What does State look like?
By Michael Rubin on About Bolton
Bolton’s confirmation should be about policy, not personality. Bolton is direct, committed, and professional. I have never worked for him directly, but have worked with others at the State Department who were openly dismissive of President Bush. One diplomat, who has since become an ambassador, even calling the Commander-in-Chief “stupid” in front of non-Americans. I have had experience with some of Bolton’s subordinates undermining Bolton and Bush administration policy. Attending a Wilton Park Conference in December 2003, it was astounding that a staff member forced on Bolton by Armitage told an assembled crowd of European diplomats that, in this staff member’s opinion, sanctions were never effective and we should engage with Iran (over their nuclear program) for as long as it takes.
I have had a great deal more experience with the United Nations, most often in the field, and can say that after years of corruption and ineptitude, we need a no-nonsense straight shooter like Bolton. In Kabul under the Taliban, I stayed in an ordinary hotel which was not authorized for foreigners. Late in the evening, there were two surface-to-surface missile strikes in the city. They were the talk of the markets the next day. In the evening, I went to the UN club and was talking about the incident with an NGO worker. For a UN security specialist passing by, it was the first he heard about it because he refused to leave the compound. He got paid a six figure salary.
In Yazd, Iran, in 1999, I was besieged by stateless Iraqis. They had sought to go to the United Nation’s High Commissioner for Refugee’s office in Tehran, but could not. It was surrounded by Iranian intelligence which arrested any stateless Iraqi which sought to engage with the United Nations. They wanted me to take notes in on their behalf. The highly-paid UN officials were aware that Iranian security was interfering with refugees, but did not want to upset their Iranian hosts.
In Iraq, the oil-for-food scandal is well-known. But the UN went even farther in its desire to placate Saddam. In Iraqi Kurdistan, UN officials instructed their staff not to coordinate with any NGOs operating in the north without Saddam’s permission because they were “illegally in Iraq.” As a result, the UN often budgets money for schools and sewers already covered by other organizations. The result was a tremendous waste.
I could go on with examples from Tajikistan and Sudan, but the point is clear. The United Nations may have an honorable function, but it is sick, morally and bureaucratically. Diplomacy should be about more than cocktail parties and handholding. We need John Bolton.
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