Candidate for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, orchestrated the dismissal of the head of a global chemical weapons agency in 2002.
A U.N. tribunal has since ruled the dismissal as unlawful. According to Bolton's former deputy and others, the U.S. Undersecretary of State, with
British assistance, engineered the dismissal of Jose Bustani as director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW),
because it was feared Bustani's insistence on sending chemical weapons inspectors to Iraq could undermine the United States WMD allegations against
the former Hussein regime.
news.yahoo.com
Bustani, who says he got a "menacing" phone call from Bolton at one point, was removed by a vote of just one-third of member nations at an unusual
special session of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), at which the United States cited alleged mismanagement in calling
for his ouster.
The United Nations' highest administrative tribunal later condemned the action as an "unacceptable violation" of principles protecting
international civil servants. The OPCW session's Swiss chairman now calls it an "unfortunate precedent" and Bustani a "man with merit."
The United States went public with the campaign in March 2002, moving to terminate Bustani's tenure. On the eve of an OPCW Executive Council meeting
to consider the U.S. no-confidence motion, Bolton met Bustani in The Hague to seek his resignation, U.S. and OPCW officials said.
When Bustani refused, "Bolton said something like, `Now we'll do it the other way,' and walked out," Rigg recounted.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
Interesting the timing of this report, as Bolton seeks Senate approval for his ambassadorship to the U.N. this week. I wonder if the AP had this one
sitting in the bag and only let it out at a time when it's impact would be greatest.
Regarding the incident itself, I am reminded of the U.S.-engineered dismissal of the U.N. human rights inspector to Afghanistan after his damning
reports on the treatment of prisoners in American military bases.
Related News Links:
www.usatoday.com
abcnews.go.com
www.rednova.com
[edit on 2005/6/4 by wecomeinpeace]