Nomination of John Robert Bolton to be the Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations--Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I voice my support for John Bolton to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Undersecretary Bolton will bring to the table exactly what the U.N. needs now more than ever: a sure hand to guide much-needed reform.

The United Nations holds much promise today. But too often, it falls far short in its attempts to defend freedom, security, and human dignity. Undersecretary Bolton wants the U.N. to succeed, and believes it can be a great force for good.

Over the past 3 months we have all heard many scurrilous, slanderous personal attacks made against Undersecretary Bolton. However, as is often the case in Washington, the outrage is largely much ado over very little.

I believe that the opposition to him really stems from concern that he has so effectively implemented the President's foreign policy. Opponents do not want to take on the President, so they try to bully John Bolton.

The problem is, the U.N. is rife with corruption, scandal, and incompetence. Take the Oil-for-Food Program. What started as a humanitarian attempt to help Saddam Hussein's suffering victims degenerated into a jackpot for the tyrant's friends.

Evidence now shows that Saddam Hussein illegally profited from the program, and used the funds to build weapons for use against American troops. Millions of dollars in oil-soaked bribes may have gone to high-ranking officials in France, Russia, and within the U.N. itself. And most sickening of all, there is now evidence that Oil-for-Food money may be funding the insurgents that attack our soldiers in Iraq.

I commend my good friend Senator NORM COLEMAN from Minnesota for leading the committee that has uncovered these abuses. He is proving how much work lies ahead for Undersecretary Bolton when he arrives at the U.N.

As Undersecretary of State, John Bolton took the lead to realize the President's Proliferation Security Initiative, which strives to halt the spread of dangerous weapons. Thanks to his leadership, the once-dangerous regime in Libya has begun to be tamed, as Libya has consented to the Initiative and begun the verifiable elimination of its weapons of mass destruction.

Undersecretary Bolton also led negotiations for the creation of the G-8 Global Partnership Against the Proliferation of WMD. Thanks to his diplomatic work, other nations contributed $10 billion towards those efforts. And he led negotiations for the Treaty of Moscow, which reduced by two-thirds the number of operationally deployed strategic nuclear warheads.

As Undersecretary, Mr. Bolton secured 100 bilateral agreements ensuring that other countries will never drag American troops before the International Criminal Court on trumped-up, political charges and deprive them of American justice. It is remarkable that he has negotiated so many of these pacts--known as Article 98 agreements, for a section of the ICC treaty--in just 4 short years.

Undersecretary Bolton was a leader of American efforts to persuade the Security Council to pass Resolution 1540, which imposes standards for arms control, disarmament, and WMD proliferation prevention on every Member State.

So far, over 80 countries have outlined their plans to stop WMD proliferation. This is a tremendous step forward in the War on Terror, and much of the credit goes to Mr. Bolton. Thanks to his careful, patient work of diplomacy, Resolution 1540 not only passed the U.N. Security Council, it passed unanimously.

Let me close, Mr. President, with a reminder for my colleagues of how committed Undersecretary Bolton is to working with and reforming the U.N. to make it the sentinel of liberty that it can, and should, be. I will read two statements. One was made by Undersecretary Bolton, the other by the revered Democrat and New Dealer Dean Acheson, Secretary of State to President Harry S Truman. Let's see if you can guess who said what.

Here's the first one:

The United States is committed to the success of the United Nations, and we view the U.N. as an important component of our diplomacy . . . Walking away from the United Nations is not an option.

Now here's the second statement:

I never thought the U.N. as worth a damn. To a lot of people it was a Holy Grail, and those who set store by it had the misfortune to believe their own bunk.

One of these statements was made by the nominee, a man caricatured by his detractors as dead-set against the U.N. and the need for America to work with multilateral institutions. The other was made by the multilateralist who helped create the World Bank and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Well, surprise, surprise. The first statement was made by Undersecretary Bolton, and the second by Secretary Acheson. This just goes to show, Mr. President, that much of the criticism about Mr. Bolton is useless when it comes to determining his commitment to the U.N., and his fitness to be the Ambassador.

I urge my fellow Senators to focus on the dire need for U.N. reform, and Undersecretary Bolton's record as a diplomat who can get results. In times like these the U.N. needs a little straight talk. And Undersecretary Bolton can give it to them.

He has a remarkable record of bringing about change through multinational institutions. I say, let him work his magic at the U.N. The U.N. can do better than what it is giving us, it must do better. John Bolton is the right man at the right time for this critical assignment.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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