Former defense secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, ex-CIA director R. James Woolsey and 64 other retired arms control specialists and diplomats are lined up in support of John R. Bolton, whose nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has stirred controversy. In a letter being delivered today to Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, other committee members and congressional leaders, they said the attack on Bolton is really an attack on President Bush's policies. A hearing on the nomination is set for Thursday.
Last week, 62 critics of Bolton signed a letter calling for his rejection by the Senate, especially because of his opposition to several U.S. arms control treaties. Bolton supporters said his stance "reflects a clear-eyed necessity of the real limits" of accords with other nations that demand one-sided terms from the United States. They included Max M. Kampelman and Edward Rowny, arms control negotiators in the Reagan administration. The counterattack, organized by Frank J. Gaffney Jr., a Pentagon official in the Reagan administration, said Bolton "has distinguished himself throughout a long and multifaceted career." It suggested that critics of Bolton's positions on arms control treaties are "misdirected" because his views "are identical" to those of Bush and that "their differences seem to be with a man twice elected by the American people to design and execute security policies, rather than with one of his most effective and articulate officials in advancing those policies." |