the organization
function more effectively in helping resolve international disputes
and providing aid to the needy... In any event, Mr. Bolton should
be allowed to serve on."
-Providence Journal,11/29/06
"He offers insight with a
moderate tone, and works diligently with other countries in public
and behind the scenes to focus on the serious problems,
such as the nuclear-weapons programs in North Korea and Iran and
the deepening human-rights catastrophe in Darfur."
-Suzanne Fields, The Washington Times,11/27/06
"Bipartisanship means giving Mr. Bolton
another fair hearing early next year and then having every senator
cast a vote. As a recess appointee, Mr. Bolton showed his
critics, as one defender put it, that 'he has no horns.' He did
not live up to his combative style. He didn't repeat such old
bombastic lines as: 'If the U.N. secretariat building in New York
lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference.'"
-The Hartford Courant, 11/17/06
"In the council, Bolton was key in negotiating two unanimous
resolutions on North Korea's nuclear program, put abuses in
Myanmar, formerly Burma, on the agenda, was intricately involved in
peacekeepers for Lebanon and is praised for his knowledge on
nuclear proliferation in current talks on Iran's programs."
-Evelyn Leopold, Reuters, 11/15/06
"Bolton has done an exemplary job at the U.N. He
succeeded in getting resolutions to impose sanctions on North
Korea; he brokered a Security Council resolution to end the war
between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon."
-The Chicago Sun Times,11/14/06
"(Bolton) has worked to build consensus on the world's response
to North Korea's nuclear test, Iran's nuclear program, the Middle
East conflict and genocide in the Darfur region of
Sudan.…Bolton has played the role of a proper
diplomat, but he has also been blunt about the tremendous
need for UN reform in the wake of the oil-for-food scandal and
the world body's continued coddling of police states on agencies
such as the Commission on Human Rights. Bolton should be blunt
about UN reform, a message the body doesn't like to hear. Such
distinguished past ambassadors as Democratic Daniel Patrick
Moynihan and Republican Jeane Kirkpatrick also were criticized for
tough talk on occasion, even when their passion proved to be right
on point."
-The Chicago Tribune, 11/14/06
"It was Bolton who recently organized the majority coalition
that blocked Hugo Chavez's Venezuela from winning a seat on the
Security Council. It was Bolton who worked with France to broker a
cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah (flawed as it was). It was
Bolton who took the lead in pressing for comprehensive reform of
the U.N.'s rotting institutional infrastructure. It is Bolton
who has refused to play the game of diplomatic double-talk,
refusing to participate in the new-and already discredited-Human
Rights Council, which he memorably called a case of 'putting
lipstick on a caterpillar and calling it a butterfly.'"
-The New York Post, 11/13/06
"Mr. Bolton has performed in exemplary fashion
as a recess appointee these last two years, winning plaudits from
everyone except those who admire Kofi Annan and Hugo Chavez. He has
followed State Department orders and argued forcefully for U.S.
policy."
-The Wall Street Journal, 11/13/06
"[P]olls show that fewer than a third
of Americans trust the corruption-plagued world body, the budget of
which is more than one-fifth paid by U.S. taxpayers. Bolton has
been one of the most powerful and articulate voices ever for
cleaning up the U.N. Even liberal Harvard law professor Alan
Dershowitz is a Bolton fan, comparing him to past U.N. ambassadors
such as Adlai Stevenson, Arthur Goldberg, Daniel Patrick Moynihan
and Jeane Kirkpatrick, and upbraiding Senate Democrats for blocking
him. So cutting down the man who was our best chance to reform the
U.N. has nothing to do with the popular will-and everything to do
with Chafee getting the satisfaction of stabbing President Bush and
the GOP one last time."
-Investor's Business Daily, 11/13/06
"Whatever the president's real plans are, though, there's no
doubt that Bolton has indeed gotten things done and deserves
confirmation. Though criticized as lacking in diplomacy, he
managed to engineer a compromise in which Panama was elected to the
U.N. Security Council. He was praised by the New York Times
for his stance on reforming the U.N. Human Rights Commission. He
pushed for overall U.N. reform as well, though without much
success. He negotiated the expansion of the international
Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) to include cargo
inspections. He recently obtained unanimous U.N. Security Council
condemnation of and sanctions for North Korea's nuclear weapons
test."
