John Bolton’s hearings begin
June 27, 2006 | By Nathaniel Ward
During his confirmation hearings, the Senate should reexamine Ambassador John Bolton's strong record.
Last year, the Senate failed to act on President Bush’s nomination of John Bolton to be America’s ambassador to the United Nations. So President Bush appointed him ambassador during a Senate recess. As new Senate hearings on his confirmation begin today, Heritage’s Nile Gardiner and Brett Schaefer explain, the Senate should reexamine his strong record of unwavering commitment “to both the advancement of U.S. interests and the cause of international freedom and security.”
Ambassador Bolton has been a firm advocate of America’s interests at the United Nations, and he remains committed to implementing much-needed reforms at the corrupt organization. He has pushed the U.N. to take a tougher stand against North Korean and Iranian aggression, has argued firmly for the need to condemn international terrorism, and he has advanced essential management reforms to bring accountability to Turtle Bay.
“It is in the U.S. national interest to have a United Nations that is free of corruption, fraud, and mismanagement,” write Gardiner, the director of Heritage’s Thatcher Center, and Schaefer. “And it is in the national interest to have a world body that actually stands for human rights, that rejects terrorism, and that advances rather than hinders international security.”
“A capacity for straight talking rather than peddling half-truths is a strength and not a disadvantage in diplomacy,” former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wrote in support of Bolton. “In the case of a great power like America, it is essential that people know where you stand and assume you know what you say.”
John Bolton is unpopular at the UN. Good!
Writing in The New York Post, Heritage Senior Fellow Peter Brookes elaborates on why John Bolton is well qualified to be America’s U.N. ambassador:
No shrinking violet, he’s just the type of no-nonsense, “get ’er done” diplomat Washington needs in New York right now, fighting for American interests in the divided and increasingly impotent U.N. Security Council. …
Protecting America’s $3 billion annual U.N. contribution, Bolton is making headway in reforming the scandal-ridden world body, too, including commitments by the General Assembly to improve oversight and personnel management.
Critics say Bolton isn’t popular with his U.N. colleagues. Good! The likely reason is that Bolton actually expects them to do something, like solve world problems and clean up the U.N.’s act.
In less than a year’s time, John Bolton has become an indispensable advocate at the United Nations, advancing and protecting American interests at a time when we’re facing unparalleled international challenges.
How and why to fight Hezbollah
The complete destruction of Hezbollah is in America’s best interests, a panel of experts said yesterday at The Heritage Foundation. Not only would an Israeli victory in Lebanon protect a key Middle East ally, but it would be a crushing blow to Iran, Hezbollah’s primary sponsor. But an incomplete Israeli victory would be a win for Iran, vindicating their aggressive foreign policy and encouraging increased intransigence on the nuclear weapons issue.
Since an Israeli victory is so important to America and the free world, “the last thing you do is stop before you finish the job,” Heritage Middle East analyst Ariel Cohen said. “It’s not in American interests to push Israel into a ceasefire that will cause Israel to lose.”
Getting children out of failing schools
Last week, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings introduced the America’s Opportunity Scholarships initiative, a pilot program to give tens of thousands of children a chance to escape failing schools.
While the plan isn’t perfect—hundreds of thousands of children would remain stranded at substandard schools—it’s a solid move in the right direction, writes Heritage education expert Dan Lips. “It would be another critical step toward demonstrating how school choice programs can benefit families, paving the way for future student-centered reforms at the local, state, and federal levels to give all families the opportunity to choose their children’s school.”
Rethinking airport security
After the September 11 terrorist attacks, airport security was brought under the direction of the Transportation Security Administration, a new federal bureaucracy that supplanted private security agencies. But are we any more secure?
“Four years of experience have taught that the U.S. government cannot do the job any better than the private sector,” write Heritage’s James Carafano and the Reason Foundation’s Robert Poole. “This should come as no surprise. Virtually every other country that has used government screeners has reached the same conclusion.”
Carafano proposes that Congress scrap the T.S.A. and replace it with a new agency, one with a much more limited role. “Congress created the problem, and fixing it will take a law from Congress to refocus the government on the job of stopping terrorists rather than rooting through our luggage.”
In other news
- Another state court has upheld traditional marriage and resisted pressure from special interests to redefine marriage. Washington’s Supreme Court backed the state’s traditional marriage law, finding that the legislation is neither in violation of the state constitution nor discriminatory.
- Iraq’s elected Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, told a joint session of Congress yesterday that his country is a vital front in the war on terrorism. “The battle of Iraq will decide the fate of this war,” he said, explaining that the obligation to fight terrorism “lies on the shoulders of every country and every people that respects and cherishes its freedom.”
- In a new al Qaeda communiqué, second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri said that their barbaric terrorist war will continue until Islamists reign “from Spain to Iraq.” He added that “we will attack everywhere” to achieve this dream of conquest. We ignore this plain statement of intent at our peril.
- Deposed Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein has asked that he be executed by firing squad if sentenced to death. A verdict in his war crimes trial is expected in October.
- Massachusetts is now implementing the first steps of a consumer-based health care reform that empowers individuals and free enterprise while reducing dependence on government. The city of San Francisco, meanwhile, is going the other way by extending government-run health care to all comers—and making employers and taxpayers foot the high bills.
Coming up at Heritage
To attend these or any other Heritage Foundation events, RSVP at Heritage’s events website. Or you can watch these events live online at Heritage.org. All times are Eastern.
- On Monday, July 31 at noon, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz will speak to a sold-out crowd at Heritage about how to use foreign aid to strengthen America’s position overseas.
- On Wednesday, August 2 at noon, Heritage hosts a discussion of communism’s bloody legacy and its continued power over a fifth of the world’s population.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.
