bloggie

Very interesting interview. Bolton gives his perspective on the UN, The State Dept, and the sniping and backbiting in the government during the Bush years.

A good review of Bolton's new book in JPost, by Jonathan Tobin:

... the real value of this book is not so much his contribution to the lengthy body of literature documenting the UN's shameful record, but his unraveling of how the Bush administration has gone wrong on issues such as coping with the threats from Iran and North Korea.

The chief villains in his account are secretaries of state Rice and Colin Powell. During Bush's first term, when Powell was in charge, the drive to contain Iran's nuclear ambitions lost critical ground. Rather than seek to lead our European allies into a coalition that would impose serious sanctions on that Islamic republic, Powell left "the driving to the European Union." That meant years - when Teheran's program was still far from success - were wasted. This convinced the Iranians that nothing would or could stop them.

Even though the threat of an Iran with the nuclear wherewithal to make good on its call for Israel's eradication became even more clear during the watch of Powell's successor, Rice continued on his feckless path. Again, the Euros were allowed to take the lead, which led to delays and more ineffective measures, the implications of which left Bolton "sick."

Similar foolishness also let the North Koreans off the nuclear hook, a debacle that was made plain by the discovery of their involvement in a Syrian nuclear venture that was quashed by an Israeli raid.

BOLTON points out what is by now obvious: "The fact is that Iran will never voluntarily give up its nuclear program, and a policy based on the contrary assumption is not just delusional but dangerous. This is the road to nuclear holocaust."

Another point on which Bolton makes it clear that Rice is failing is the Arab-Israeli conflict. Rice's decision to push recklessly ahead with a summit at Annapolis in the vain hope of advancing America's interests elsewhere in the region is exactly what he feared when he left office a year ago. The fact that the Palestinians are still in the grip of terror movements in the form of Hamas and Fatah, renders discussions with them pointless.

"Given this reality, there is no rationale for the United States to pressure Israel into 'peace agreements' … or to believe that 'dialogue' on such issues will have any material effect on the Middle East's numerous other conflicts," writes Bolton.

The former ambassador dismisses the myth that sacrificing Israel would solve America's problems. "Even if [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad got his fondest wish, and Israel disappeared, these conflicts would continue abated," he concludes.

The author's prescription is to reform the State Department by changing its bureaucratic culture and rejecting its embrace of the "disease" of "moral equivalency" that equates Palestinian terror with Israeli defensive responses. The alternative is a "surrender" to forces that we must vanquish if we are to preserve our civilization.

Rather than change it, Rice has been absorbed by the State Department and the administration's critics. The result is a an America left with a grim choice that as Bolton says "is not between the world as it is today and the use of force. The choice is between the use of force and Iran with nuclear weapons."

That is the grimmest possible verdict on the failure of our diplomacy.

No surprise, then:

US puts Middle East Quartet forward as monitor of Road Map’s clause on terror and settlements

The proposal was presented in a five-point document put before Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas when they met in Jerusalem Monday, Nov. 19. Washington drew up the document to break the Israel-Palestinian stalemate on a joint declaration for Middle East conference.

The two sides were “asked” to agree to the Middle East Quartet stepping in to monitor their adherence to the first paragraph of the Road Map, under which the Palestinians are obliged to combat terror and Israel to freeze settlement activity. The Quartet is composed of the US, the European Union, Russia and the UN. In bowing to Washington’s request, Israel will for the first time entrust an outside body with determining the facts in these sensitive issues, thereby repudiating its sovereign responsibilities. Political and military sources in Jerusalem accuse Olmert of leading Israel into a trap.