-The Courier (Findlay, Ohio), 11/13/06
"In his 15 months as ambassador, Bolton has negotiated
with other members of the Security Council to win unanimous or
near-unanimous votes on such divisive issues as North
Korea, Lebanon and the Darfur region of Sudan."
-Stevenson Swanson, Chicago Tribune, 10/26/06
"'The time has come for the suffering
of the Burmese people to end and for democratic change to begin for
the benefit of all the Burmese people and peace and stability in
the region.' We didn't lift those lines from a non-government
organization. They were delivered by the U.S. Ambassador to the
United Nations, John Bolton, on Friday after a closed session of
the Security Council. The meeting marked the first time that the
Council officially discussed decades of military repression,
persecution of minorities, jailing of democracy advocates, drug and
AIDS proliferation, and human trafficking in Burma, one of Asia's
poorest nations. ... For anyone who thinks the Bush administration
isn't standing up for human rights, Burma presents a good counter
case. China and Russia may veto any Security Council resolution,
but thanks to concerted U.S. pressure, Turtle Bay is
focusing on this benighted nation. Finally."
-The Wall Street Journal, 10/2/06
"That is not surprising considering
the vigor with which the ambassador has presented the U.S.
positionat the U.N. and the skill with which he
has found common ground with other representatives on U.N.
policy regarding Darfur, Iran, Burma and Lebanon."
-The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC), 9/27/06
"It could not be more obvious that
we need a tough, no-nonsense advocate of U.N. reform and
U.S. interests. That is precisely what Bolton has
provided, and precisely why he deserves Senate
confirmation before his recess appointment expires in
January."
-The San Diego Union Tribune, 9/27/06
"U.S. actor George Clooney and Nobel
laureate Elie Wiesel told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday the
world would be blamed for another Rwanda if atrocities were not
halted in Sudan's Darfur region…U.S. Ambassador John Bolton
invited the celebrities to an unusual session of the 15-member
council to highlight the catastrophe amid continuing U.N.
frustration about Sudan's refusal to allow U.N. troops to provide
safe havens for civilians in Darfur."
-Evelyn Leopold, Reuters, 9/15/06
"Since the U.N. was created in 1945,
the United States has had 29 ambassadors. How does Bolton
compare?…The Heritage Foundation's expert on the U.N., Nile
Gardiner, says Bolton is similar to Kirkpatrick. He's 'dedicated to
advancing the U.S. national interest' and 'is respected as a force
to be reckoned with inside the U.N. world.'…There's
another measure of Bolton's success, the rigorous but fair
Voinovich test. That one Bolton has passed. And if he's
good enough for Voinovich, he should be good enough for the Senate
and the U.N."
-Fred Barnes, Weekly Standard, 9/18/06
"For more than a year Bolton has proven to be a skilled
diplomat, a builder of coalitions and at the same time made clear
that the U.N. must indeed reform its own operations, especially in
the wake of the Oil-for-Food scandal. And his efforts have resulted
in some modest successes. But the days ahead are even more critical
to the future of that world body and its role in such hot spots as
Iran and North Korea, where nuclear programs have set the
civilized world on edge, and in the Middle East-where a fragile
peace will depend on the constant vigilance of the U.N. Security
Council and the ambassador who has so ably represented this
nation's interests there."
-Boston Herald, 9/8/06
"As his critics would have it, Mr. Bolton's mission to the U.N.
was supposed to be an act of diplomatic sabotage by the
Administration. Instead, his tenure has been among the most
constructive of any U.S. ambassador since Jeane Kirkpatrick and
Daniel Patrick Moynihan."
-The Wall Street Journal, 9/7/06
"Bolton is the most qualified,
most capable fellow the U.S. has ever sent to the UN in
large part because he is willing to defend American interests
against our fiercest antagonists and refuses to be used as a
doormat for the international riff-raff in Turtle Bay…He has
been a champion for a true human rights apparatus at the UN. He has
tried valiantly to get the UN to focus on the problems of
international terrorism. The man should be given a megaphone, a
medal and confirmation by the Senate.
