Ex-Diplomat Calls U.N. Nominee 'Unworthy'
WASHINGTON — Another former high-ranking State Department official has urged senators not to approve John R. Bolton as United Nations ambas- sador, saying Bolton has "no diplomatic bone in his body" and is "unworthy of your trust."
Frederick Vreeland, a former U.S. ambassador to Burma and Morocco appointed by President George H.W. Bush, joined a growing chorus of ex-officials taking sides on Bolton.
"If it is now U.S. policy not to reform the U.N. but to destroy it, Bolton is our man," Vreeland wrote in a letter to Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The letter was released by Biden's office.
The committee has delayed until May 12 a vote on Bolton's appointment while it investigates allegations that Bolton bullied intelligence analysts who disagreed with him and that he may have been less than candid in testimony to the committee.
At least three Republican members of the committee are wavering despite White House lobbying for Bolton, who has served as undersecretary of State for arms control and international security since 2001.
Republican and Democratic committee staffers met late Monday and agreed to jointly interview about two dozen witnesses about incidents for which Bolton has come under fire, a Democratic staffer said.
Vreeland said that as the deputy assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs in 1991, he had to deal with Bolton, who then was in charge of a State Department bureau that handled U.N. issues.
"It was the only unpleasant part of my assignment -- and it was very unpleasant," Vreeland wrote. "He dealt with visitors to his office as if they were servants with whom he could be dismissive, curt and negative. He was well known for never being good-tempered or even well mannered."
Now retired and living in Rome, Vreeland could not be reached for comment Monday. Bolton is barred by protocol from answering such charges in the press. Vreeland's complaints to the committee were first reported this week by Time magazine.
State Department Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli dismissed Vreeland's charges.
"The personal recollections of a retired ambassador notwithstanding, John Bolton has a distinguished record of diplomatic service on behalf of the United States, a fact to which five former secretaries of State and three former secretaries of Defense have publicly attested," Ereli said.
