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Text of Letter Opposing John Bolton's Nomination as Ambassador to the United Nations from 59 Former U.S. Ambassadors to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar
Share / Recommend - Comment - Print - Tuesday, Mar 29 2005, 7:14PM
Here is the entire text of the letter opposing Bolton from 59 former American Ambassadors.
Fox News has apparently been making fun of the diplomats' names.
Before they go to far down that path, perhaps they should consider some of the names of U.S. Senators -- particularly Republican ones?
Trent, Lamar, Saxby, Judd, Orrin. . .and that's even before nicknames like Libby. . .
Interestingly, 46 of the listed 59 Ambassadors served at least part of their tenure during Republican administrations.
The letter:
March 29, 2005The Honorable Richard G. Lugar
Senate Foreign Relations Committee
450 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-6225
Dear Senator Lugar,We have noted with appreciation the moves of President Bush at the beginning of his second term to improve U.S. relations with the countries of the European Union and of the United Nations. Maintaining these ties and the willingness of those countries to cooperate with the United States is essential to U.S. security.
It is for this reason that we write you to express our concern over the nomination of John R. Bolton to be permanent representative of the United States at the United Nations. We urge you to reject that nomination.
By virtue of service in the State Department, USAID and Justice Departments, John Bolton has the professional background needed for this position. But his past activities and statements indicate conclusively that he is the wrong man for this position at a time when the UN is entering a critically important phase of modernization, seeking to promote economic development and democratic reforms and searching for ways to cope better with proliferation crises and a spurt of natural disasters and internal conflicts.
John Bolton has an exceptional record of opposition to efforts to enhance U.S. security through arms control. He led a campaign against ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Today, the administration is pressing for development of new types of nuclear weapons. John Bolton blocked more extensive international agreement to limit sales of small arms, the main killer in internal wars. He led the fight to continue U.S. refusal to participate in the Ottawa Landmine Treaty. Today, the U.S. has joined Russia and China in insisting on the right to continue to deploy anti-personnel landmines. John Bolton crafted the U.S. withdrawal from the joint efforts of 40 countries to formulate a verification system for the Biological Weapons Convention and blocked continuation of these efforts in a period of increasing concern over potential terrorist use of these weapons and of terrorist access to the stocks of countries covertly producing these weapons. John Bolton's unsubstantiated claims that Cuba and Syria are working on biological weapons further discredited the effect of U.S. warnings and U.S. intelligence on weapons of mass destruction.
John Bolton led the successful campaign for U.S. withdrawal from the treaty limiting missile defenses (ABM Treaty). The effects of this action included elimination of the sole treaty barrier to the weaponization of space. In the face of decades of votes in the UN General Assembly calling for negotiation of a treaty to block deployment of weapons in space, he has blocked negotiation in the Geneva Conference on Disarmament of a treaty on this subject. The administration has repeatedly proposed programs calling for weapon deployment in space.
As chief negotiator of the 2002 Moscow Treaty on withdrawing U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons from field deployment, John Bolton structured a treaty without its own verification regime, without required progress reports from both sides, without the requirement to destroy warheads withdrawn from deployment, and without provision for negotiating continued reductions. Under his guidance, the State Department repudiated important consensus agreements reached in the year 2000 Review Conference of the Non-proliferation Treaty and has even blocked the formulation of an agenda for the next review conference to be held in May 2005.
Under John Bolton as Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, the State Department has continued to fail to resolve the impasse with Russia about the legal liability of U.S. personnel working with Russia on the security of the huge arsenal of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of the former Soviet Union and has failed to accelerate measures aimed at the safety and security of this huge arsenal from theft, illegal sale and terrorist access.
John Bolton's insistence that the UN is valuable only when it directly serves the United States, and that the most effective Security Council would be one where the U.S. is the only permanent member, will not help him to negotiate with representatives of the remaining 96% of humanity at a time when the UN is actively considering enlargement of the Security Council and steps to deal more effectively with failed states and to enhance the UN's peacekeeping capability.
