U.N. Nominee Faces New Bullying Allegations

[Algorem]

(does link work without registration(subscription,I mean)?how about Google link? http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&tab=wn&q=+Biden%2CMelody+Townsel&btnG=Search+News)

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bolton17apr17,1,6526317.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true

businesswoman describes belligerent behavior by Bolton. An intelligence analyst's accusations of pressure are further detailed.


By Sonni Efron and Richard A. Serrano, Times Staff Writers



WASHINGTON — A Texas businesswoman has written to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that John R. Bolton is unfit to serve as U.N. ambassador because he threatened, berated and harassed her in a dispute over an overseas contract.

"His behavior back in 1994 wasn't just unforgivable, it was pathological," wrote Melody Townsel, a businesswoman from Dallas, in a letter to the committee that was made public Saturday by Democrats who opposed Bolton's appointment. "I cannot believe that this man is being seriously considered for any diplomatic position, let alone such a critical posting to the U.N."

Hers is the latest account alleging that Bolton — who faces a key committee vote Tuesday in his nomination to be United Nations ambassador — has been rude and belligerent toward those less powerful than himself, including three intelligence analysts whose views clashed with his.

Also disclosed Saturday was the summary of a committee staff interview with a former national intelligence officer for Latin America. He said that in 2003, Bolton and another State Department official attempted to pressure him to tailor his judgment on Cuba's biological weapons program, and that they attacked his integrity and attempted to have him transferred when he would not do so...

[0007]

1. Hmmmmm. Does Hagel know about this one?

If so, I hope he keeps his word.

[struggle4progress]

15. That would be nice.

GOP Lawmaker May Vote Against U.N. Nominee

GOP Lawmaker May Vote Against U.N. Nominee Bolton if There Are More Accusations of Harassment

By SIOBHAN McDONOUGH Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON Apr 17, 2005 — A top Senate Republican raised the possibility Sunday that he might vote against President Bush's nominee to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations if more accusations surface about John Bolton's alleged harassment of analysts who disagreed with his views

With a Senate Foreign Relations Committee vote expected Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska was asked whether he would endorse Bolton. "At this point, I will … but I have been troubled with more and more allegations, revelations, coming about his style, his method of operation," said Hagel, the committee's No. 2 Republican. <snip>

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=678340

[Trajan]

2. I tried that link ... it didnt work ...

Will this one ? ... http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bolton17apr17,1,6301086,print.story?ctrack=2&cset=true

or this ? ... http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bolton17apr17,1,6526317.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

This story is dated April 17th (today) and is important because Senator Hagel claimed he would vote AGAINST Bolton if any other abuse stories emerged ....

Senator ? .... Your move ..

[American in Asia]

3. I had the impression

from the dKos story, unless I read it too quickly, that the Senate committee has her letter already.

If I'm right, I'm betting Hagel will say this is not a "new" allegation, and he's still voting yes.

Just my guess - but then I'm feeling pretty dang bitter and cynical these days.

[Algorem]

4. They're all working for me,and I'm not a subscriber.

[fasttense]

5. Why are all the top repugs such arrogant, dumb, jerks?

Do they give repugs tests? If you have no personality and are a consummate ass kisser than you too can be a WH staff member. I will never understand why the nice couple down the street voted for such awful people.

[Algorem]

6. UN nominee is accused of intelligence pressure(Townsel in N.Y.Times)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/04/17/news/bolton.html

The New York Times
Monday, April 18, 2005

(at end of this long article-"Democrats on the committee say that they have compiled considerable evidence of what they call Bolton's lack of temperament suitable for the job of ambassador to the United Nations and that more such instances are bound to come to light. Committee aides circulated a memorandum sent from a public relations consultant in Dallas, Melody Townsel, who said she had a prolonged confrontation with Bolton in Moscow in 1994 while he was a legal counsel to a group doing work for the Agency for International Development. Townsel, identified as active in a group opposed to President George W. Bush, was interviewed by the committee this month, but it was not clear how much the committee would try to make of her charges.)
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WASHINGTON A former national intelligence officer for Latin America has accused John Bolton and another Bush administration official of trying to remove him from his post to warn others against not cooperating on intelligence matters, according to Democratic staff aides of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
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The aides made public on Saturday their summary of an interview with the intelligence officer, who they say has charged that Bolton and Otto Reich, a former assistant secretary of state for Latin America, sought to press the intelligence community to make its analysis conform with their hard-line policy views on Cuba. The committee is considering the nomination of Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations...
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[lumpy]

7. A diplomat

is supposed to be a person skilled in dealing with other people in a tactful manner; a quality that appears to be lacking with this guy named Bolton and the bulk of our leadership.

