Bush appoints John Bolton to the UN during Congressional Recess
August 2nd 2005

President George Bush appointed John Bolton, longtime Dick Cheney protégé, as US ambassador to the United Nations (UN) following a recent passage of legislation cutting US financial support for the UN.  Support is contingent on major changes at the UN..  Bush’s recess appointment can be seen as a message to UN Secretary General Koi Annan that the Bush Administration is serious about reform.

The appointment came in Monday right after Congress went into recess for a month long summer break.  After five months of debate in the Senate over the Presidents choice of ambassador, the appointment came as no surprise.  This is the first time in history that a recess appointment has been made for US Ambassador to the UN.  .

The appointment is not without controversy.  It appears, according to Senate hearings, that Bolton hyped up intelligence on Iran, Syria and Cuba.  He has also used National Security Agency intercepts to spy on co-workers, and possibly bullied them. 

It was Bolton who created a false fact sheet that asserted that Saddam Hussein was attempting to buy enriched Uranium from Niger.  Ambassador Joseph Wilson debunked the Uranium story.  Soon after this someone in the administration revealed that his wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA agent. 

Bolton had trouble clearing Congressional approval because of these issues.  He also lied to Congress claiming he had not been interviewed or has testified in any investigation over the past five years.  Bolton had been interviewed in 2003 by the State Department inspector general as part of a joint CIA investigation into skewed pre-war Iraqi intelligence. 

Since the appointment was made during Congressional recess it will only last until January 2007. The administration is hopeful this is enough time to make changes in the restructuring of the Human Rights Commission, among other things.

If you have any comments about this story please email me.

By Dan Wilson
Best Syndication Staff Writer

Keywords and misspellings: Nasions Plume resess