John Bolton's work as a paid researcher for Taiwan, his idea that the U.S. should treat Taiwan as a sovereign state, and that it is fantasy to believe that China might respond with armed force to the secession of Taiwan do not attest to the balanced judgment of a possible U.S. permanent representative on the Security Council. China is emerging as a major world power and the Taiwan issue is becoming more acute.
At a time when the UN is struggling to get an adequate grip on the genocidal killing in Darfur, Sudan, Mr. Bolton's skepticism about UN peacekeeping, about paying the UN dues that fund peacekeeping, and his leadership of the opposition to the International Criminal Court, originally proposed by the U.S. itself in order to prosecute human rights offenders, will all make it difficult for the U.S. to play an effective leadership role at a time when the UN itself and many member states are moving to improve UN capacity to deal with international problems.
Given these past actions and statements, John R. Bolton cannot be an effective promoter of the U.S. national interest at the UN. We urge you to oppose his nomination.
Sincerely,
The Hon. Terrell E. Arnold
Former Deputy Director, Office of Counterterrorism, U.S. Department of State (Reagan)
Former U.S. Consul General, Sao Paulo, Brazil (Carter)Ambassador (ret.) Harry G. Barnes, Jr.
Former U.S. ambassador to Romania, Chile, and India (Nixon, Ford, Reagan)Ambassador (ret.) Robert L. Barry
Former U.S. ambassador to Bulgaria and Indonesia (Reagan, Clinton)
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (Carter)
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs (Carter)Ambassador Josiah H. Beeman
Former U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and Western Samoa (Clinton)Ambassador (ret.) Maurice M. Bernbaum
Former U.S. ambassador to Ecuador and Venezuela (Eisenhower, Johnson)Ambassador (ret.) Richard J. Bloomfield
Former U.S. ambassador to Ecuador and Portugal (Ford, Carter, Reagan)Ambassador George Bunn
Former member of U.S. delegation to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) negotiations (Johnson)
Former U.S. ambassador to the Geneva Disarmament Conference (UN) (Johnson)Ambassador (ret.) James Cheek
Former U.S. ambassador to Sudan and Argentina (G.H.W. Bush, Clinton)Ambassador (ret.) Carleton S. Coon
Former U.S. ambassador to Nepal (Reagan)Ambassador (ret.) Jane Coon Former U.S. ambassador to Bangladesh (Reagan)
Ambassador (ret.) John H. Crimmins
Former U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic and Brazil (Johnson, Nixon, Ford)Ambassador (ret.) Richard T. Davies
Former U.S. ambassador to Poland (Nixon, Ford, Carter)Ambassador (ret.) Jonathan Dean
Former U.S. representative to the Mutual and Balanced Force Reduction Talks, Vienna (Carter)Ambassador (ret.) Willard A. DePree
Former U.S. ambassador to Mozambique and Bangladesh (Ford, Reagan, G.H.W. Bush)Ambassador (ret.) Robert S. Dillon
Former U.S. ambassador to Lebanon (Reagan)
Former Deputy Commissioner General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) (Reagan)Ambassador (ret.) Donald B. Easum
Former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria and Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) (Nixon, Ford)
Former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (Nixon, Ford)Ambassador (ret.) James Bruce Engle
Former U.S. ambassador to Dahomey (Nixon, Ford)Ambassador (ret.) Richard K. Fox Former U.S. ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago (Carter)
Ambassador (ret.) Holsey Gates Handyside
Former U.S. ambassador to Mauritania (Ford, Carter)Ambassador (ret.) William C. Harrop
Former ambassador to Israel, Kenya, and Zaire (Reagan, G.H.W. Bush, Clinton)
Former Inspector General, U.S. Department of State (Nixon)Ambassador (ret.) Samuel F. Hart
Former U.S. ambassador to Ecuador (Reagan)Ambassador (ret.) Arthur A. Hartman
Former U.S. ambassador to France and the Soviet Union (Carter, Reagan)
Former Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs (Nixon)Ambassador Ulric Haynes, Jr.
