John Bolton Speaks as a "Free Man"

I have to say because I am a private citizen and a free man again  - these are my personal views now. These sanctions resolutions are very disappointing. John Bolton 1/5/07

UPDATE: Argh ............ AIPAC has advised me  these remarks were made off the record.
This is coming from their NY office not Ambassador Bolton's.  I am taking the post down for now. I will, however,  run his response to the effectiveness of 1701 and how closely the UN had been monitoring the agreements on Lebanese Israeli border. And  what, in the event of violation, was is being done to enforce it;

I have to say I am going to give you a pretty discouraging answer on that point. I think that the enhanced UNIFIL which was agreed to with a lot of fanfare as part of  resolution 1701 has not been successful in fully accomplishing the mission that we wanted to give to it. There's no doubt Syria and Iran have very substantially resupplied and rearmed Hezb'Allah. The UNIFIL people have done essentially nothing about it. Those shipments across the Lebanese Syrian border have been reported by the UN itself not something that comes just from the United States.

It could be we are coming to a day of reckoning here on resolution 1701 and  whether  the cessation of hostilities that was established between Hezb'Allah and Israel is going to remain acceptable.

I would hope the United States in the near future begins to take the next step that we made a conscious decision not to make in 1701 and that is disarming Hezb'Allah.

The unspoken premise of 1701 was first you stop them from getting external assistance by imposing an arms embargo but then the next step is to disarm Hezb'allah  and we have not done anything on that. We are at the point , we have got to move to that second step.

Will update if there is a change.

Comments

[balzar]

Is there any way that Bolton can be re- appointed or deployed to something else in the foreign relations business? Can he still be useful to the govt or is he destined for commercial fame/fortune?

[John Sobieski]

I am still angry that the Republican party was unwilling to armtwist the RINOs that would not vote for Bolton. Truly a great man, and the Republicans do eat their own.

[eavesdropper]

Atlas - thanks for providing the transcript and the audio. It was very interesting and educational.

Couple observations - Bolton is an calm thoughtful speaker and diplomat. Anybody who thinks he is a bully and harmful to the US image needs to hear the interview or read Atlas' transcript.

Unfortunately there is not a lot of bright spots in the future. The "institutional bias" against Israel and the US is going to continue, the new Security Council is made up of even more anti-Israel/US countries and the new Secretary's strength is in Asian politics, not the Middle East.

Thanks to Bolton for fighting so hard for our interests, he will be remembered as a champion of liberty.

[tazzerman2000]

Truly an American patriot and incredible resource needed in the fight against islam. It's almost criminal how this man was treated by our own congress and how he's looked upon by the left. He has been the greatest voice in the UN since Kirkpatrick and a much needed breath of honest, clean, fresh air in an institution that stinks from the ground up. He will be sorely missed in the coming months/years in this fight agains islam. I certainly hope that he can find a way to help this great nation outside of the UN.

Joltin John for Prez !!!

[TommyG]

I am downloading the .wav file as I type - I am interested in getting an idea of Amb. Bolton's demeanor during this Q&A session. I expect him to be as calm and thoughtful as we've seen him before; NOT as any normal person would be after dealing with shills, crackpots, and anti-American antagonists; either spitting nails or lamenting the loss of many hours spent at the UN that could have been better used fishing or bowling or surfing the 'net.

Kudos to Bolton for sticking around as long has he did (I would have walked out a long time ago) but it makes me wonder why Democrats look (and run) to the UN whenever there is some kind of international conflict. Are they aware of the kind of goons and thugs that inhabit the UN? Or do they feel more comfortable among those "diplomatic" types? Why is consensus from the UN paramount for liberals, even when the result is not in the best interests for free nations?

I'm trying to come up with an example to describe the relationship between the UN and liberals. Right now I think it's "honor among theives" but without firm leadership, it will not take long to turn into "predator/prey."

(Haha...I was only kiddin' about using the phrase "firm leadership" in the same paragraph as the words "liberals" and "UN.")

[Josef K]

News-flash: The most powerful woman in the world is Atlas Shrugs, who should be our UN Ambassador.

Great blog post and at least Bolton's staying in the good fight. Can't get enuf of a manly man.

[Joseph]

Great work on the transcript. The Demoncats and a certain RINO have made a big mistake in not retaining Bolton in his former position at the UN. A mistake that we all may have to pay for. What a waste of talent!

[AbuNudnik]

Hi Pamela. I'd really love to listen to the .wav file but it's too big for my old computer. Would it be possible for someone, either yourself or one of your readers to save it as an mp3 file and repost it? I'd appreciate it.

On another matter. Did anyone bring up the Lebanon war resolution that was unanimously passed on his watch. I seem to be in a small minority in believing that resolution was a disaster for Israel, everyone's sovereignty, especially Lebanon's, and the UN itself, because Lebanon, if it is to be a sovereign state, must be held responsible, fair or not, for everything that transpires within its borders and all the consequences that result from those actions. I haven't been able to listen to the transcript so I was wondering if it came up.