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• Monday, January 5, 2009 10:10 AM

  Bolton and Yoo: bad and badder

  In an admittedly sort of hodge-podge Timeline undertaking which I simply call “WAR”, this is what I have for Bolton, John:

  1998 “the neocons persisted with their policy goals, and in early 1998 they twice lobbied President Clinton to bring down Saddam. The second attempt came in the form of "An Open Letter to the President" by leading neoconservatives, many of whom later played key roles in the Bush administration, where they became known as the Vulcans. Among those who signed were Michael Ledeen, John Bolton, Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and David Wurmser.”(B)

  May 6, 2002-US Department of State informs UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that the US “does not intend to become a party to” the “Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court adopted on July 17, 1998.” The letter is signed by John Bolton. (PP) [See also September 7, 2002]

  September 7, 2002-NYT: “The Bush administration is shifting its emphasis in seeking exemptions for Americans from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, telling European allies that a central reason is to protect the country's top leaders from being indicted, arrested or hauled before the court on war crimes charges, administration officials say.”(QQ)

  May 2, 2003-Iran sends to Washington “the grand bargain” for negotiating differences, just before a meeting in Geneva between Iran's U.N. ambassador, Javad Zarif, and neocon Zalmay Khalilzad, then a senior director at the National Security Council. “According to a report by Gareth Porter in The American Prospect, Iran offered to take ‘decisive action against any terrorists (above all, al-Qaeda) in Iranian territory." In exchange, Iran wanted the U.S. to pursue "anti-Iranian terrorists’—i.e., the MEK. Specifically, Iran offered to share the names of senior al-Qaeda operatives in its custody in return for the names of MEK cadres captured by the U.S. in Iraq.”… the Bush administration simply declined to respond. "We're not interested in any grand bargain," -Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton (U)

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  (B) The War They Wanted, The Lies They Needed

  http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2006/07/yellowcake200607

  (PP) State Department letter from John Bolton to inform UN that US “will not be party to” the Rome Statute [ICC] http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2002/9968.htm

  (QQ) “On World Court, US Focus Shifts to Shielding Officials”

  http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E05E5DD103EF934A3575AC0A9649C8B63

  (U) From the Wonderful Folks Who Brought You Iraq, by Craig Unger, March 2007

  http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/ [...]

  —harpie Read harpie's other letters
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