[Marxism] Bolton on Cuba

[Brian Shannon <Brian_Shannon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

[Q]uestions about Bolton's views were overshadowed by allegations that
Bolton, in his current post as undersecretary of state, sought the
removal of two analysts who did not support his claim that Cuba was
developing biological weapons.

Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said yesterday that
witnesses will testify in coming days about Bolton's actions. They said
his behavior was especially troubling given that the new ambassador
must earn the world's confidence after US intellgence failures in the
lead-up to the Iraq war.

Bolton said he complained about the analysts because he felt they had
tried to undermine him ''behind his back," not because of their
intelligence assessements.

''I've never sought to change anyone's opinion due to pressure," [But
afterwards tried to get the person fired.] Bolton said. ''The issue has
nothing to do with intelligence analysis. . . . It has to do with
straightforward behavior and open and honest dealings."

The controversy centered around a speech Bolton was preparing in 2002
called ''Beyond the Axis of Evil" in which he planned to state that
''the US believes that Cuba has a developmental offensive biological
warfare program and is providing assistance to other rogue state
programs," according to an initial draft quoted by Democratic senators.

[None of the senators appear to have asked Bolton, the basis for his
claim. Was it out of whole cloth? Who were the rogue states that he was
referring to? Were the sources from the CIA or another agency? Were the
sources from the Miami mafia opponents of the Cuban Revolution? In
other words, they put Bolton on the spot for his bureaucratic
aggression, but did not focus on him AS A LIAR.]

But when Bolton sent the draft out for clearance, Christian Westermann,
the top biological weapons analyst at the State Department, responded
that Bolton's statements went beyond what the intelligence community
believed, according to witnesses' statements.

Bolton's chief of staff instructed Westermann to send the speech to the
CIA anyway for approval. Westermann did so, but also included his own
assessment, which would usually be requested in such cases.

When Bolton found out that Westermann had included his own dissenting
opinion, Bolton grew furious and called Westermann's boss, Thomas
Fingar, according to Senator Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat,
who read aloud from a transcript of Fingar's interview. Bolton said
''he was the president's appointee and he could say what he wanted. He
wasn't going to be told what to say by a . . . munchkin analyst," Dodd
said, quoting the transcript.

''He went behind my back," Bolton replied at the hearing.

Months later, according to committee testimony cited by Democrats,
Bolton told Westermann's boss that he should be relieved of his post,
but Westermann was never removed.

Bolton delivered his speech in 2002, asserting that ''the United States
believes that Cuba has at least a limited offensive biological warfare
research and development effort. Cuba has provided dual-use
biotechnology to other rogue states."

[Thus, Bolton did rewrite his claim, which actually saved his ass, but
he still tried to get his critics fired. We should look at this version
as an example of bureaucratic double-speak in false implications,
worthy of George Orwell's famous book "1984."]

The speech prompted a Senate subcommittee hearing into Cuba's WMD
program. Senate investigators interviewed a second analyst who said
that Bolton had included statements that the CIA had never cleared and
that the intelligence community did not agree with Bolton.

Bolton later drove to the CIA and asked for the analyst to be removed,
according to Democratic senators quoting from interviews with Stuart
Cohen, the analyst's supervisor.

Yesterday, Bolton acknowledged that he had complained about the
analyst's ''lack of professionalism" but said that visit was just a
courtesy call.

FULL AT BOSTON GLOBE
http://makeashorterlink.com/?M2F412FDA


from Brian Shannon


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