No Straw Men

United States Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations

Dear Senator:

On behalf of the nearly one million members of the American Conservative Union, I write to express strong support for the speedy re-nomination of John Bolton as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

We start from the premise that the U.N. desperately needs reform—and not just incremental improvements, but fundamental change. If anyone can push this corrupt, sluggish bureaucracy toward this end, it is an honest critic, someone who recognizes the difference between what the U.N. should be and what the U.N is. In John Bolton President Bush has found the perfect man.

Indeed, Ambassador Bolton has forcefully, yet diplomatically, engineered much-delayed progress on everything from the U.N. oil-for-food scandal to the U.N.’s appalling Human Rights Commission, from condemning North Korea’s recent missile launches to imposing sanctions concerning the genocide in Darfur. In just a year, John Bolton has proven himself a truly American representative to the world: tough yet fair.

Moreover, when American soldiers are fighting to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan, when Israel is fending off Hezbollah in Lebanon, when North Korea unabashedly tests missiles and Iran brags about the holocaust to come when it acquires the nuclear kind—this is no time to go wobbly. The world must know that America speaks with one voice, and that voice, at the most important international forum, should continue to be that of John Bolton. Failure to confirm him, at this critical juncture, would only sow doubt about our resolve and send a terrible signal to our enemies.

On a personal note, John has impressed me enormously since we first met 35 years ago. He’s succeeded in every job he’s ever held and has done so without sacrificing either his principles or the interests of those he has served. He is, above all, a truth teller—which is exactly what we need right now in New York.

Sincerely,

David A. Keene
Chairman