Former U.S. ambassador to Algeria (Carter)Ambassador Gerald B. Helman
Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Geneva (Carter)Ambassador (ret.) Robert T. Hennemeyer
Former U.S. ambassador to Gambia (Reagan)Ambassador (ret.) Lewis Hoffacker
Former U.S. ambassador to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea (Nixon)Ambassador (ret.) H. Allen Holmes
Former U.S. ambassador to Portugal (Reagan)
Former Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs (Reagan)
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict (Clinton)Ambassador (ret.) Robert V. Keeley
Former U.S. Ambassador to Mauritius, Zimbabwe, and Greece (Ford, Carter, Reagan)
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (Carter)Spurgeon M. Keeny, Jr.
Former Deputy Director, U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency(ACDA) (Carter)Ambassador Henry L. Kimelman
Former U.S. ambassador to Haiti (Carter)
Ambassador (ret.) Roger Kirk
Former U.S. ambassador to Somalia and Romania (Nixon, Ford, Reagan)Ambassador (ret.) Dennis H. Kux
Former U.S. ambassador to Ivory Coast (Reagan)Ambassador (ret.) James F. Leonard
Former Deputy U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations (Ford, Carter)Ambassador (ret.) Samuel W. Lewis
Former Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (Ford)
Former Director of Policy Planning, State Department (Clinton)
Former ambassador to Israel (Carter, Reagan)Ambassador (ret.) Princeton N. Lyman
Former Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (Clinton)
Director, Bureau of Refugee Programs, U.S. Department of State (G.H.W. Bush)
Former U.S. ambassador to South Africa and Nigeria (Reagan, G.H.W. Bush, Clinton)Ambassador (ret.) Richard Cavins Matheron
Former U.S. ambassador to Swaziland (Carter, Reagan)
Ambassador (ret.) Charles E. Marthinsen
Former U.S. ambassador to Qatar (Carter, Reagan)Jack Mendelsohn
Deputy Assistant Director of the Strategic Programs Bureau, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) (Reagan)
Senior ACDA representative on U.S. START delegation (Reagan)Ambassador Carol Moseley-Braun
Former U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa (Clinton)Ambassador (ret.) Donald R. Norland
Former U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, and Chad (Johnson, Ford, Carter)Ambassador (ret.) David Passage
Former U.S. ambassador to Botswana (G.H.W. Bush)Ambassador (ret.) Edward L. Peck
Former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and Mauritania (Carter, Reagan)Ambassador (ret.) Jack R. Perry
Former U.S. ambassador to Bulgaria (Carter)Ambassador (ret.) Christopher H. Phillips
Former Deputy U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN (Nixon)
Former U.S. ambassador to Brunei (G.H.W. Bush)Ambassador Stanley R. Resor
Former Secretary of the Army (Johnson, Nixon)
Former U.S. representative to the Mutual and Balanced Force Reduction Talks, Vienna (Nixon, Ford, Carter)
Ambassador Nicholas A. Rey
Former U.S. ambassador to Poland (Clinton)John B. Rhinelander
Deputy Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State (Nixon)
Legal adviser to the U.S. Strategic Arms Limitation Delegation (SALT I) (Nixon)Ambassador (ret.) Stuart W. Rockwell
Former U.S. ambassador to Morocco (Nixon)Ambassador (ret.) Talcott W. Seelye
Former U.S. ambassador to Tunisia and Syria (Nixon, Ford, Carter)Ambassador (ret.) Carl Spielvogel
Former U.S. ambassador to the Slovak Republic (Clinton)Ambassador (ret.) Monteagle Stearns
Former U.S. ambassador to Greece and Ivory Coast (Ford, Carter, Reagan)
Former Vice President, National Defense University (Carter)Ambassador (ret.) Andrew L. Steigman
Former Ambassador to Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe (Ford)Ambassador (ret.) Harry E.T. Thayer
Former U.S. ambassador to Singapore (Carter, Reagan)The Hon. Hans N. Tuch
Career Minister, U.S. Foreign Service, USIAAmbassador (ret.) Theresa A. Tull
Former U.S. ambassador to Guyana and Brunei (Reagan, G.H.W. Bush, Clinton)Ambassador William J. vanden Heuvel
Former Deputy U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations (Carter)
Former U.S. representative to the United Nations, Geneva (Carter)
Ambassador (ret.) Christopher van Hollen
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs (Nixon)
Former U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka (Nixon, Ford)Ambassador (ret.) Robert E. White
Former U.S. ambassador to Paraguay and El Salvador (Carter)
Former Deputy U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (Ford)Ambassador (ret.) James M. Wilson, Jr.
