"Just one day after Colin Powell reprimanded Mitt Romney for his reckless foreign policy rhetoric and called his extreme foreign policy advisors into question, John Bolton is headed to Iowa to campaign for Romney - the same John Bolton who 'cherry-picked' intelligence to lead us into Iraq and has advocated against nuclear non-proliferation. Romney has rejected the counsel of mainstream foreign policy experts and surrounded himself with the same people who weakened America's standing in the world over the last decade. Romney and his advisors have repeatedly criticized our allies on the campaign trail -- calling Europe a 'second-tier nation,' criticizing the British Prime Minister for political purposes, and labeling Russia our 'number one geopolitical foe' -- all while failing to lay out a coherent foreign policy agenda and instead embracing the radical views of John Bolton. America can't afford Mitt Romney as Commander-in-Chief."?Erin Seidler, campaign spokesman
COLIN POWELL CALLED ROMNEY FOREIGN POLICY ADVISERS "FAR TO THE RIGHT" AND REPRIMANDED ROMNEY FOR RECKLESS FOREIGN POLICY RHETORIC
Huffington Post Headline: "Colin Powell Trashes Mitt Romney's Team Of Foreign Policy Advisors." [Huffington Post, 5/23/12]
Colin Powell Said Romney's Foreign Policy Advisors Are So Far To The Right That Advice They Give "Deserves A Second Thought." Colin Powell: "I don't know who all of his advisers are, but I've seen some of the names and some of them are quite far to the right. And sometimes they, I think, might be in a position to make judgments or recommendations to the candidate that should get a second thought." [MSNBC, 5/23/12; Huffington Post, 5/23/12]
MSNBC Headline: "Powell To Romney On Foreign Policy: 'Come On, Mitt, Think.'" [MSNBC, 5/23/12]
· GOP Foreign-Policy Heavyweight "Colin Powell Took Mitt Romney To Task For Calling Russia The United States' 'Number One Geostrategic Threat.'" "One of the GOP's foreign-policy heavyweights, Colin Powell, took Mitt Romney to task for calling Russia the United States' 'No. 1 geostrategic threat.' 'Come on, Mitt, think. That isn't the case,' Powell, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on MSNBC's Morning Joe this morning." [MSNBC, 5/23/12]
Colin Powell: "[Romney]'s Been Catching A Lot Of Heck From The More Regular GOP Foreign Affairs Community." Colin Powell: "[Romney's] been catching a lot of heck from the more regular GOP foreign affairs community. We're kind of taken aback by it. How can you--? Come on. Look at the world. There is no pure competitor to the United States of America." [MSNBC, 5/23/12]
Powell: BOlton is problematic official
Colin Powell Was Reportedly In Opposition To Bolton's Appointment To The United Nations. "A more ideological appointment to the U.N. post would be John Bolton, who held senior State Department positions under Reagan and Bush's father. The right-wing Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute are reportedly lobbying hard for Bolton, a career right-winger who has been among the foremost and most vociferous critics of the world body. Powell, however, is reported to oppose his nomination." [IPS, 01/03/01]
· Powell Told Republican Senators That Bolton Is A Very Problematic Official. "Former secretary of state Colin L. Powell is emerging as a behind-the-scenes player in the battle over John R. Bolton's nomination as ambassador to the United Nations, privately telling at least two key Republican lawmakers that Bolton is a smart but very problematic government official, according to Republican sources." [Washington Post, 04/22/05]
mitt romney has embraced john bolton's neo-con views on foreign policy
Romney Adviser John Bolton Has Had A Large Influence Over Romney. "The loudest signal emerging from the noise of Romney's foreign policy team is that Bolton's influence might be larger than I would have suspected. The fact that Grenell was Bolton's spokesman at the UN, and that his Russia views sound like Bolton, are distressing signals. The fact that one of Romney's concrete budgetary criticisms of the Obama administration this week was that, '[i]n 2010, 17 federal government agencies gave $7.7 billion to more than 25 United Nations programs, billions of it voluntarily,' sounds... Boltonish. The fact that all of Romney's foreign policy factions are gabbing to the press and, er, people like me further suggests that the divisions run deep." [Foreign Policy, 5/18/12]
