Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, there have been a lot of complaints lately over John Bolton, the President's nominee to be United States Ambassador to the United Nations.
Mr. Bolton is an excellent choice for this position, as both his experience and leadership qualities prove. He graduated from Yale Law School, joined a prestigious firm, one of the country's great law firms, Covington & Burling. He worked there until 1981. He began his career in public service at the U.S. Agency for International Development, first as general counsel, then as assistant administrator for program and policy coordination. This was good training for him for his potential future role with the U.N. From 1985 to 1989, he was an assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice. I got to know him at that time because I was a U.S. attorney in Alabama when he served in the Department of Justice in the prestigious office of legal counsel. From 1989 to 1993, he was again involved in international organizational issues when he served as Assistant Secretary of State for international organizational affairs. Mr. Bolton was confirmed by the Senate for both of those positions. From 1993 to 1999, he was again in private practice, as a partner with the law firm of Lerner, Reed, Bolton, and McManus. In 2001, he became Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. I believe he was confirmed once again in that position by the Senate. This was excellent experience for him. He dealt with issues relating to world security. Some say Mr. Bolton does not believe in the United Nations, multilateralism, and diplomacy. That statement is false.
The President of the United States recently stated in a television interview that he asked Bolton if he supported the U.N. before he, the President, agreed to nominate him. Mr. Bolton answered that he did. Despite what others have been alleging, the facts show--and Mr. Bolton has proven time and again--that he believes in the U.N. That is why he has been such an effective advocate for honest diplomacy and an effective U.N. For example, he was a pioneer in helping to construct the G-8 global partnership to help keep secure dangerous technologies and materials, and to help stop the spread of dangerous weapons throughout the world. This global initiative will provide $20 billion through 2012 to achieve these goals of making the world a safer place, by working with other nations. Mr. Bolton was the President's point man in designing the Proliferation Security Initiative, the PSI. Over 60 nations are now working together, coordinated by John Bolton, to share intelligence, and are taking action to stop the transfer of dangerous weapons throughout the world. He has even done pro bono work for the U.N. in Africa, giving of his time for free to help those in need.
He also worked closely and effectively with the U.N. when he served as Assistant Secretary of State in the State Department for International Organizations, from 1989 to 1992. He has been instrumental in galvanizing U.N. agencies such as the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to take concrete steps to actually make the world safer from weapons of mass destruction--not just to talk about it, but to do something about it. Isn't that effective multilateral leadership? I certainly think so. He was the driving force in the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1540 to get countries to take meaningful steps to stop the spread of dangerous weapons.
He has clearly been instrumental in both diplomacy and multilateralism and has proven to be an advocate of a United Nations that fulfills its potential, its calling, to make the world safer, and to help people throughout the world develop to their fullest. He will not, however, be an enabler of a dysfunctional U.N. John Bolton has supported reform within the U.N. to help make it a better organization. This reform effort should not be misconstrued as opposition to the U.N. but, rather, as constructive and effective criticism. When parents discipline their children, it is not because they don't support them or believe in them. In fact, it is exactly the opposite. Good parents set guidelines and high standards for their children to guide them in life and to make them more responsible adults. If you love your children, you want them to reach their highest and best potential. That is exactly what John Bolton has done with the U.N. He has not come out against the U.N. He has not vehemently opposed the U.N., as some of my colleagues would have you believe. He has worked within the system to advocate reform in an effort to better the organization, to ensure that U.N. programs achieve their intended purpose.
Under Bolton's leadership at the United Nations, when he served as Assistant Secretary of State in the administration of the elder George Bush, the U.N. General Assembly repealed, by a vote of 111 to 25, a resolution that described Zionism as a form of racism. Resolution 3379 originally passed in 1975--72 votes for, 35 against--decreeing that Zionism was a form of racism. Sixty-seven percent of the nations at that time voted for it. It was widely recognized as a sad day for the U.N. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described Bolton as the ``principal architect'' of the 1991 reversal of that resolution. Bolton recently referred to resolution 3379 as ``the greatest stain on the U.N.'s reputation'' and called its reversal ``one highlight of my professional career.''