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, East Asia and Pacific Affairs (Nixon)
Coordinator for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, Department of State (Ford)
Ambassador and former U.S. Senator (ret.) James Sasser
Former U.S. Senator (D-TN)
Former U.S. Ambassador to China (Clinton)
Ambassador (ret.) Patricia M. Byrne
Former Deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (Reagan)
Ambassador (ret.) John L. Hirsch
Former U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone (Clinton)
-- Steve Clemons
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Fox News has been making fun of the signees' names? In what way? I mean, having read through the list of names, I don't know how they could make fun of these names without sounding racist or anti-semitic -- not that that possibility would act as a brake on the Fox yappers.
Greetings Aunt Deb --
I neglected to post the link on my blog which I have now done....but you can find the Fox News transcript at:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200503290004
All the best,
Steve Clemons
I used to be a liberal 20 years ago. I thought those Reaganites were being unwise in their absolute refusal to compromise and work with the USSR. Boy, was I wrong and, boy, was the Gipper right. The USSR was the evil empire; it had no economy except an "extraction economy" based on oil, mining and timber. When commodity prices collapsed in the 1980's and the Reaganites made it clear to Gorbachev that Team America was willing and able to spend an endless amount of money on weapons, especially Star Wars ... the Evil Empire collapsed. You could say they took Darth Vader off his ventilator.
I think US foreign policy needs to take a hard turn to the right. I wish the whole State Dept was filled to the brim with John Boltons. That letter by the 59 Ambassadors is a perfect example of what is wrong with American foreign policy and what a disaster the US State Department is. These people actually signed a document stating that having a problem with insisting that the UN serve US national interests. What Bolton needs to learn is that the UN is genetically incapable of 1) reform or 2)serving the US national interest.
John Bolton works for Team America. He does not work for Zimbabwe, France or China. If I thought the USA were an evil place, then I would not like that, but I don't. We are the world's strongest democracy with the absolute best military. Thank God we do and we must keep it that way.
International law does not exist. It is a figment of imagination, a fantasy. Bolton knows this. International law only exists until someone with a bigger gun says it doesn't, then it doesn't. Then it's too late and you are either dead or kissing some Hitler ass like in Vichy France.
Bolton's crowning achievement is opposing all those fake treaties, all designed to suck power and sovereignty from the USA.
International law doesn't stop the Chinese from stealing US intellectual property nonstop and it didn't stop Pakistan from having a nuclear flea market. It didn't stop both the USA and USSR from violating arms control treaties. It didn't stop all that because it is a fairyland concept. It is not stopping Iran or North Korea from getting nukes.
Notice how all these amabassadors don't like Taiwan, but they have nothing bad to say about China, where guns are banned, 2nd children are banned, they censor the internet and exactly ZERO out of 1.2B participate in free elections.
God Bless Bolton for being on the dole of democratic (now) Taiwan. These ambassadors remind me of the Europeans, who according to Bolton have appeasement as a way of life. France, who we are supposed to cultivate, was giving our military intelligence to Saddam who had bribed them. And their foreign minister gave every impression he wanted Iraq to win when asked if he was for Team America or Iraq. Chirac is on the record calling for world taxation of guns with the proceeds going to the UN! That is, of course, before they ban guns for individuals, but keep Big Guns for them.
The ambassadors cite decades of votes in the UN General Assembly which tells me they give credibility to that snakepit of 25% dictators and America haters. These are former US employees bowing to the UN as if the UN had any democratic legitimacy or credibility. Beyond that, a UN resolution is not worth the lint in an average person's belly button.