-Thomas P. Kilgannon, Human Events, 9/5/06
"For too long, it could be said the
world did little or nothing as an epic human tragedy unfolded in
the Darfur region of Sudan-hundreds of thousands of souls
slaughtered, millions more driven from their lands. Only the other
day, chiefly by reason of U.S. Ambassador John Bolton's campaign
for action, did the United Nations Security Council vote to send
peacekeepers to Darfur."
-New York Daily News, 9/2/06
"Sudan officially opposes the
resolution. But, after months of discussion, 'It is time for
action,' U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told the Security Council on
Monday. He's right. The world should know which
nations support a robust peacekeeping force for Darfur, and which
ones are opposed."
-The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC), 8/31/06
"The proposal that U.S. Ambassador John
Bolton and his British counterpart have been working on would
provide up to 17,300 troops for Darfur…The Bush
administration, admirably, has worked hard on the diplomatic front
to end the stalemate. Ambassador Bolton has been a tireless
advocate for action."
-The Miami Herald, 8/31/06
"…Mr. Bolton has actually played well since he came to
the U.N. last summer, brokering important agreements that
strengthened both the American position and that of its allies...
[S]tart with Mr. Bolton's negotiating achievements. The troubles
between Israel and Hezbollah notwithstanding, the biggest threats
to world peace are North Korea and Iran. Just last week Mr.
Bolton successfully lobbied both China and Russia to back Security
Council Resolution 1695, condemning North Korea's recent launch of
ballistic missiles. This week, he is spending a good share of his
time brokering a similar resolution in regard to Iran.
….Those who say that Mr. Bolton's personality often gets in
the way should note that he did this job almost without notice. The
big flaw in the anti-Bolton argument is the premise that a softer
ambassador is better. This idea comes out of the Cold War.
…Confirming Mr. Bolton would be an act of wisdom, if only
because he understands that the U.N. is no kindergarten."
-Amity Shlaes, Bloomberg News, in The New York Sun,
7/26/06
"Bolton has strongly supported reform at the United Nations.
He has rightly insisted that crucial reforms should not be
picked apart or watered down into meaninglessness. And he is right
now to insist that there can be no yielding on the core point of
shifting basic management authority from the General Assembly to
the secretary general."
-New York Times, 4/26/06
"I think to begin we have to give credit to John Bolton for
what he is trying to achieve. He is trying to move forward the
reform process. He wants to create a credible Human Rights
Commission. He wants to give more flexibility to the U.N.
secretariat in its work, and all of that is a good idea. It's
supported by Kofi Annan. Even the Europeans agree with
that…
-Philippe Bolopion, Le Monde, responding to a question from
Richard Roth, CNN Anchor of "Diplomatic License," 12/2/05
Richard Roth, later in the same show:
"Well, on a final note, John Bolton did have some
success. After he demanded a Security Council briefing on
Myanmar, a country that's never been on the agenda there, China
finally said yes and sometime in the future, maybe it will be Kofi
Annan, Myanmar will be discussed informally, only at the Security
Council."
Foreign Officials
"I enjoy working with him. Professionally, he's capable. He's
effective..."-
-Wang Guangya, China's Permanent Representative to the UN,
11/15/06
Let us focus on the good guys.… It's time to express
admiration of personalities who have not been cheated by the
Iranians. That's why I have nominated two Americans for the Nobel
peace prize for 2006. …John Bolton, former undersecretary of
state, has with unusual energy tried to find ways to counter this
threat. Friends and foes agree-he never gives up. He has
repeatedly underlined the threat of Iran pursuing two paths to
nuclear weapons: One is the use of highly enriched uranium,
achieved by thousands of centrifuges, which Iran has developed and
tested. A large buried facility at Natanz is intended to house up
to 50,000 centrifuges. Iran resumed activities there just four
weeks ago (in direct defiance of the IAEA). The second is through
plutonium. Mr. Bolton knows that a heavy-water production plant and
the Bushehr light-water reactor can be exploited as cover for
sensitive nuclear fuel cycle activities. He says another
'unmistakable indicator' of nuclear intentions is Iran's habit of
"repeatedly lying to and providing false reports to the IAEA.' The
danger is even more serious as Iran is a leading sponsor of
terrorism. Mr. Bolton, now U.S. ambassador to the U.N., is also a
father of the Proliferation Security Initiative, an international
effort to interdict shipments of WMD components, materials and the
ballistic missiles needed to deliver them. Thanks to this PSI, the
U.S. and others managed to seize centrifuge components en route to
Libya in 2003. This led to the breakup of the network of A.Q. Khan,
mastermind of the proliferation business in recent years."
