Democrats are on the attack

Bush will have to withdraw troops from Iraq and fire Bolton

Democrats, who won the midterm elections to the US Congress on November 7, are already promising that they will increase pressure on Republican President George W. Bush to change the country's foreign policy. Democratic Senator Harry Reid, who will lead the majority in the upper house of Congress in January, is preparing for a heated public debate on the issue of the war in Iraq. “What we're doing there now isn't working,” he explains. He is echoed by the new speaker of the lower house, Nancy Pelosi. She calls for reducing American troops in Iraq from the current more than 140 thousand to less than 110 thousand people by the fall of 2007.

Democrats are extending their initiatives to personnel issues. The victim of this pressure may be one of the most famous diplomats, 57-year-old Republican John Bolton, the US permanent representative to the UN, who enjoys a reputation as a “hawk”. On the eve of the Iraq War in 2003, Bolton was among those who argued that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. This information, which was later not confirmed, became one of the reasons for the war. Two years ago, in an interview with Vremya Novostey, John Bolton stubbornly insisted that “we must continue the search” for such weapons, although it is not known where they went.

Bolton has long been disliked in the Democratic camp, considering him too inflexible an official prone to forceful decisions. He was appointed to the post of permanent representative to the UN in August 2005 by George W. Bush, bypassing the confirmation procedure in the Senate, where the discussion of this candidacy lasted for five months of scandalous discussions. The UN was also afraid of the new appointee, because he had repeatedly spoken out about the “uselessness” of this organization.

Bolton is also viewed ambiguously in Russia, where diplomats and intelligence officers who know him (since May 2001, he worked for four years as Deputy Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security), on the one hand, know him as a high professional and a person who clearly states his thoughts and fulfilling promises. On the other hand, according to Vremya Novostei, many were annoyed by Bolton’s persistence and excessive rigidity in trying to get his way. The style of this diplomat was also unusual for Russians - he could be harsh and, moreover, surprise with unexpected ideas that went beyond practical implementation.

And so two congressmen, Democrat Earl Blumenauer and Republican Jim Walsh, circulated a letter in the House of Representatives on Tuesday calling on George W. Bush to appoint Republican Jim Leach as US permanent representative to the UN to replace John Bolton. Blumenauer said he had “never met a more diplomatic politician than Leach in my life,” and Walsh said it was “impossible to imagine another American better equipped to represent U.S. interests at the United Nations.” Their nominee was a member of the House of Representatives for 30 years and, as many believe, lost the November 7 election only because he relied on a fair fight and rejection of black PR.

Nikolai Zlobin, director of Russian and Asian programs at the Washington Institute of World Security, explained yesterday to VN that about two weeks ago the president asked the Senate to extend Bolton’s powers, which expire on January 31, 2007. According to the expert, “the Senate in its current composition is unlikely to deal with this issue before the Christmas break, one of many complicating relations between the executive and legislative branches of government after the November 7 elections.” “In January, new senators will come to the upper house of Congress who will consider a new candidacy for the post of US permanent representative to the UN,” our interlocutor believes.

64-year-old Jim Leach prefers to remain silent about his plans for the future, but he is almost ideally suited for the position that is predicted for him. He joined the diplomatic service in 1968 and served in the US mission to the UN in the 1970s when George HW Bush, the father of the current president, was permanent representative. In recent years, Leach has chaired the House Foreign Relations Committee's subcommittee on East Asian and Asia-Pacific Affairs.

The main thing that distinguishes Leach from Bolton is his sensitive attitude to the difficulties experienced by the UN and his critical attitude towards the war in Iraq. In 2002, Leach was one of six Republican congressmen who voted against a resolution in the House of Representatives that would have authorized the use of military force against Saddam Hussein's regime. Leach was among the first Republicans who, in the spring of 2004, began to increasingly speak out for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.

Elena SUPONINA, Alexander SAMOKHOTKIN