Morally bankrupt, the UN is not competent to fly a black helicopter, run an army. I am so glad UN resolutions are worthless and that they are incompetent.
The same people who made the UN's so-called "human rights commission" a farce, as it was called today by even USA Today, are the same governments who put judges on the International Criminal Court. Hello, there...Should we expect different results? For sinking the ICC, Bolton gets an A+ for me.
Bush and Condi are going to force Bolton to support LOST, but that treaty will be going down in flames this year especially with any Republicans who want to be President in 2008.
In sum, Bolton is fine with me even if he is a moderate who will say the UN can be reformed, as silly as that is. He just needs to move to the right and get a truckload of like-minded people with him in the State Department. And if he would help educate Bush and Condi on how worthless the UN is, that would be nice, too.
Robert Morrow's post is a satire, right?
Thanks, Steve. I just finished reading the transcript and then read the bios for the three people the Fox folks found so hilariously named. There's a line in the transcript about "those guys again" or something very close to that. This seems to imply that these names have shown up before, doesn't it? But there's no follow-up on that, just a comment about how strange the names are.
The nasty little crack that you have to have a name like that to become an ambassador is a deliberate reminder to the audience of the anti-elitist, anti-intellectual subtext that permeates everything Fox does. It was a planned 'bit' that derides the letter writers tacitly as eggheads and anti-Americans without having to tell the audience anything real about the people themselves.
Steve,
Thanks for your attention to this issue. But the part of the story that is most important for me is that it is the President who has nominated Bolton. Defeating Bolton will not defeat the thinking which has led to his selection. "Bolton" is Bush's message to the UN. Defeating Bolton will not defeat the message which will surely be re-delivered in another package.
I agree with Spud. Whatever my opinions are of Bush, I have an extremely hard time believing that he would nominate some SO extreme, i.e. Bolton. I don't see how Bolton would be serving his interests. Obviously he won't be serving U.S. interests, but I don't understand how he might further Bush's agenda. (this is a serious question by the way) If someone knows and is willing to explain, please do.
He didn't just do this:
"John Bolton's unsubstantiated claims that Cuba and Syria are working on biological weapons further discredited the effect of U.S. warnings and U.S. intelligence on weapons of mass destruction."
He also did this:
Bolton said bluntly that Cuba has been developing biological weapons of mass destruction, and issued a demand on behalf of the U.S. government:
"We call on Cuba to cease all BW-applicable cooperation with rogue states and to fully comply with all of its obligations under the Biological Weapons Convention.”
Bolton noted that while "Cuba’s threat to our security has often been underplayed,” the Bush administration is reassessing that threat.
"… there is a threat coming from another BWC signatory, and one that lies just 90 miles from the U.S. mainland – namely, Cuba,” Bolton said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's all bullshit of course.
A ruse, and an excuse to invade.
The gringos want Cuba back.
They foam at the mouth thinking about the economic opportunites: Golf courses, Beach hotels, off-roading. My God, can you imagine how much fun it would be to drive Hummers around the place? I mean, Christ, there must be a thousand ways WE can IMPROVE that place--so that it looks just like downtown Sunnyvale at 5pm on a Monday.
All we need is an excuse to get in there and work our white magic.
“Obviously he won't be serving U.S. interests, but I don't understand how he might further Bush's agenda. (this is a serious question by the way) If someone knows and is willing to explain, please do.”
What’s so hard to comprehend? This is a very easy question to answer. President Bush is very well aware of the UN’s recent financial scandals. He also knows about its rampant anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism. The President is intent on changing the culture of the UN that allows such nonsense. Do you get it now? By the way, why aren’t you outraged by the UN’s shenanigans?
Dave,
You got a Tel Aviv dateline? There have to be more people than me who are growing weary with you linking Israel and America. !1776!, man! Where was Israel?
Why don't you clue us in on why you demand that Americans must be outraged at any slight to some self proclaimed religious state in the Mideast(one among many).
I've got a thing for old Victoria Principal pics but I haven't burdened you with MY obsession. But now that I mention it, you got any?