"What Has Struck Both [Romney's] Advisers And Outside Republicans" Was How Romney's Comments On Foreign Policy "Have Usually Rejected Mainstream Republican Orthodoxy" And Sounded "More Like The Talking Points Of The Neoconservatives ? The 'Bolton Faction.'" "But what has struck both his advisers and outside Republicans is that in his effort to secure the nomination, Mr. Romney's public comments have usually rejected mainstream Republican orthodoxy. They sound more like the talking points of the neoconservatives ? the 'Bolton faction,' as insiders call the group led by John Bolton, the former ambassador to the United Nations. In a stormy tenure in the Bush administration, Mr. Bolton was often arguing that international institutions, the United Nations included, should be routed around because they so often frustrate American interests." [New York Times, 5/12/12]
Former Sen. Jim Talent, A Romney Surrogate: "Ambassador Bolton Is A Forthright Advocate For American Strength And American Security, Which Is Identical With Governor Romney's Position." Talent: "Ambassador Bolton is a forthright advocate for American strength and American security, which is identical with Governor Romney's position. I mean, there's one thing at the core of Mitt Romney's foreign policy, it's America should be strong, should stand with its allies, stand up for its interests, work internationally to protect American security. And that's what Ambassador Bolton believes." [Andrea Mitchell Reports, MSNBC, 1/12/12]
BOLTON is known for his extreme foreign POLICY VIEWS
The Economist Labeled John Bolton "The Most Controversial Ambassador Ever Sent By America To The United Nations." "So, after Donald Rumsfeld, another neocon hero bites the dust. 'I am not happy,' said George Bush; but he reluctantly accepted the resignation of the most controversial ambassador ever sent by America to the United Nations. John Bolton had done a 'fabulous job', he insisted, serving his country with extraordinary dedication and skill and assembling coalitions that addressed some of the most consequential issues of the day. The stubborn obstructionism of those who had chosen to block his reappointment, Mr Bush maintained, 'ill serves our country'." [Economist, 12/7/06]
Bolton: If U.N. Building Lost 10 Stories "It Wouldn't Make a Bit of Difference." "'The Secretariat building in New York has 38 stories. If it lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference,' Bolton said. And in 2000, Bolton told National Public Radio that the U.N. Security Council needed only one permanent member, the United States, 'because that's the real reflection of the distribution of power in the world.'" [Los Angeles Times, 3/8/5]
Bolton Made No Secret Of His Distain For The U.N. Saying "There Is No Such Thing As The United Nations." "Bolton has made no secret of his disdain for the U.N. 'There is no such thing as the United Nations,' Bolton said at a Global Structures conference in 1994. 'There is an international community, that occasionally can be led by the only real power left in the world and that is the United States when it suits our interest and when we can get others to go along.'" [Los Angeles Times, 3/9/05]
Bolton Has Advocated Against Non-Proliferation In Favor Of A "Counter-Proliferation" Strategy. Bolton wrote in the Financial Times: "The Bush administration is reinventing the non-proliferation regime it inherited, crafting policies to fill gaping holes, reinforcing earlier patchwork fixes, assembling allies, creating precedents and changing perceived realities and stilted legal thinking. The frontlines in our non-proliferation strategy must extend beyond the well-known rogue states to the trade routes and entities engaged in supplying proliferant countries. This can properly be described not as 'non-proliferation', but as 'counter-proliferation.'" [Bolton op-ed, Financial Times, 09/07/04]
Bolton Attacked European Allies, Saying "Some Europeans Have Never Lost Faith in Appeasement as a Way of Life." "It is unclear what the Bush Administration has in mind by shipping Bolton to New York. The appointment has been spun as 'Nixon goes to China.' Nixon, however, actually went to China: the visit was compatible with his world view. Bolton, by contrast, seems averse to compromise, and is apparently committed to the belief that the U.N. and international law undermine U.S. interests... He will have to work with European states, even though he believes that 'some Europeans have never lost faith in appeasement as a way of life.'" [Star-Tribune, 08/05/96]
BOLTON "CHERRY PICKED" INTELLIGENCE REPORTS TO SUPPORT HIS OWN VIEWS AND HAD OPPOSING VIEWS REMOVED FOR THEIR POSTS