Thomas M. Boyd, a fine former official in the Department of Justice who was Mr. Bolton's deputy when he was Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice, described the situation this way in a recent editorial in the Boston Globe:
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 November 10, 1975, contention that ``the United States declares that it does not acknowledge, and 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.
As a direct result of this effort, the hate-ridden resolution was overwhelmingly repealed on December 16, 1991. Let me point out an important aspect of this story. As Mr. Boyd noted, many in the State Department told him he should not pursue the repeal, that it could not be done, and that it wasn't worth the effort. But because John Bolton is a man of integrity, conviction, courage, and determination, he didn't see it that way. He didn't follow the advice of the professional bureaucrats and the State Department officials who said it could not be done. Instead, he worked tirelessly to do something that some people thought could not be done. He did the right thing, and he should be saluted for that. There is, indeed, a strength of character that is to be noted here. A terrible wrong had been righted with this repeal, and Mr. Bolton had not only shown his skill in diplomacy, but his determination to do what is right. Isn't that what good diplomacy is? It is not just seeing if you can get along and agree with everybody's ideas, but holding forth good ideals, good values, fighting for them, and actually winning people over to vote for the right thing. That is what good diplomacy is, what leadership is--not blindly going along with people's ideas whether they are correct or not.
He is a good man, a courageous man, who will make a tremendous ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton realizes the benefits possible to the world through an effective U.N., and for that reason he has worked hard to make sure it stays a credible organization. You cannot blame him for being concerned about the United Nations. I certainly am. With the numerous allegations of corruption at the U.N., we need a frank and aggressive ambassador leading the American efforts there.
Last month, the Washington Times reported that two senior investigators with the U.N. committee probing corruption in the Oil for Food Program have resigned in protest. These investigators believe the report that cleared Kofi Annan of meddling in the $64 billion operation was too soft on the Secretary General. The investigators believed the so-called independent inquiry committee, which was appointed by Secretary General Kofi Annan in April of 2004, played down findings critical of Mr. Annan when it released an interim report in late March relating to his son. This scandal has only gotten more complicated this week as it now seems that one of the investigators has turned over potentially incriminating evidence against Kofi Annan to a House congressional committee. This scandal has been described by some as the greatest scandal in the history of the world. Scandals such as these undermine the United Nations. They distract it from its intended purpose of promoting international peace and security. These scandals and mismanagement waste money that could be used for peacekeeping, medical care, economic development, and education in poor countries around the world. This money might help prevent hostilities, famine, and revolutions that disrupt these areas of the globe.
We need a U.S. ambassador to the U.N. who has both diplomacy and tenacity as leadership qualities. Mr. Bolton has both of these qualities. One of my esteemed colleagues has alleged that Mr. Bolton blocked certain information from going to Secretary Powell and Secretary Rice. There is no basis for this claim. Richard Boucher, the spokesman for the State Department, has expressly refuted the allegation, calling it ``silly'' and stating that ``nothing of that type occurred.'' Another colleague said Mr. Bolton tried to skew weapons of mass destruction intelligence on Iraq, Syria, and Cuba. Again, false. In every instance, whether talking about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program, Cuba's biological weapons, or Syria's weapons program, Mr. Bolton's speeches were cleared by the U.S. intelligence community; that is, he submitted his comments to the intelligence community for them to review to make sure nothing he said was incorrect. They cleared those speeches. There is no evidence whatsoever that Mr. Bolton skewed anything. The allocations are false.
On the contrary, there are scores of highly credible individuals who testify to his honesty and excellent candidacy for the position. For instance, I have a letter from former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to John Bolton expressing her strong support for Mr. Bolton. It is fitting that she should support John Bolton, particularly in light of the comments that he is too tough, too outspoken, too frank, too blunt. Those same criticisms were made about Lady Thatcher in 1975, earning her the nickname the Iron Lady. She embraced that nickname, famously asserting: If you lead a country like Britain, a strong country, a country which has taken a lead in world affairs in good times and in bad, a country that is always reliable, then you have to have a touch of iron about you.