-The Hon. Per Ahlmark, former Deputy Prime Minister of
Sweden, 2/7/06, in nominating Ambassador Bolton for the Nobel Peace
Prize
"After four months as ambassador, Bolton is still shoveling
hard. Most of his fellow diplomats agree that the blunt-spoken
envoy is indeed unconventional. Some call him 'a bully,' and others
say he is 'brilliant.' But opinion is divided about whether he is
effective - if he is cleaning up the mess, or adding to it. 'He
is having a definite impact, said Ambassador Mihnea Motoc of
Romania, a temporary member of the Security Council. 'Others wish
they could do things the same way.'"
-Ambassador Mihnea Motoc, Romania, in Maggie Farley, Los
Angeles Times, 12/27/05
Current and Former U.S. Officials
"Thanks to the leadership of Secretary Rice and Ambassador
Bolton at the United Nations, the U.N. Security Council passed
a resolution that will help bring an end to the violence and create
a foundation for a sustainable peace."
-President George W. Bush, Radio Address, 8/19/06
"John Bolton, in his tenure at the United Nations, has
shepherded through two U.N. Security Council resolutions with
regard to North Korea. He has been working aggressively and
actively with our allieson the issue of
Iran. He has put together a U.N. Security Council
resolution on Lebanon. And I think he has demonstrated an ability
to work effectively with other members and other U.N. delegations
to move forward and show a leadership role in important
business."
-Tony Snow, White House Spokesman, 11/10/06
"John Bolton has had a long period of
time in New York and we hope people will step back and look at that
record and we think it is a strong record. John has done a
terrific job. He has gotten out of the United Nations some very
important resolutions on some of the most important issues for our
national security…two tough resolutions on North Korea,
which many people thought we could not get. We have a very strong
resolution in terms of Lebanon at a critical time. John is
terrific; he has been a champion of reform and an advocate of
American values."
-Stephen Hadley, National Security Advisor, 11/9/06
"Based on his capabilities - and now based on his performance -
I believe Bolton is well-qualified. ...I think he's been a
good negotiator and a good spokesman. He deserves to have
a vote. I think he deserves to be confirmed."
-Senator Joe Lieberman, New York Daily News,
10/17/06
"I would say that this is an argument
to get John Bolton confirmed as our UN ambassador. He's
smart, he's tough, he would respond to these guys. And he could
talk back to these two-bit dictators who have the airfare
to New York. And I hope my Democrat friends will stop holding up
the nomination of John Bolton."
-Senator John McCain, CBS News "Face the Nation,"
9/24/06
"Ambassador Bolton's leadership was vital as he
helped to spearhead the Security Council's adoption of Resolution
1701 which ended the current fighting in southern Lebanon."
-Secretary Condoleezza Rice, letter to Senator Chaffee,
9/13/06
"My observations are that while Bolton is not perfect, he has
demonstrated his ability, especially in recent months, to work with
others and follow the president's lead by working
multilaterally. In recent weeks I have watched him react to the
challenges involving North Korea, Iran and now the Middle East,
speaking on behalf of the United States. I believe Bolton has been
tempered and focused on speaking for the administration. He has
referred regularly to 'my instructions' from Washington, while also
displaying his own clear and strong grasp of the issues and the
way forward within the Security Council. He has stood many times
side by side with his colleagues from Japan, Britain, Canada and
other countries, showing a commitment to cooperation within the
United Nations.... Should the president choose to renominate
him, I cannot imagine a worse message to send to the terrorists-and
to other nations deciding whether to engage in this effort-than to
drag out a possible renomination process or even replace the person
our president has entrusted to lead our nation at the United
Nations at a time when we are working on these historic objectives.
For me or my colleagues in the Senate to now question a possible
renomination would jeopardize our influence in the United Nations
and encourage those who oppose the United States to make Bolton the
issue, thereby undermining our policies and agenda."
-Senator George Voinovich, op ed, Washington Post,
7/20/06
NGOs
"Fifty-seven percent say the U.N. should be 'scrapped
altogether' if it isn't reformed fast; 62 percent say it's
ineffective in stopping wars; 70 percent want the U.S. contribution
slashed; and only 34 percent say it promotes America's security
interests…'It's an indictment of the way the U.N. runs,'
says Luntz, 'and a huge endorsement of Bolton's
reforms.'"