Former Cheney Aide: Bolton Worked As Part of Secretive Cheney Office Which Cherry Picked Intelligence As Iraq War Neared. "As the campaign against Iraq intensified, a former aide to Cheney [said], the Vice-President's office, run by his chief of staff, Lewis (Scooter) Libby, became increasingly secretive when it came to intelligence about Iraq's W.M.D.s. As with [Dep. Defense Secretary Paul] Wolfowitz and [Dep. Secretary of State John] Bolton, there was a reluctance to let the military and civilian analysts on the staff vet intelligence. 'It was an unbelievably closed and small group,' the former aide [said]. Intelligence procedures were far more open during the Clinton Administration, he said, and professional staff members had been far more involved in assessing and evaluating the most sensitive data. 'There's so much intelligence out there that it's easy to pick and choose your case,' the former aide [said]. 'It opens things up to cherry-picking.'" [The New Yorker, 10/27/03]
· After Weapons Of Mass Destruction Were Not Found In Iraq, Bolton Said That Whether Saddam Possessed WMD "Isn't Really The Issue." "In an interview with The Associated Press, John Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control, said that whether Saddam's regime actually possessed weapons of mass destruction 'isn't really the issue.' 'The issue I think has been the capability that Iraq sought to have ... WMD programs,' Bolton said at the U.S. Embassy in Paris. Bolton said that Saddam kept "a coterie" of scientists he was preserving for the day when he could build nuclear weapons unhindered by international constraints. That fact, combined with Iraq's history of deceiving U.N. inspectors, showed that Saddam could not be trusted to abandon his ambition to develop unconventional weapons, Bolton said. 'Whether he possessed them today or four years ago isn't really the issue,' he said. 'As long as that regime was in power, it was determined to get nuclear, chemical and biological weapons one way or another...'Disarming Saddam Hussein was the Bush administration's top rationale for the war, which started in March, and officials said beforehand that they knew where weapons were hidden." [Associated Press, 09/04/03]
John Bolton Was Said To Have Been "Cherry-Picking" Intelligence Reports That Were Given To Him And Tried To Have Intelligence Analysts Who Resisted His Viewpoint Removed From Their Posts. "The Senate Foreign Relations Committee sent the controversial nomination of John R. Bolton for U.N. ambassador to the full Senate. ... A man known for politicizing intelligence about 'rogue' states is being pushed by the White House toward another high post, even as the North Korean situation reminds us how little we know of that country. The last thing the United States needs is political twisting of intelligence on 'axis of evil' countries such as Iran or North Korea. The Iraq intelligence debacle should have taught that lesson. ... A stream of witnesses, including senior Republican appointees and top intelligence officials, told Senate staffers how Mr. Bolton tried to pressure intelligence analysts who disagreed with his conclusions - on Cuba, Syria and other issues. If the analysts refused, Mr. Bolton tried to get them removed from their posts. ... Robert L. Hutchings, the former chairman of the government's National Intelligence Council, explained Mr. Bolton's technique to Senate staffers: 'I wouldn't say he was making up facts. Let's say that he took isolated facts and made much more of them to build a case than I thought the intelligence warranted. It was a sort of cherry-picking of little factoids ... that were drawn out to present the starkest possible case.'" [Trudy Rubin, Baltimore Sun, 5/17/05]
· Former Chairman Of The National Intelligence Council On Bolton: "I Wouldn't Say He Was Making Up Facts. Let's Say That He Took Isolated Facts And Made Much More Of Them To Build A Case Than I Thought The Intelligence Warranted. It Was A Sort Of Cherry-Picking Of Little Factoids ... That Were Drawn Out To Present The Starkest Possible Case." [Trudy Rubin, Baltimore Sun, 5/17/05]
· The "Bolton Approach" Was To Suppress Alternative Views From Intelligence Analysts "In Favor Of His Own." "Rather than encourage alternative views from intelligence analysts, the Bolton approach was to suppress them in favor of his own. The risk of this was laid out bluntly to me by Wayne White, head of the State Department's Iraq intelligence team from 2003 to March 2005: 'When political spin and hype is allowed to enter the intelligence stream, we take the first step down the road to policy failure.'" [Trudy Rubin,Baltimore Sun, 5/17/05]
