with very serious problems on veracity
John R. Bolton is known as a bad-tempered man with a penchant for warping the facts to suit his policy and for exacting revenge on anyone who crosses him.
In the run-up to the Iraq war, Bolton, as President George Bush's undersecretary of state, was one of the officials who were pressuring for cooked intelligence in order to rationalize the planned U.S. invasion of Iraq.
In 2005, the head of the State Department's intelligence bureau offered a vivid portrait of Bolton as an abusive and vindictive boss who sought to manipulate intelligence on biological weapons with threats against an espionage analyst who balked at doctoring reports. Bolton sought to have the analyst fired, the official said.
Carl Ford Jr., a former assistant secretary of state for intelligence in the Bush administration, described Bolton, a high-level arms-control official in the State Department, as "a serial abuser" and "a quintessential kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy."
Ford, a self-described "loyal Republican," said in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Bolton's efforts to intimidate the analyst, Christian Westermann, rapidly sent a chill through the State Department's intelligence bureaucracy, although he said higher-ups countered the impact by backing the analyst, who did not waver under pressure.
Ford's testimony, as reported by The Chicago Tribune, came during a confirmation hearing on Bolton's nomination to serve as Bush's UN ambassador.
Bolton's nature is so aggressive that President Trump has remarked that he found it necessary to hold Bolton on a short leash.
"He has strong views on things but that's OK. I actually temper John, which is pretty amazing," Trump told reporters in May. "I'm the one that tempers him. That's OK. I have different sides. I have John Bolton and other people that are a little more dovish than him. I like John."
A March 2018 report on Bolton joining the Trump team found that those who worked for him saw him as having an "extremely aggressive, negative personality."
“There is the whole policy side, and then there is the personality side,” a former Bolton aide told Vanity Fair. “He has an extremely aggressive, negative personality.”
Bolton, Vanity Fair's source said, has demonstrated that he is entirely “capable of being reasonable, capable of listening, capable of taking advice.” Even so, Bolton also has “very serious anger-management problems,” the source said, recalling that, during arguments, Bolton would hurl papers and pens.
“He is acerbic, condescending, gruff," the source said, adding that Bolton is "demeaning when somebody doesn’t agree with him or he doesn’t like your argument. I can’t imagine how he is going to moderate that tendency all the time with Trump.”
Nor is Bolton known for humility in the face of obvious mistakes, Vanity Fair found. Of all the Iraq war defenders, Bolton is among the least apologetic. “I think it is sort of half amazing that he could have been wrong on so many issues, and not only be not apologetic about it, but double down on wrong predictions,” a State Department staff member told Vanity Fair.
Bolton was a member of a clique of neocons who exploited the 9/11 attacks as a rationalization for an invasion of Iraq, something the neocons had been pushing since the 1990s.
In the run-up to the Iraq war, Bolton, as President George Bush's undersecretary of state, was one of the officials who were pressuring for cooked intelligence in order to rationalize the planned U.S. invasion of Iraq.
In 2005, the head of the State Department's intelligence bureau offered a vivid portrait of Bolton as an abusive and vindictive boss who sought to manipulate intelligence on biological weapons with threats against an espionage analyst who balked at doctoring reports. Bolton sought to have the analyst fired, the official said.
Carl Ford Jr., a former assistant secretary of state for intelligence in the Bush administration, described Bolton, a high-level arms-control official in the State Department, as "a serial abuser" and "a quintessential kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy."
Ford, a self-described "loyal Republican," said in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Bolton's efforts to intimidate the analyst, Christian Westermann, rapidly sent a chill through the State Department's intelligence bureaucracy, although he said higher-ups countered the impact by backing the analyst, who did not waver under pressure.
Ford's testimony, as reported by The Chicago Tribune, came during a confirmation hearing on Bolton's nomination to serve as Bush's UN ambassador.
Bolton's nature is so aggressive that President Trump has remarked that he found it necessary to hold Bolton on a short leash.
"He has strong views on things but that's OK. I actually temper John, which is pretty amazing," Trump told reporters in May. "I'm the one that tempers him. That's OK. I have different sides. I have John Bolton and other people that are a little more dovish than him. I like John."
A March 2018 report on Bolton joining the Trump team found that those who worked for him saw him as having an "extremely aggressive, negative personality."
“There is the whole policy side, and then there is the personality side,” a former Bolton aide told Vanity Fair. “He has an extremely aggressive, negative personality.”
Bolton, Vanity Fair's source said, has demonstrated that he is entirely “capable of being reasonable, capable of listening, capable of taking advice.” Even so, Bolton also has “very serious anger-management problems,” the source said, recalling that, during arguments, Bolton would hurl papers and pens.
“He is acerbic, condescending, gruff," the source said, adding that Bolton is "demeaning when somebody doesn’t agree with him or he doesn’t like your argument. I can’t imagine how he is going to moderate that tendency all the time with Trump.”
Nor is Bolton known for humility in the face of obvious mistakes, Vanity Fair found. Of all the Iraq war defenders, Bolton is among the least apologetic. “I think it is sort of half amazing that he could have been wrong on so many issues, and not only be not apologetic about it, but double down on wrong predictions,” a State Department staff member told Vanity Fair.
Bolton was a member of a clique of neocons who exploited the 9/11 attacks as a rationalization for an invasion of Iraq, something the neocons had been pushing since the 1990s.
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