Confirmation hearings for John Bolton as US ambassador to the UN are currently underway. You can watch the coverage online at
C-SPAN and join us here for live, ongoing coverage.
C-SPAN will rebroadcast today's hearing at 8pm ET tonite.
Kossack krazypuppy has the first two parts of this series online here if you missed them:
Pt 1
Pt 2
These hearings are not without controversy. The Dems today have brought up Bolton's history relating to his attempted political interference to get at least 2 intelligence analysts "removed" from their portfolios after they disagreed with his assessment of the status of Cuba's potential threat to the US.
The crux is this: Bolton wanted very definitive language in his May 6, 2002 Cuba speech to the Heritage Foundation and the intelligence analysts were not prepared to make such strong statements about the actual threat. Thus, Bolton pressured officials to have these analysts, Christian Westerman, whom Bolton called a "mid-level INR munchkin" even though he is a war hero with a 23 year history in the Navy, and "Mr Smith" (alias used to protect his identity), who is an NIO related to Latin American issues, fired.
The Democrats have 7 witnesses who either have provided statements or will soon to support these allegations. You can find background information about this issue here and you can find the text of Bolton's speech to the Heritage Foundation, May 6, 2002, here.
The Republicans on the committee are downplaying these issues but, as Christopher Dodd and Barack Obama stated, if there is a pattern of political interference to pump up the intelligence to further an ideological agenda, the safety of US troops and personnel could be in jeopardy as a result, as we've seen with the situation in Iraq. Bolton continues to stonewall on this issue.
That's my take on this and I am open to corrections and additions. Thanks.