The Mouth That Roared

Josh Marshall posts another very interesting tidbit on the Korea train wreck about James Kelly, in which he discusses some of Kelly’s questionable ties to certain Chinese businessmen and how that may be shaping the internal conflict in the administration between the “China Hawks” and what I like to call the “sane people.” Kelly, as Powell’s Asia policy person, has been lobbying from the beginning for a less bellicose approach to the North Korean situation and is viewed with some suspicion in the bully boy crowd. Marshall thinks these suspicions about his China ties may be playing into the debate.

But, somebody also needs to take a close look at the screaming jackass that Bush appointed as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, apparently against Colin Powell’s wishes, John Bolton. It’s hard to keep track of all the neocon nutcases that populate this administration’s foreign policy shop, but this guy ranks up there with the worst. He won the post with a vote of 57-43 — fewer than Ashcroft. It was a disastrous decision.

Here are just a few of the highlights about Mr. Bolton:

Bolton on China/Taiwan: “…diplomatic recognition of Taiwan would be just the kind of demonstration of U.S. leadership that the region needs and that many of its people hope for. The notion that China would actually respond with force is a fantasy.”AEI web site, 8/9/99

Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty: “The Senate vote on the CTBT actually marks the beginning of a new realism on the issue of weapons of mass destruction and their global proliferation… the Senate vote is also an unmistakable signal that America rejects the illusionary protections of unenforceable treaties.” The Jerusalem Post, 10/18/99

North Korea: “A sounder U.S. policy would start by making it clear to the North that we are indifferent to whether we ever have “normal” diplomatic relations with it, and that achieving that goal is entirely in their interests, not ours. We should also make clear that diplomatic normalization with the U.S. is only going to come when North Korea becomes a normal country.” Los Angeles Times, 09/22/99

At a 1994 panel discussion sponsored by the World Federalist Association Bolton claimed “there’s no such thing as the United Nations,” and stated ”if the UN secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”

Sen. Jesse Helms on John Bolton: “John Bolton is the kind of man with whom I would want to stand at Armageddon.” Speech at American Enterprise Institute, 01/11/01

Past Scandals: As a young lawyer Bolton in 1978 Bolton helped Sen. Helms’ National Congressional Club form Jefferson Marketing “as a vehicle to supply candidates with such services as advertising and direct mail without having to worry about the federal laws preventing PACs, like the Congressional Club, from contributing more than $5,000 per election to any one candidate’s campaign committee” (Legal Times). He later defended the club against charges from the FEC that led to a $10,000 fine in 1986. As a reward for his service Sen. Helms “helped the career of John Bolton” by supporting him for his Department of Justice and State positions (Legal Times).

At the Justice Department, Bolton acted as the Department’s “no man” refusing to provide congressional committees documents on Supreme Court nominees William Renquist, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy. He also refused to provide information, including his personal notes regarding the Iran-Contra scandal, and aided congressional Republicans who attempted to stop investigations of Contra drug smuggling.

After leaving the State Department under the first Bush Administration, Bolton headed the National Policy Forum which “reportedly pursued money from overseas” for the RNC (Los Angeles Times). The NPF defaulted on a $1.3 billion loan guaranteed by Hong Kong businessman Ambrous Young, whose lawyer claimed his willingness to absorb the debt was “contingent upon Mr. Young getting something in return,” namely “business opportunities.” The Taiwanese government “served as an intermediary for a $25,000 contribution” to the NPF(Washington Post). At his confirmation hearing Bolton acknowledged that he had received $30,000 from the Taiwanese government for writing a series of papers.

At his confirmation hearing Bolton defended his ability to separate his personal beliefs from his professional duties: “Of all the different jobs I’ve had in government, I’ve never had any allegations that I wasn’t following the policies that were set.” Actually, Bolton ignored administration policy while in the Reagan Justice Department when he held an unauthorized press conference lashing out at special prosecutors. His comments drew sharp criticism from the White House when spokesman Marlin Fitzwater called Bolton “intemperate and contentious.”

Since his confirmation he’s been a total disaster.

It is widely assumed, his views on North Korea being what they are, that Bolton is one of those who pressed for it to be included in the “axis of evil,” one of many stupid pieces of advice.

On Feb. 22, 2002 he announced that the United States would no longer respect a long-standing agreement to limit consideration of a nuclear response only to attacks from a nuclear-armed foe. He said that the long-standing agreement to avoid using nuclear weapons reflected “an unrealistic view of the international situation.”

And then, there was this gem. Bolton, clearly off the reservation, said in early May 2002, that the administration may be targeting Cuba in its war on terrorism. His “Beyond the Axis of Evil” speech claimed, without any evidence, that Cuba was developing biological weapons and sharing its expertise with other U.S. enemies. It was a crock.

Throughout this period the administration was sending all kinds of mixed signals to the North Koreans, from the President calling Kim a “pygmy” to embarrassing the Prime Minister of South Korea (and Powell) by publicly dissing the sunshine policy without notice, to releasing $95M last April under the Agreed Framework even while claiming that North Korea was not in compliance. They were all over the place.