-Frank Luntz, Luntz, Maslansky Strategic Research, in Paul Bedard,
U.S. News and World Report, 9/10/06
"Bolton has been the most forthright opponent of
extremism within our diplomatic corps. He struck a blow against
the use of the United Nations as a venue that gave birth to such
philosophical doctrines as the noxious 'Zionism is Racism'
Resolution."
-Ed Lasky, The American Thinker, 11/11/06
"He's shown that he can be a really effective
diplomat. And I hope the administration now takes the
wraps off and lets him be the dynamic advocate of American
positions that Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Jeane Kirkpatrick were
and that he always has been."
-Joshua Muravchik, American Enterprise Institute, in Chicago
Tribune, 10/26/06
"In fact, on issue after issue,
John Bolton has represented the United States with great
effectiveness. He has engaged respectfully and
productively with his counterparts from other countries and the
U.N. bureaucracy wherever possible. His leadership has contributed
materially to Security Council actions to address such pressing
matters as: Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions, North Korea's
ballistic missile threat, Sudan's misconduct with respect to its
own people and international efforts to protect them and efforts to
disarm Hezbollah and bring peace at last to a fully sovereign
Lebanon."
-Herbert London, Christopher DeMuth, Frank Gaffney Jr. and Edwin
J. Feulner, op ed, TheWashington Times, 9/7/06
"In some ways, he seems to have been more an ambassador to
the Security Council than to the United Nations as a whole and I
think he has done very well there."
-Ed Luck, Columbia University, in Reuters, 11/15/06
"In the midst of this display of visceral hatred of the
Jewish state and the Jewish people, inimical to everything the UN
was created to oppose, came a singularly powerful voice for reason,
dignity and honesty - Ambassador John Bolton. The crowd assembled
in the General Assembly hall was hostile to the man and to the
country he represents. But Ambassador Bolton took the podium and
spoke with no rancor and no double-talk. Here is part of what he
said: 'This problem of anti-Israel...is endemic to the culture
of the United Nations. It is a decades-old, systemic problem that
transcends the whole panoply of UN organizations and agencies....
The consequences of this persistent, unconstructive, biased
approach are painfully clear - not one single Palestinian is helped
and the United Nations continues to be discredited by its inability
to confront...the Israel-Palestinian conflict in a serious,
responsible manner.' Nobody clapped - in contrast to the applause
which the same crowd had lavished on Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez when he referred to President Bush this past September as
the devil. John Bolton, however, wasn't looking for accolades. In a
room where the US has one vote among 192 states, he simply spoke
truth to power. 'We believe that the United Nations is ill served
when its members seek to transform the organization into a forum
that is little more than a self-serving and polemical attack
against Israel or the United States.' The strength of his
conviction and the veracity of his message reverberated around the
room. Ambassador Bolton used his role to explain what America
stands for and what it does not. This is exactly what makes an
ambassador great, and United States UN Ambassador Bolton one of the
greatest."
-Anne Bayefsky, Hudson Institute, 11/20/06
"In one short but eventful year,
Ambassador Bolton has already acted in a bold and effective
manner reminiscent of former U.S. Ambassadors to the
United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick and Patrick Moynihan. Both of them
also frequently spoke with a candor and honesty that the United
Nations desperately needs to hear. With the multiple crises
enveloping the United Nations only bold and decisive American
leadership can both protect our own interests and rein in the
terrorist turmoil."
-Jeffrey Gayner, Americans for Sovereignty, op ed, The
Washington Times, 9/4/06
"When the final resolution was adopted
by the Security Council, I understood how extraordinarily
effective John Bolton, our U.N. delegate, had been, supported by
our only major ally there, Great Britain… The final
resolution, while undoubtedly watered down from the initial
American proposal, nevertheless could yield positive results if the
international military forces in conjunction with the Lebanese army
disarm Hezbollah in southern Lebanon from the Israeli border to the
Litani River."
-Ed Koch, Real Clear Politics.com, 8/17/06
Janice A. Smith is Special Assistant
to the Vice President in the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis
Institute for International Studies at The Heritage Foundation.