John Bolton Ignored Iraq Intelligence Assessments By Career Intelligence Officials And "Seemed To Be Troubled" When They Were "Not Telling Him What He Wanted To Hear." "A few months after George Bush took office, Greg Thielmann, an expert on disarmament with the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, or INR, was assigned to be the daily intelligence liaison to John Bolton, the Under-Secretary of State for Arms Control, who is a prominent conservative. ... 'Bolton was the guy with whom I had to do business,' Thielmann said. 'We were going to provide him with all the information he was entitled to see. That's what being a professional intelligence officer is all about.' But, Thielmann told me, 'Bolton seemed to be troubled because INR was not telling him what he wanted to hear.' Thielmann soon found himself shut out of Bolton's early-morning staff meetings. 'I was intercepted at the door of his office and told, "The Under-Secretary doesn't need you to attend this meeting anymore."' When Thielmann protested that he was there to provide intelligence input, the aide said, 'The Under-Secretary wants to keep this in the family.' Eventually, Thielmann said, Bolton demanded that he and his staff have direct electronic access to sensitive intelligence, such as foreign-agent reports and electronic intercepts. In previous Administrations, such data had been made available to under-secretaries only after it was analyzed, usually in the specially secured offices of INR. The whole point of the intelligence system in place, according to Thielmann, was 'to prevent raw intelligence from getting to people who would be misled.' Bolton, however, wanted his aides to receive and assign intelligence analyses and assessments using the raw data. In essence, the under-secretary would be running his own intelligence operation, without any guidance or support. 'He surrounded himself with a hand-chosen group of loyalists, and found a way to get C.I.A. information directly," Thielmann said." [The New Yorker, 10/27/03]
ROMNEY HAS REJECTED THE COUNSEL OF MAINSTREAM OF REPUBLICANS, USED RECKLESS RHETORIC, AND ATTACKED AMERICA'S ALLIES ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Romney Advisers: "Dozens Of Subtle Position Papers" On Foreign Policy In Romney's Policy Shop "Seem To Have Little Influence On Mr. Romney's Hawkish-Sounding Pronouncements." "It was just one example of what Mr. Romney's advisers call a perplexing pattern: Dozens of subtle position papers flow through the candidate's policy shop and yet seem to have little influence on Mr. Romney's hawkish-sounding pronouncements, on everything from war to nuclear proliferation to the trade-offs in dealing with China." [New York Times, 5/12/12]
· New York Times: "In Seeking To Define Himself In Opposition To President Obama, Mr. Romney Has Openly Rejected Positions That George W. Bush Came Around To In His Humbler Second Term." [New York Times, 5/12/12]
Romney "Has Made Little Effort" To Court Republican Foreign Policy Realists Like Brent Scowcroft, James A. Baker III Or Henry A. Kissinger. "Curiously for a Republican candidate with virtually no foreign policy record, Mr. Romney has made little effort to court the old-timers of Republican internationalism, from the former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft to the former secretaries of state James A. Baker III, George P. Shultz and even the grandmaster of realism, Henry A. Kissinger." [New York Times, 5/12/12]
Romney Advisers: Romney Has A "Tendency To View Foreign Policy Conflicts As Zero-Sum Negotiations." "Some advisers close to Mr. Romney, who declined to be quoted or identified by name, say Russia is a good illustration of his belief that national security threats are closely tied to economic power ? in this case stemming from Russia's oil and gas reserves, which it has used to muscle European countries dependent on energy imports. They also cite his tendency to view foreign policy conflicts as zero-sum negotiations. Mr. Romney, an accomplished deal-maker at Bain Capital, views his negotiating skills as an advantage he holds over Mr. Obama." [New York Times, 5/11/12]
ROMNEY CALLS RUSSIA OUR "NO. 1 GEOPOLITICAL FOE"
