Bolton: A Powerful Diplomat

Fire of Liberty

Here's a great Op/Ed in The Boston Globe by Thomas M. Boyd on Secretary John Bolton. While a select few like Barbara Boxer, Chris Dodd and Joe Biden have made a great deal of besmirching Secretary Bolton by focusing on all of these wacky accusations by Democratic partisan s, they fail to point out how effective John Bolton has been as a diplomat. Luckily, Secretary Bolton has people like Boyd and the facts behind him. See for yourself:

After standard State Department cables were seemingly ignored when they arrived at foreign embassies overseas, Bolton took matters into his own hands. Starting in the summer of 1991 and continuing well into the early fall, Bolton arrived at his office early each morning and began calling ambassadors around the world, as well as here in Washington, one by one, each time using his keen mind and reputation for bluntness to their full effect. Citing from memory Senator Moynihan's Nov. 10, 1975, contention that ''The United States declares that it does not acknowledge, it will not abide by, it will never acquiesce in this infamous act," Bolton refused to accept their excuses and their schedule conflicts and called repeatedly until he talked on multiple occasions to virtually every ambassador whose country would be called upon to cast a vote. In time, his perseverance began to winnow down the naysayers.

By late fall, the entire State Department had come together, and success, literally unthinkable only a few months earlier, had become a probability. By the time the tally was finally taken, on Dec. 16, 1991, the UN's General Assembly repealed Resolution 3379 (Zionism = Racism) by a vote of 111-25 (with 13 abstentions and 17 delegations absent or not voting). American leadership was restored to the General Assembly, and this stain on the prestige of the UN had been removed. But more important, a terrible wrong had been righted, and a critically important and historic principle had been vindicated.

John Bolton should be confirmed soon so he can get to work on reforming the tarnished halls of the UN. If some Senators could just stop their "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" routine, we'd be better off.