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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (109833)	4/17/2005 10:32:47 AM
From: JohnM	Respond to of 793928

Looks as if Bolton has more problems than it looked as of the end of the last hearing. If you are interested in following developments among those working very hard to stop Bolton's nomination, just go to Steve Clemons blog, The Washington Note. thewashingtonnote.com ------------------------- April 17, 2005 U.N. Nominee Is Accused of Seeking 2nd Dismissal By STEVEN R. WEISMAN WASHINGTON, April 16 - A former national intelligence officer for Latin America has accused John R. Bolton and another Bush administration official of trying to remove him from his post to warn others against not cooperating on intelligence matters, according to Democratic staff aides of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The aides made public on Saturday their summary of an interview with the intelligence officer, Fulton T. Armstrong. They say Mr. Armstrong has charged that Mr. Bolton and Otto Reich, a former assistant secretary of state for Latin America, had sought to press the intelligence community to make its analysis conform with their hard-line policy views on Cuba. The committee is considering the nomination of Mr. Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations. Mr. Armstrong was not dismissed, but has since been reassigned. The New York Times reported Saturday that current and former intelligence officials say his job was saved at the Central Intelligence Agency in part by the intervention of John E. McLaughlin, then deputy director of central intelligence. Mr. Bolton has acknowledged in his testimony before the committee that he had sought to have Mr. Armstrong reassigned in 2002, saying he had lost confidence in him on several matters. Mr. Bolton has not commented on allegations made against him while the confirmation process has been under way. But Mr. Reich, in a telephone interview on Saturday, said he too sought to have Mr. Armstrong removed because of what he said was Mr. Armstrong's tendency to give "the benefit of the doubt" on alleged human rights and security threats from left-wing figures like Fidel Castro of Cuba, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti. "His political views colored his intelligence judgment, and many of my colleagues in the State Department, the Defense Department and National Security Council stopped reading his stuff," said Mr. Reich, who is now a private business consultant. According to Democrats' staff notes, Mr. Armstrong made his accusation on April 8 to Democratic and Republican staff members of the Foreign Relations Committee as part of their inquiry into allegations of improper pressure on intelligence analysis by Mr. Bolton. Mr. Armstrong, they said, charged that there was pressure from Mr. Bolton and Mr. Reich to affect the intelligence judgment of Cuba's weapons programs, that he was excluded from meetings by them, that his integrity was attacked and that Mr. Bolton acted without ever meeting with him. Democrats have been releasing descriptions of interviews and other material from various officials on Mr. Bolton over the last several days and are weighing whether to press for at least some witnesses to testify publicly, as a former State Department intelligence chief, Carl W. Ford Jr., did last week. Democrats are also considering whether to ask formally for another postponement in the committee vote on Mr. Bolton's nomination, which is scheduled for Tuesday. Republican staff members said they expected the nomination to be approved, with all 10 Republicans voting in favor of it and all 8 Democrats voting against. Senator Richard G. Lugar, the Indiana Republican who is chairman of the foreign relations panel, wants the vote to proceed, a spokesman said Friday night. Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the committee's subcommittee on Latin American affairs, has helped lead the campaign against Mr. Bolton, saying his attempts to remove two officials - Mr. Armstrong and the State Department's top biological weapons expert, Christian P. Westermann - constituted improper harassment. Democrats on the committee say they have put together considerable evidence of what they call Mr. Bolton's lack of suitable temperament for the job of United Nations envoy, and that more such instances are bound to come to light. The committee staff circulated a memorandum sent by a public relations consultant in Dallas, Melody Townsel, who said she had a prolonged confrontation with Mr. Bolton in Moscow in 1994 while he was a legal counsel to a group doing work for the Agency for International Development. Ms. Townsel, identified as active in a group opposed to President Bush, was interviewed by the committee last week, but it was not clear how much the committee would try to make of her charges. Responding to her accusation, Edwin Hullander, who was executive vice president of International Business and Technical Consultants Inc., the firm that employed Mr. Bolton as counsel, said he had not heard of any such incident happening until Ms. Townsel's recent accusation. He said he had checked with two people who were there at the time who were also unaware of it, and who said they believed they would have heard about a confrontation if it had occurred. nytimes.com

To: JohnM who wrote (109833)	4/17/2005 10:38:33 AM
From: michael97123	Respond to of 793928

I actually love Bob Kerrey except for the hair. Dems have these hair deficiencies that require comb overs, caesar looks, and transplants (biden). Republicans otoh have plastic hair like Frist and Lott. Ever notice that? By the way Frist is the dems best hope--he is an empty suit as a pol and an arrogant former Dr. with excellent credentials is someone who i would want to operate on me but not run the nation. Kerrey should be taken seriously if he decides to run. NY loves Dems from other states--RFK, HC and now Bob K?? If he does a good enough job, there is always a shot for the dem nomination as a possibility. Giuliani and even Bloomberg have done essentially good jobs so NYC mayorality isnt the dead end it used to be. MIke