She was absolutely right, and the same holds true in this case. If our ambassador is going to represent the world's great superpower in the United Nations, an organization, unfortunately, that has been riddled with corruption and strong opposition by certain members to the values we hold dear, he must have a touch of iron about him, and he does. Say what you will about John Bolton, weakness is not one of his weaknesses. I ask unanimous consent that the letter from Lady Thatcher be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
May 4, 2005.
Hon. JOHN R. BOLTON,
Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.
DEAR JOHN: I am writing this letter in order to let you know how strongly I support your nomination as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. On the basis of our years of friendship, I know from experience the great qualities you will bring to that demanding post.
To combine, as you do, clarity of thought, courtesy of expression and an unshakable commitment to justice is rare in any walk of life. But it is particularly so in international affairs. A capacity for straight talking rather than peddling half-truths is a strength and not a disadvantage in diplomacy. Particularly in the case of a great power like America, it is essential that people know where you stand and assume that you mean what you say. With you at the UN, they will do both. Those same qualities are also required for any serious reform of the United Nations itself, without which cooperation between nations to defend and extend liberty will be far more difficult.
I cannot imagine anyone better fitted to undertake these tasks than you.
All good wishes,
Yours ever,
MARGARET.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, this letter of April 5, 2005, is signed by 13 giants of American diplomacy, including five Secretaries of State and two Secretaries of Defense in support of John Bolton. I ask unanimous consent that this letter be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:
Washington, DC, April 5, 2005.
Senator RICHARD G. LUGAR,
Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: We write to urge that the Senate act expeditiously to confirm John Bolton as our ambassador to the United Nations. This is a moment when unprecedented turbulence at the United Nations is creating momentum for much needed reform. It is a moment when we must have an ambassador in place whose knowledge, experience, dedication and drive will be vital to protecting the American interest in an effective, forward-looking United Nations.
In his position as Undersecretary of State, John Bolton has taken the lead in strengthening international community approaches to the daunting problem of the proliferation of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction (WMD). As a result of his hard work, intellectual as well as operational, the G-8 has supported U.S. proposals to strengthen safeguards and verification at the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Proliferation Security Initiative was launched and established within three months--a world speed record in these complex, multilateral matters. Moreover, Secretary Bolton led the successful effort to complete the negotiation of UN Security Council Resolution 1540, adopted unanimously in April, 2004. UN 1540 called on member states to criminalize the proliferation of WMD--which it declared to be a threat to international peace and security--and to enact strict export controls.
Secretary Bolton, like the Administration, has his critics, of course. Anyone as energetic and effective as John is bound to encounter those who disagree with some or even all of the Administration's policies. But the policies for which he is sometimes criticized are those of the President and the Department of State which he has served with loyalty, honor and distinction.
Strong supporters of the United Nations understand the challenges it now faces. With his service as assistant secretary of state for international organizations, where he was instrumental in securing the repeal of the repugnant resolution equating Zionism with racism, and as undersecretary for arms control and international security, we believe John Bolton will bring great skill and energy to meeting those challenges.
Sincerely yours,
Hon. David Abshire, former Assistant Secretary of State, Hon. Kenneth Adelman, former Director, Arms Control Disarmament Agency, Hon. Richard Allen, former Assistant to the President for National Security, Hon. James Baker, former Secretary of State, Hon. Frank Carlucci, former Secretary of Defense, Hon. Lawrence Eagleburger, former Secretary of State, Hon. Al Haig, former Secretary of State, Ambassador Max Kampelman, former Ambassador and Head of the U.S. Delegation to the Negotiations with the Soviet Union on Nuclear and Space Arms, Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick, former Ambassador to the United Nations, Hon. Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State, Hon. James Schlesinger, former Secretary of Defense, Hon. George Shultz, former Secretary of State, Hon. Helmut Sonnenfeldt, former Counselor, Department of State.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, for over three decades, John Bolton has had an effective working relationship with foreign governments, international institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector. He is a man who gets results. As Secretary Rice said:
The President has nominated John Bolton because he gets things done. That is exactly what we need for the U.N. ambassador. John Bolton is the man for the job.
Mr. President, I am proud to support him, and I do believe his nomination will be moving forward this week. I think this Senate should promptly move to confirm him in this important position.
