Bolton maneuvers against Rice

[8:00 pm update: Mark Leon Goldberg's piece, "The Arsonist" , is now available. Emblematic of the almost pathological incompetence of the man:

He did not recalibrate strategy by, say, teaming up with allies to strong-arm countries that are hostile to shared reform priorities. Rather, he set up a confrontation with the very same countries that might have been our best partners in the implementation of those reforms.]

Although it's hard to feel sorry for her, John Bolton is trying to use his UN perch to sabotage the Secretary of State. Shocked! Shocked! I tell you.

Recently I flagged Mort Halperin's nice post on how Bolton's "style" at the UN undermined real reform of the UN Human Rights Council, but there was little about it surprising to Bolton aficianados. What's more interesting is Bolton's affect on the internal politics of the Bush Administration.

So Steve Clemons lets fly:

Now, it seems that the real John Bolton has boldly stepped beyond the veneer. And true to form, just as he woke up each morning for the first four years of the Bush administration asking what he could do to make Colin Powell's life miserable and, at the same time, doing Vice President Cheney's bidding, John Bolton has now target Condoleezza Rice's efforts to get America back on a more balanced foreign policy track with the rest of the world.

Tomorrow's American Prospect will have all the details on "The Arsonist".

But the big news that Mark Goldberg breaks is that the American Prospect has confirmed that it was John Bolton himself who scuttled Secretary of State Rice's efforts to offer Syria a Libya-like opportunity to get itself out of the international dog house. Goldberg writes:

. . .the tension between Rice and Bolton has grown dramatically in several areas, most notably with regard to Syria: The Prospect has learned that Bolton was the source of an October leak to the British press that submarined sensitive negotiations Rice was overseeing with that country.

Standard operating procedure. Wasn't this the part where Rice told senators Bolton would be "gone"? Further:

Journalist Ibrahim Hamidi, writing in the Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat, reported -- and the Prospect has independently confirmed -- that Bolton had leaked to British newspapers that the Bush administration had signaled its willingness to offer Syria a "Libya-style deal" -- a reference to Libyan President Muammar Quaddafi's decision last year to give up pursuing weapons of mass destruction and renounce terrorism in return for a restoration of relations with the United States and the United Kingdom.

According to The Times of London, Syria responded positively to the secret U.S. offer, which was made through a third party. But after Bolton publicly aired the details of the potential deal -- which would require Syria to cooperate with the Mehlis investigation, end interference in Lebanese affairs and alleged interference in Iraqi affairs, and cease supporting militant groups like Hamas and Hezbollah -- Damascus quickly denied that such a deal was in the offing.

For a refresher on Bolton's unsuccessful sabotage of the successful efforts to disarm Libya, see here.

It's time for the "coalition of adults" to demand that the Secretary of State live up to her promise of overseeing Bolton properly, or else force him out the door.

Comments

[Bill Petti]

I must admit that I was deeply disappointed in Rice for forgoing her realist principles and seemingly adopting the idealistic crusade of our fair President. However, at this moment I find myself sympathetic for her plight, and hoping that she can rein in Mr. Bolton since he seems to be sabatoging any hope of sensible foreign policy in favor of unworkable obstinance.

[Alexander Wolfe]

I find msyelf in the strange position of rooting for Rice here. The cognitive dissonance is really most uncomfortable. Hopefully she can bring Bolton back under control so I can go back to generally disapproving of everything she does or says.