According to a
Newsweek story, UN ambassador nominee John Bolton was AWOL as far as preparing and negotiating the Non-proliferation Treaty this month. In the view of many delegates, the US team appeared "shockingly unprepared" for negotiations on the NPT. Needless to say, when you're Undersecretary of State for arms control, opting out of preparations for a nuclear arms treaty seems a tad irresponsible.
A former Bush official seems really pissed:
John was absent without leave
It seems that Bolton stopped all diplomacy six months ago and concentrated on lobbying for the UN position.
"Everyone knew the conference was coming and that it would be contentious. But Bolton stopped all diplomacy on this six months ago," this official said. "The White House and the National Security Council started worrying, wondering what was going on. So a few months ago the NSC had to step in and get things going themselves. The NPT regime is full of holes--it's very hard for the U.S. to meet our objectives--it takes diplomacy."
With the negotiations for Non-proliferation Treaty scheduled well in advance, this meeting was not a surprise and yet it seemed to catch everyone awares. A summary of our State Department under Secretary Rice:
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice couldn't attend because she was caught in between back-to-back foreign trips to Latin America and to Russia. Bolton himself was preoccupied with his Senate confirmation, and Robert Joseph has yet to be confirmed as Bolton's replacement as undersecretary
Bush has repeatedly annnounced that non-proliferation is one of if not the biggest diplomatic front for his administration. Apparently, this is yet another case of saying one thing and doing another.