Romney's Claim That Russia Was America's "No. 1 Geopolitical Foe" Fanned "Concerns Among Both Romney Supporters And Nonpartisan Foreign-Policy Experts That Mr. Romney's Desire To Contrast Himself With President Barack Obama Has Led The GOP Candidate To Take Positions That Would Be Difficult To Maintain If He Wins The Presidency." "Mitt Romney's labeling of Russia this week as America's 'No. 1 geopolitical foe' has drawn attention to his emerging hawkishness on several foreign policy fronts, from China's monetary policy to the war in Afghanistan?a trend that contrasts to his more muted style on domestic issues. The Russia remark has fanned concerns among both Romney supporters and nonpartisan foreign-policy experts that Mr. Romney's desire to contrast himself with President Barack Obama has led the GOP candidate to take positions that would be difficult to maintain if he wins the presidency." [Wall Street Journal, 3/29/12]
· New York Times Editorial: That Romney Considers Russia To Be America's "No. 1 Geopolitical Foe" Showed "Either A Shocking Lack Of Knowledge About International Affairs Or Just Craven Politics." "Two decades after the end of the cold war, Mitt Romney still considers Russia to be America's 'No. 1 geopolitical foe.' His comments display either a shocking lack of knowledge about international affairs or just craven politics. Either way, they are reckless and unworthy of a major presidential contender." [Editorial, New York Times, 3/29/12]
· Sen. Lindsey Graham: "I Don't See [Russia] As Our No. 1 Strategic Foe." "On Capitol Hill, top Republicans have little praise for Medvedev or Russia and maintain that Moscow has played an unhelpful international role and represses its own citizens. But these lawmakers see Russia as a power in decline and therefore not worthy of the title of America's 'No. 1 geopolitical foe.' 'I don't see them as our No. 1 strategic foe because they've got a weak economy and structurally are not very strong. China could potentially be more harming to our interests because of the growth of their economy and the growth of their military,' Senate Armed Services Committee member Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told The Cable." [Foreign Policy, 3/28/12]
· Sen. John McCain Would Not Say Russia Was The No. 1 Geopolitical Foe Of The United States And Said Russia Was "In Many Ways ... Declining." "Senate Armed Services Committee ranking Republican John McCain (R-AZ) told The Cable that he agreed with Romney that Obama's comments about flexibility on missile defense were alarming, but he wouldn't say Russia was the No. 1 geopolitical foe of the United States. 'I think they are a strategic challenge,' McCain said. 'They continue to supply [Syrian President] Bashar al Assad while he slaughters Syrians and they continue to obviously oppose our missile-defense systems. They continue to be an oppressive and repressive regime.' 'Fortunately in many ways they are declining. But this recent consolidation of power shows a lack of democracy there," McCain said." [Foreign Policy, 3/28/12]
ROMNEY aDVISERS "BITTERLY CRITICIZED" THE BRITISH PRIME MINISTER
Senior Advisors To Romney Bitterly Criticized British Prime Minister David Cameron For Complementing President Obama During A Banquet In Washington D.C. "Senior advisers to Mitt Romney have bitterly criticised David Cameron's recent White House 'love-in' with Barack Obama before Romney's first visit to London for the opening of the Olympic Games. Referring to Cameron's highly flatttering toast to Obama during a banquet given in the prime minister's honour when he visited Washington in March, a senior aide said: 'You don't take sides in an election year'." [Guardian, 5/2/12]
· Senior Advisors To Romney Attacked British Prime Minister David Cameron Saying His Complements Of President Obama Showed A "Lack Of Experience" And Was "Not Very Skillful" Adding That Cameron Had "Infringed" This Relationship Between US And Britain. "Senior advisers to Mitt Romney have bitterly criticised David Cameron's recent White House 'love-in' with Barack Obama before Romney's first visit to London for the opening of the Olympic Games. Referring to Cameron's highly flatttering toast to Obama during a banquet given in the prime minister's honour when he visited Washington in March, a senior aide said: 'You don't take sides in an election year'... Cameron's performance smacked of a 'lack of experience' and was seen as 'not very skilful', the aide said. Romney advisers responsible for European policy were said to have been so alarmed that their initial reaction was to complain Cameron had 'infringed' the special relationship between the US and Britain." [Guardian, 5/2/12]
ROMNEY CALLED EUROPE A "SECOND-TIER NATION"
Romney Called Europe "A Second-Tier Military And A Second-Tier Nation," Romney: "The question is whether we're going to become a stronger nation leading the world or whether we're going to follow the path of Europe and become a second-tier military and a second-tier nation," [Toby Harnden- Daily Telegraph (London), 10/31/07]