This isn't the first, nor will it be the last, such list to appear in public with reference to the Bush administration.
I heard mention of a letter signed by National Security advisers from both parties ranging back to the Reagan administration, which is critical of the Bush administration energy 'policy' on a national security basis.
Robert McFarland was one of many experienced professionals who signed the letter, I believe, and it called for the 'immediate' adoption of a policy that weaned the nation from its continued dependence on petroleum (not just 'imported oil') to the detriment of other energy sources.
Among the recommendations was the increase of mileage performance by hybrid vehicles from the current 50 mpg to 100 mpg.
This story was carried on ABC nightly news this week.
DT seriously. Enough with the anti-Semitism. It's getting irritating, and it's not true. You have yet to prove that it is true, although you keep saying it. If you can't prove it, then just stop saying it. Seriously.
I can understand why you would think the UN is anti-American, but they only act like that because of the way we treat them. After shoving their resolution up their ---, we just went into Iraq by ourselves and complain that nobody is following us. I can see why they're angry with us; I would be too. The UN is an international community that we should respect, not disrespect.
I still suggest the real story is Bolton as a symbol of Bush's thinking and intentions. When Bolton says 'There is no UN. Only coalitions that the US leads at for its purposes' (paraphrase), defeating Bolton will not defeat this thinking. In a sense, it completely misses this point.
And against DT, Bush is certainly trying to do more than change the culture of the UN. Bush thinks the UN has its place: handing out food to people the US approves for aid. Not much more.
Once again, focus on the words "There is no UN" and think of them as being Bush's words.
yahaddasayit, that was wonderful!
Spud is right, I think. Bush shares Bolton's contempt for the UN. While there may be some truth to the suggestion that Rice 'pushed' Bolton out by getting him this nomination, I really doubt Condi has that kind of political smarts and I think the past four years has demonstrated that she certainly does not have the clout or the influence to have been so successfully Machiavellian. Besides when you get down to it, she also shares the Bush disdain of the UN and the idea of allies.
David Thomson - Are you as outraged at the corruption and "shenanigans" that were (are?) being perpatrated in iraq by our subcontractors? (See this weeks' Newsweek magazine)
If my reading of that issue is correct, the amounts we are talking about far exceed the UN oil-for-food brouhaha.
People such as Bolton like to bluster and make threats, and why not? Talk is cheap, and like William Kristol, Paul Wolfowitz, and Dick Cheney, he had "other priorities" when he had his chance to fight communism in Vietnam. Supposedly, Bolton keeps a hand grenade on his desk, but he will never have to hurl it in battle at anyone. Comparisons of this man with Reagan are misplaced. The Gipper had enough sense to cut his losses in Lebanon, even though we lost over two hundred Marines there in a terrorist bombing. He knew there was no percentage in getting the U.S. embroiled in a conflict among the ethnic and religious sects there. John Bolton is a fool if he thinks China will not fight over the Taiwan issue. Truman did not think the Chinese would intervene in Korea, and look what happened there. But after all, why should Bolton worry? He won't have to fight the Chinese, and I'm sure if the U.S. attacks Iran, or Syria, none of his family members will be in harm's way.
You go Bolton. You're right! Quit funding U.N.
crap, and throw the lot of them out of the U.S.
The references Bolton makes to Cuba on Biological weapons are true. One of Cuba's key strategic exports is paramilitary training. Cuban special forces were deployed all over the world in cooperation with Soviet efforts to destabilize strategic partners of the United States. Cuban special forces trained nationalists in South Yemen with plans of attacking Saudi Arabia to disrupt energy exports.
His basic point is that Cuba maintains its practices during the Cold War even without the rich uncle in Moscow. And he's right.
This horse is dead, but for the record. Rice didn't want Bolton as deputy, but he had to be given something with suitable dignity. The UN job was just the ticket, with the added benefit of getting him out of town. It's a minor job from a policy making perspective; the UN ambassador no longer sits in cabinet meetings and receives his instructions from Rice. Plus he'll hate it. The perfect appointment.
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