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Former ambassador criticizes Obama's style
John Bolton says president is ineffective in foreign-policy arena
Journal Photo by David Rolfe
John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., spoke at the Wake Forst University School of Law.
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Published: October 3, 2009
John Bolton said yesterday that President Obama has shown weakness in his foreign policy toward Iran, North Korea and Russia, and that Obama is the country's first "post-American president."
Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said that Obama and his advisors have not persuaded Iran or North Korea to give up its nuclear-weapon programs, and the White House has decided not deploy a nuclear-defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Bolton spoke to more than 200 people, mostly law students, at the Worrell Professional Center at the Wake Forest University School of Law.
His 25-minute speech was sponsored by the law school and the Federalist Society, a student organization.
Obama sees himself as an international community organizer rather than an advocate of America in his foreign policy, Bolton said. Obama wants to gather stakeholders around a table to solve international problems, but, he said, that is ineffective.
For example, the Obama administration is pursing a similar failed policy toward Iran that the Bush administration followed for six years, Bolton said, because it has been unable to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear program.
Bolton, 60, resigned his post as U.N. ambassador in December 2006 as his nomination languished in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for more than a year. Democrats and Republicans had blocked his nomination, questioning whether Bolton, with his brusque style and critical stance toward the United Nations, could serve effectively there.
President Bush gave Bolton the job temporarily in August 2005, while Congress was in recess. Under that process, the appointment expires when Congress adjourns.
The White House resubmitted Bolton's nomination in November 2006, but after Democrats took control of Congress after the 2006 elections, Bolton's nomination was not considered.
A lawyer educated at Yale University, Bolton served in the administrations of President Reagan and the first President Bush. During the second Bush administration, he was an Undersecretary of State and led the administration's opposition to the International Criminal Court. He is now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
In his speech, Bolton said that the Obama administration is too quick to negotiate with America's enemies and that it views negotiations as a policy. But the United States should only pursue negotiations with its adversaries when it is the country's best interest to do so, he said.
When Obama said that he wanted "to extend an open hand to our adversaries," Kim Jong-Il, the North Korean leader, exploded a second nuclear weapon, tested his ballistic missiles and kidnapped two American reporters, Bolton said.
Bolton added that North Korea has agreed to give up its nuclear program five times in the past 20 years, but the communist country has not given up any nuclear weapons.
But he said he expects North Korea to return to six-party talks with United States, Japan, China, and other countries about its nuclear program -- a Bush administration initiative.
Bolton also discussed Iran agreeing yesterday to open its newly revealed uranium-enrichment plant near Qum, Iran, to international inspection in the next two weeks and to send most of is openly declared enriched uranium to Russia to be turned into fuel for a small reactor that produces medical isotopes.
Bolton said it was inevitable that the International Atomic Energy Agency would inspect the site after Iran revealed its existence last week. Bolton speculated that IAEA inspection teams would find "a lot of empty underground facilities because anything interesting would be removed."
That development is a setback for Iran and highlights the effectiveness of the American, British, French and Israeli intelligence efforts, Bolton said. It is not achievement for Obama foreign policy, he said, because Iran may have other uranium-enrichment sites.
Negotiating with the U.S. State Department will continue to give Iran time to develop its nuclear weapons, Bolton said.
"This combines with North Korea sends a signal of American weakness in diplomacy that only encourages other adversaries around the world," Bolton said.
jhinton@wsjournal.com | 727-7299
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