Washington -- President Bush has accepted
“with deep regret” the resignation of U.S. Representative
to the United Nations John Bolton.
In a statement released by the White House
December 4, the president credited Bolton with leading negotiations
in the U.N. Security Council that resulted in unanimous
resolutions on North Korean military and nuclear activities,
a resolution calling on Iran to suspend the enrichment and
reprocessing of uranium, and a U.N. peacekeeping commitment
to Sudan.
Bolton was appointed to the post in August
2005 during a period when the U.S. Senate, which normally
would vote on the nomination, was in recess. Under the U.S.
Constitution, a president may make temporary recess appointments
without Senate confirmation.
The president re-nominated Bolton on November
9, but administration officials believed that his nomination
did not have enough support in the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee to come to the full Senate for a confirmation
vote.
Bush said some senators were practicing
“stubborn obstructionism” by “obstruct[ing]
his confirmation” despite Bolton having the support
of the majority of the Senate. “[T]heir tactics will
disrupt our diplomatic work at a sensitive and important
time,” Bush said.
White House press secretary Tony Snow blamed
Bolton’s difficulties in the Senate on “partisanship
and not performance,” adding, “for whatever
reason the confirmation process seems to be broken.”
The press secretary called on both Republicans
and Democrats in the Senate to cooperate on “a confirmation
process that allows competent people who share the president’s
goals and policies to become confirmed for key positions.”
SENATE LEADERS REACT TO BOLTON RESIGNATION
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Chairman Richard Lugar (Republican from Indiana) echoed
the Bush administration’s statements of regret over
Bolton’s resignation and thanked the ambassador “for
the many ways he has served our country, over many years,
with strong idealism and personal commitment.”
However, Senator Joseph Biden (Democrat
from Delaware), who will chair the Foreign Relations Committee
in the 110th Congress convening in January, said the White
House is making a “false claim” in saying that
Bolton’s nomination was “blocked by Senate Democrats.”
He said Bolton’s nomination was not
voted on because the Bush administration had “refused
to provide the Senate with documents directly relevant to
his nomination,” rather than over opposition to his
candidacy.
Biden said those documents included “National
Security Agency intercepts Mr. Bolton asked to see in order
to learn the identity of American citizens referenced in
the intercepts.” At the time of the intercepts, Bolton
was serving as under secretary of state for arms control
and international security.
Biden called on Bush to nominate a U.N.
ambassador “who can garner strong bipartisan and international
support” and “effectively represent” the
United States “at a time of extraordinary international
challenge,” and he pledged promptly to schedule confirmation
hearings when that occurs.
The exact date of Bolton’s departure
has not been announced. Under U.S. law, he can continue
to serve until the 110th Congress convenes in January 2007.
Until Bolton’s successor is confirmed, Alejandro Wolff,
the deputy U.S. representative to the United Nations, is
expected to serve as acting U.S. ambassador to the United
Nations.
BOLTON’S DEPARTURE WILL NOT CHANGE
U.S. POLICIES OR GOALS AT U.N.
Paul Denig, spokesman for the State Department’s
Bureau of International Organization Affairs, said U.S.
foreign policy often is marked by continuity despite changes
in senior officials, even when there are changes in administrations.
“What people should look for is really
more of a continuation of U.S. foreign policy and the U.S.
working with and through international organizations, rather
than any monumental change,” Denig said.
Tactics and even some strategy in New York
may change depending on the personality, but “in terms
of the broad outline of the policy,” the permanent
representative and his or her deputies at the U.S. Mission
to the United Nations will continue to push for the goals
that the president and the secretary of state set, he said.
However, he added that with the number of
key issues of concern to the United States currently at
the United Nations, “this is not a good time to change
ambassadors.”
The Bush administration continues to seek
a Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Iran
for its continued pursuit of nuclear weapons and enrichment
of uranium in violation of Resolution 1696, with the goal
of persuading Iran to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons
capability. (See related
article.)
There are also ongoing issues with North
Korea and Sudan, and efforts to establish an international
tribunal in Lebanon to prosecute the perpetrators of the
assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
“These are very delicate negotiations
and obviously if you change ambassadors in the middle of
a negotiation, there will be some impact,” Denig said.
BOLTON RECEIVES PRAISE FROM SECRETARY-GENERAL
ANNAN
At the United Nations, Bolton was successful
building large coalitions around some difficult issues such
as Security Council resolutions on the North Korean and
Iranian nuclear programs, Lebanon and a peacekeeping force
for Darfur. However on other issues in the General Assembly,
such as the new Human Rights Council and U.N. reforms, the
United States found itself in the minority.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan commended
Bolton for doing "the job he was expected to do."
Bolton "came at a time when we had
lots of tough issues," Annan told journalists. "As
a representative of the U.S. government, he pressed ahead
with the instructions that he had been given and tried to
work as effectively as he could with the other ambassadors."
Annan pointed out that no one individual
ambassador is responsible for the difficulties on such complex
and thorny issues as reforming the entire U.N. system.
"I have always maintained . . . it
is important that the ambassadors work together, that the
ambassadors understand that to get concessions, they have
to make concessions and they need to work with each other
or the organization to move ahead," the secretary-general
said.
"I am also constantly encouraging member
states to try and speak with one voice where it is possible,
particularly in the Security Council,” Annan said,
“because a united voice is much more powerful than
a divided one."
The full
text of the president’s statement on the resignation
is available on the White House Web site. The statements
from Lugar
and Biden
are available on Senate Web sites. A transcript
of Annan’s remarks is available on the U.N. Web
site.
For more information on U.S. policies, see
The
United States and the United Nations.
Stephen Kaufman and Judy
Aita
USINFO Staff Writers
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