Big mouthed Bolton not fit for diplomacy

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, July 29, 2006

John Bolton, our man at the United Nations, had been doing OK for a while, but then was overcome by another big-mouth attack.

He was in a hall filled with diplomats gathered to discuss tightening the U.N.’s management. According to the account in The New York Times, Bolton pulled out a cordless mike and proceeded to berate envoys from the developing world for weakening his proposals. A gavel fell, telling Bolton that he was out of order. He threw up his hands and said in a huff, “Well, so much for trying something different.”

They’re still talking about it at the U.N.

Has it occurred to the geniuses running foreign policy for the Bush administration that the world isn’t a Fox news show – that rude spokespeople do not serve American interests? Obviously it hasn’t, and that’s too bad, because the administration has improved its international manners of late, treating both allies and multilateral groupings with more deference.

Bolton is one of the throwbacks, and President Bush’s desire to extend his tongue-flapping at the U.N. is most unfortunate. The only way Bolton could get to the U.N. last year was through a presidential appointment during a congressional recess. One hopes Senate Democrats will follow through on a threatened filibuster of this renomination. They would be doing the nation a service.

For all his recent progress, Bush still doesn’t grasp the importance of removing the knuckle-draggers from the international stage. For example, after three Muslim inmates hanged themselves at Guantanamo, our deputy assistant secretary for public diplomacy (of all people) called their actions a “good PR move.” She should have been fired on the spot.

Bush himself has not mastered the fine points of diplomacy. As part of his “surprise visit” to Iraq in June, he dropped in on Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki without first asking for an invitation. The administration was promoting Maliki as the leader of a newly democratic and independent Iraq, and there was Bush, handling him like the hired help. As described by The Economist magazine, “Maliki was obliged to stand squirming alongside his beaming visitor, as pictures of president and stooge were flashed unhelpfully to Muslims in Iraq and around the world.”

The failure to honor the feelings of others can cause damage far beyond the specifics of American policy. Of course we weren’t going to sign the Kyoto Protocol. The international agreement to stem global warming was indeed “fatally flawed,” as Bush said, but shouldn’t have. Wise leaders don’t just tear up a treaty that allies care deeply about. They say, “This is interesting, but we need to make changes,” and spend the next five years talking about it. Wise leaders, furthermore, would express genuine concern over global warming and propose alternative approaches.

Children and John Bolton think that they can say whatever’s on their mind. Bolton’s 1994 foreigners-don’t-matter speech should have ended his prospects for an ambassadorship to anywhere. “There is no such thing as the United Nations,” he said, voice growing more agitated as he went along. “There is an international community that occasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world, and that is the United States when it suits our interest and we can get others to go along.”

Bolton’s in the habit of talking about foreign policy in the first person. When asked whether America might support European efforts to offer incentives to Iran, he came out with one of his little-man-with-a-gun quips: “I don’t do carrots.”

The ambassador explained his recent petulant performance at the U.N. as follows: “It’s not a question of personal style so much as it is a way of articulating a position that puts American interests in the best light.”

Actually, American interests would look a lot better if someone with manners and self-control were presenting them. Bolton is not that someone. Perhaps Senate Democrats can save us all from further embarrassment.

Froma Harrop is a Providence Journal columnist. Contact her by writing to fharrop@projo.co