Then, once again, with administration’s hallmark arrogance and bad timing, on August 29th, Bolton let fly with what was probably the final straw:

North Korea is the world’s foremost vendor of missile technology and has “one of the most robust offensive bio-weapons programs on earth,” the top U.S. arms negotiator said Friday, echoing President Bush’s warnings about the communist state.

U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton called North Korea “an evil regime that is armed to the teeth, including with weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.”

“President Bush’s use of the term ‘axis of evil’ to describe Iran, Iraq and North Korea was more than a rhetorical flourish — it was factually correct,” Bolton said in a speech to a a group of South Korean government officials and scholars.

“There is a hard connection between these regimes — an axis along which flow dangerous weapons and dangerous technology,” he said.

The chief U.S. arms-control negotiator was in Seoul for a three-day visit that included talks with South Korean officials on the communist North’s arms proliferation. He discussed the same topic with Japanese officials in Tokyo earlier this week.

His comments come at a sensitive time, as the two Koreas try to revive stalled reconciliation after months of tension. South Korea wants Washington to open dialogue with Pyongyang about the arms issue.

Bolton stressed that such overtures will depend on whether the North will stop developing and exporting missile parts and technology to “notable rogue state clients such as Syria, Libya and Iran.”

[…]

Bolton also said that there is “little doubt” that North Korea has an active chemical weapons program and has “one of the most robust offensive bio-weapons programs on earth.”

As Bolton spoke, economic officials of the two Koreas were meeting in Seoul to discuss a host of pending issues, including a cross-border railway. The talks were part of an agreement reached during Cabinet-level negotiations in Seoul earlier this month.

The revived inter-Korean dialogue has coincided with North Korea’s moves to reach out to the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday [same day] during a visit to Japan, Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Richard Armitage signaled that Washington was planning to send an envoy to Pyongyang in the near future.

“We have received a variety of messages from North Korea in recent months and it seems to me that the general thrust is that they would welcome a visit by assistant secretary (James) Kelly,” Armitage told a news conference.

His comments followed a brief meeting last month between U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun on the sidelines of a regional security meeting in Brunei.

Their brief informal chat over coffee was the highest-level contact between the U.S. and North Korea since a landmark visit to Pyongyang by Powell’s predecessor Madeleine Albright in October 2000.

Hello???

The North Koreans reacted very badly to this saying “Known as a standard-bearer among the notorious hard-line hawks of the Bush administration Bolton never opens his mouth without making anti-DPRK remarks, bereft of reason. Therefore, his recent outbursts do not deserve even a passing note,” said a DPRK foreign ministry’s spokesman on August 31. “If there is any security issue over which the U.S. should worry, it is entirely attributable to the Bush administration’s hostile policy toward the DPRK,” he added.

[…]

“It is also an unpardonable criminal act to vitiate a positive atmosphere of dialogue between the DPRK and the U.S. and between North and South Korea, which has been created with so much effort, and to strain again the military situation on the Korean peninsula,” it said, and continued: “This compels the DPRK to doubt the U.S. will to dialogue and interpret its call for dialogue as a fig leaf to conceal its moves to stifle the DPRK by force of arms.”

So, when they sent Kelly to Pyongyang in early October, the North Koreans were prepared to get in his face and they did. Bolton had made a fundamental mistake by embarrassing Kim Jong Il when he was in the middle of the Japanese reconciliation and the sunshine policy negotiations. To publicly disrespect him, in front of his adversaries whom at that very time he was trying hard to accomodate without losing face, was probably more than a neurotically proud tyrant of a seriously distressed country could take.

And, if Bolton’s speech was approved by the State Department, while at the same moment Armitage was in Japan talking about how North Korea would welcome a visit from Kelly, then you can only assume that the strategy was to drive Kim Jong Il over the bend. I’m afraid it’s far more likely that, once again, Bolton was off the reservation. Pure speculation on my part, of course, but unless Richard Armitage has become the rogue peacemaker at State, or this plan is so Machiavellian that even the players don’t know the final goals, then there are not a lot of other ways you can explain it.

So when all hell breaks loose, what does the administration do? They send Kelly and Bolton to Beijing to try to pressure the Chinese to put the heat on North Korea. This was so very intelligent, considering Bolton’s restrained public language about Taiwan and China. What a wise choice it was to send him in at a time of crisis to request Chinese cooperation in a ridiculous fuck-up of our own making. Needless to say, China has been somewhat opaque in its response to our foolish dilemma.

To summarize, John Bolton is a complete disaster. The Bushies seem to be intent upon keeping all of the members of the Reagan and Bush I administration who were involved in Iran Contra close and cozy, for reasons we can only guess. But, once one of these guys single-handedly bring the world to the brink of nuclear war with their big mouths, wouldn’t you think they could find them a nice quiet job writing policy papers on US Peruvian trade policy or something? Allowing crazy men to make speeches on behalf of the US Government is really not a good idea.