John Bolton and Disarmament through War

John R. Bolton was born on November 20, 1948 in Baltimore and at the university he was already a right-wing militant. He was also a member of Barry Goldwater’s campaign in 1964. Once he got his Law degree at Yale University, he started to work for a law firm and met Jesse Helms. He used his legal skills to found a parliamentary club that would be used to finance the North Carolina racist senator’s campaign by avoiding the law on political donations. For this, he was only given a $10 000 fine by the Federal Electoral Commission (FEC).

During Reagan’s first term, Bolton was appointed adviser to the US Agency for International Development (USAID). After that, he returned to his law firm and then again to the USAID as deputy administrator of programs and political coordination. In 1989, Edwin Messe, named Secretary of Justice by Ronald Reagan, appointed Bolton deputy to the Justice Department, as suggested by Senator Jesse Helms. Then, he conscientiously wrote off all instructions pertaining to drug dealing on the Iran-Contra case in which republican congressmen were involved. This marked the beginning of his political career. During George H. Bush presidency, he became first Secretary of State James Baker III’s assistant for intergovernmental organizations and then Lawrence S. Eagleburger’s.

When democrats returned to the White House with Bill Clinton, John Bolton quit and joined a law firm he founded with some associates: Lerner, Reed, Bolton & McManus. He especially strengthened his ties with Dick Cheney, the leader of the Republican Party. In 1995, John R. Bolton accepted the presidency of the National Policy Forum (NPF), a product of the Party with think tank façade (a usually political center of research, propaganda and spreading of ideas), free of taxes, which actually collected secret funds [1].

Due to a bank complicity, the Party got loans amounting to million of dollars from Forum that were never refunded. It especially benefited from Ambrous Young’s contributions, a multimillionaire from Hong Kong, and those of the Pacific Cultural Foundation, a front created by reverend Moon under the Taiwan government [2]. In 1996, he held a conference where pressure groups had access to republican congressmen. The admission was fixed at $25 000 and there were extortion complains [3]. John Bolton accepted annual fees worth $30 000 that came from Taiwan’s government secret funds to make studies on the relations between the UN and the «two» Chinas [4].

John R. Bolton worked also for real think tanks. In 1993, he was a researcher at Dan Quayle’s Hudson Institute. Later, Dick Cheney appointed him vice-president of the American Enterprise Institute where he actively participated in the conception of the Project for a New American Century (PNAC), the group that designed George W. Bush’s first term program. As a result, after the victory, Dick Cheney imposed Bolton as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security and his special mission was to watch over Powell, whom the hawks did not trust.

Bolton, an educated man with a charming English style, has become famous for being forthcoming and for his anger. Whether in the Justice Department or the State Department, he always attacked international institutions, especially the (Permanent Court) of International Justice. A violent opponent of the UN he caused a scandal in 1994 when in a roundtable organized by the World Federalist Association he said the UN building and its 38 floors in New York were a nuisance and a dozen of them could be easily demolished. Along with Jesse Helms, he favored the U.S. withdrawal from the UN and encouraged republican congressmen to ignore such an institution.

Apart from opposing the international law, he has also opposed its right to sanction individuals. Therefore, he has been against the International Criminal Tribunal characterized by him as a «notion of romanticism of not only sick and naïve, but dangerous minds». [5]. Regarding foreign policy, he has been obsessed with the communists States: China, North Korea and Cuba. He also increased his statements so that Taiwan’s independence from China could be recognized.

In July 2003, during the negotiations of a group formed by six to discuss North Korea’s nuclear disarmament, he told North Korean diplomats that their president, Kim Jong Il, was a “tyrannical dictator” and “life in his country was a horrible nightmare”. The ambassador replied and told him he was a “waste for mankind and a leech”. After this «nice» exchange, the negotiation was ended and only resumed when the U.S. appointed another representative [6]. Finally, the experts were filled with dismay when he accused Cuban president Fidel Castro of developing biological weapons without having single evidences.

On the other hand, he has not been attracted by the Shiite revolution and during a parliamentary hearing he affirmed that Iran and Syria were threatening the world with weapons of mass destruction [7], an accusation that was denied by the CIA.

While acting as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, he took out the U.S. from international treaties and involved the allies in systems of collective security. He sabotaged the Biological Weapons Convention [8] and in front of his stunned colleagues he exclaimed completely satisfied: «It’s dead, dead, dead, dead and do not count on me to bring it back!».

He demanded the U.S. unilateral withdrawal from the Disarmament Treaty with Russia and was pleased when President George W. Bush acted and brought the “Star Wars” program back. He imposed the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) on America’s allies to guarantee the control of the common spaces (seas, air) by the Anglo-Saxon coalition [9]. In January 2003, the Oriental press was stunned by Bolton’s statements during his trip to Tel Aviv. The undersecretary of state suggested, before Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu, that after the Iraqi war «it would be necessary to deal with Syria, Iran and then North Korea’s threats». [10].

John R. Bolton, an extreme right-wing militant, follower of the “disarmament preventive wars” would be appointed to important posts during Bush’s second term. His friend, Senator Jesse Helms, said: «He is the kind of guy I want to be with when the Armageddon comes».