t is too early to tell who is watching whom as Bolton can be assumed to be a pipeline back to Cheney, and Karen Hughes, likewise, direct to Bush.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7168820/site/newsweek/ Ruffling Feathers An undiplomatic diplomat may tip the balance on Iran Consolation prize: Bolton accepts the nod for U.N. ambassador, under Rice's watchful eye By Michael Hirsh and Richard Wolffe Newsweek March 21 issue - John Bolton didn't particularly want this job. And Condoleezza Rice didn't especially want to be introducing Bolton as America's next ambassador to the United Nations, some Bush administration officials say. Not so soon after her boss, George W. Bush, seemed to make so much progress working his "new diplomacy" in Europe last month. Bolton, a fiery libertarian, has spent much of his career blasting the United Nations in public, calling it an example of global government gone wild. Rice, the new secretary of State, had refused to make him her chief deputy despite what even Bolton's friends admit was his intense campaign to win that post last fall. No surprise, then, that Rice seemed ill at ease last week, her smile dimmer than usual, says one official at the announcement. "It was utterly inconceivable that this was her initiative," said the official. The U.N. job is, in fact, Bolton's consolation prize. The administration's chief arms-control official has made many enemies abroad among America's allies—but he also achieved a lot, including Bush's Proliferation Security Initiative, intended to stop WMD shipments on the high seas. His chief ally, Vice President Dick Cheney, wanted to award him with a big post, sources say. And there weren't many left. Bolton had also failed to get the No. 3 job at Defense that was being vacated by Under Secretary for Policy Douglas Feith, and the post of Cheney's chief of staff and national-security adviser, currently held by Lewis (Scooter) Libby. A Bolton confidant says Cheney, adviser Karl Rove and White House chief of staff Andrew Card proposed him for the U.N. job. Rice and her aides now insist that she was only too happy to have him, and that she even suggested Bolton's name to Bush. Intent on avoiding the fate of her predecessor, Colin Powell, Rice knew Bolton would placate the GOP's conservative base as the administration pushes for U.N. reform, this source says. But he'd also be far from the center of power. "From New York he will have almost no influence on anything that matters," says another senior administration official. But to reaffirm his emphasis in diplomacy, Bush last week decided to make his former close adviser Karen Hughes assistant secretary of State for Public Diplomacy under Rice. Bolton will no doubt manage to make his presence felt. One of the most critical issues of Bush's second term—how to halt Iran's nuclear program—could well land at the United Nations. Last week Bush agreed to soften his refusal to talk to Tehran. The administration announced it would back a European plan to offer incentives to Iran in return for stopping weapons work. But administration hard-liners describe the negotiations as mere "box-checking" to induce Europe to bring the Iran matter before the U.N. Security Council. And waiting there will be Bolton, a superhawk who has riled even the British with his uncompromising stand in negotiations. "He may be sitting on what could amount to a war-and-peace issue involving the United States," says nuclear expert David Albright. Emotions also remain raw in the Security Council over the erroneous intel on Iraq. And, while Bolton has been under secretary of State for Arms Control, his critics say, his office has sometimes hyped still-ambiguous evidence of Iran's real intentions. "They always put the worst face on the findings," says a diplomat friendly to the International Atomic Energy Agency, a favorite Bolton target. Bolton also has plenty of fans. Among them: Jeane Kirkpatrick, the outspoken Reagan-era U.N. ambassador whom many see as a model for Bolton. "He's one of the smartest people I know," says Kirkpatrick, adding that she admires the Yale Law School grad for provoking the North Koreans enough to be called "human scum" by Pyongyang. "If American diplomats can't speak frankly about North Korea, then we're in worse trouble than I think we are," says Kirkpatrick. The question is how much frank talk will help in a time of diplomacy. With Eve Conant and John Barry ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. Fund a student project in NYC/NC today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EHLuJD/.WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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