[Algorem]

8. more at end of another version of same NY Times article

"Responding to her accusation, Edwin Hullander, who was executive vice president of International Business and Technical Consultants Inc., the firm that employed Mr. Bolton as counsel, said he had not heard of any such incident happening until Ms. Townsel's recent accusation. He said he had checked with two people who were there at the time who were also unaware of it, and who said they believed they would have heard about a confrontation if it had occurred."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/17/politics/17bolton.html

[dArKeR]

9. GOP Lawmaker May Vote Against U.N. Nominee

With a Senate Foreign Relations Committee vote expected Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record) of Nebraska was asked whether he would endorse Bolton.



"At this point, I will ... but I have been troubled with more and more allegations, revelations, coming about his style, his method of operation," said Hagel, the committee's No. 2 Republican.



"We need a uniter," he told CNN's "Late Edition." "We need a builder. We need someone who will reach out to our friends and our allies at the United Nations."

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050417/ap_on_go_co/un_ambassador

I'm calling Hagel all day monday. I hope Franken gives out his tel. number on the air too!

[Elidor]

10. Bolton mean? No!

"Hers is the latest account alleging that Bolton...has been rude and belligerent toward those less powerful than himself."

All this proves is his party registration. It's a prerequisite for respect in neocon circles.

[HockeyMom]

11. Bully

Doesn't that just about sum up the Bush Administration? Who is surprised * would nominate somebody like this?

[Pithy Cherub]

12. Past behavior is indicative of future performance.

It would be politically expensive to continue to avidly support this abrasive, control freak with serious lapses of judgement and professional decorum.

[Judi Lynn]

13. It would be decent if Hegel and Chaffee took this information seriously

Another item from the L.A. Times story:

In another incident, Bolton and Otto J. Reich, former assistant secretary of state for Western hemisphere affairs, asked a CIA analyst's boss, Stuart Cohen, to remove the analyst, saying they had lost confidence in his work, Cohen and the analyst said.
(snip)

If they can resurrect a sense of honor, they'd be obligated to pass on this monster.

Hope enough heat is generated to burn Otto Reich, as well. He's been a vicious little loser on his own since the Reagan Office of Public Diplomacy illegal propaganda and press intimidation glory days.

BULLY! BULLY!



Bully and bully

[aneerkoinos]

14. I hope the nominate the nazi

Seems like he has all the right qualities to do maximum damage to US interests of global corporatocracy.

[AnneD]

16. Thanks....

I have been looking for this story for 3 days! I remembered reading about this some time ago. I bet we can find more poop on this guy in Texas. He was in Dallas and I think that is the nexus site for much of this neocon evil. Maybe some DUer's in Dallas can do some poking around....esp Dallas newspaper archives....I also remember some low female staffer being abused in Iraq or Afghanistan and it went all the way to Powell but he couldn't touch this person. For some reason I am thinking Bolton-but I could be wrong. This evil neocon hydra has so many heads it is hard to track them all.
I was surprised that no one kicked up the story that Alberto Gonzalez taught interrogation at the AF Academy in Co (I think there were several people to verify it). It made it to Randi Rhodes show but not much further I think (I was out of pocket for a while).
Democracy in America is dying from a thousand cuts. I hate looking at the headlines anymore....I am starting to wonder if I'm the one that's crazy, I am seeing conspiracies every where.

[quaoar]

17. Here are the gory details

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_18-4-2005_pg7_49

According to her, at the time she was head of a USAID project in Kargyzstan, who found it problematic to work with the prime contracting company which would not make payments when they fell due, resulting in Ms Townsel not being able to pay the Kyrgyz contractors in time. The situation became so bad that she headed out to Moscow where she ran into Bolton, who was legal counsel to the prime contractor.

John Bolton, whom she met in a Moscow hotel, she recalls, “hounded me in such an appalling way that I eventually retreated to my hotel room and stayed there. Mr. Bolton, of course, then routinely visited me there to pound on the door and shout threats.” When USAID asked her to return to Kyrgyzstan, she found on arrival that Bolton had proceeded her by two days, telling everyone that she was under investigation for misuse of funds and likely was facing jail time. This was untrue.

Bolton also declared falsely that based on his discussions with investigating officials, he could say that Ms Townsel was headed for federal prison and, if they refused to cooperate with either him or the prime contractor’s replacement team leader, they, too, would find themselves the subjects of federal investigation. As a further aside, he made “unconscionable comments about my weight, my wardrobe and, with a couple of team leaders, my sexuality, hinting that I was a lesbian (for the record, I’m not),” she writes.

Ms Townsel says Bolton had done such a convincing job of “smearing me that it took me weeks - with the direct intervention of US AID officials - to limit the damage. In fact, it was only US AID’s appointment of me as a project leader in Almaty, Kazakhstan, that largely put paid to the rumours Mr. Bolton maliciously circulated. As a maligned whistleblower, I’ve learned first-hand the lengths Mr. Bolton will go to accomplish any goal he sets for himself. Truth flew out the window. Decency flew out the window. In his bid to smear me and promote the interests of his client, he went straight for the low road and stayed there,” she adds.