The Hindu : International : Bolton nomination faces hurdle

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Wednesday, Apr 13, 2005

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International

Bolton nomination faces hurdle

By Julian Borger

WASHINGTON, APRIL 12. John Bolton, the U.S. President, George W. Bush's nominee as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was accused yesterday of seeking to dismiss Government intelligence analysts he thought were not hawkish enough on Cuba.

The allegations were presented by Senate Democrats who are hoping to block Mr Bolton's nomination in a telling test of strength this week over the White House's most controversial nomination.

Democrats at yesterday's confirmation hearing also demanded explanation from Mr Bolton for past derogatory remarks about the U.N., even one in 1994 suggesting that the removal of the top 10 storeys of the organisation's New York headquarters ``wouldn't make a bit of difference''.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to vote on the nomination on Thursday.

To tie the vote and therefore stall the nomination, the Democrats must win the support of a Republican moderate on the committee, Lincoln Chafee.

Track record

However, Mr. Chafee indicated yesterday he was leaning towards confirmation, noting that he had been impressed by Mr Bolton's opening statement.

In that statement, Mr Bolton said: ``The United States is committed to the success of the United Nations, and we view the U.N. as an important component of our diplomacy.'' Mr Bolton added that he hoped to help strengthen the U.N. General Assembly, which he said, had occasionally ``gone off track''. Democrats on the committee focused their attack on claims that Mr Bolton bullied subordinates, and had sought the dismissal of two intelligence analysts, one at the CIA, thought by several hardliners to be too soft on Cuba and one at the State Department, who questioned Mr Bolton's assertion in a 2002 speech that Havana was pursuing a biological weapons programme.

Neither analyst was fired or reassigned, and the CIA analyst, who could not be named, is reported to have been promoted. Both sides in the argument agreed that the State Department analyst, Christian Westermann, clashed with Mr Bolton when he attempted to tone down his 2002 speech.

``I never sought to have Mr Westerman fired at all,'' Mr Bolton told the Senate Committee. He also claimed he did not object to Mr Westermann's opinions, only to the analyst going ``behind my back'' to have the speech changed.

Sole hope

However, Mr. Lugar is widely expected to back the nomination, leaving Mr. Chafee as the Democrats' sole hope on the Foreign Relations Committee. But Democratic hopes of winning his vote and forcing a deadlock looked faint yesterday. —

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