bush nominee caught in lie

in other news, bush strongly defends his nomination of col. sanders as ambassador to the henhouse...

Testimony of U.N. Nominee Is Disputed
Fri Apr 22, 7:55 AM ET
Top Stories - Los Angeles Times
By Paul Richter and Sonni Efron
Times Staff Writers

WASHINGTON — A former U.S. ambassador to South Korea said Thursday that John R. Bolton, President Bush's choice for U.N. ambassador, might have misled the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about a provocative and controversial 2003 speech on North Korea.

The former ambassador, Thomas Hubbard, also described Bolton yelling and slamming down a telephone on him during a confrontation. It was the latest example of the allegedly confrontational behavior that had helped stall Bolton's nomination.
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Bolton, who has served since 2001 as undersecretary of State, has been hobbled by opposition to his critical views on the United Nations, his use of U.S. intelligence assessments in high-profile speeches and testimony, and his reportedly harsh treatment of intelligence analysts and others.

In July 2003, Bolton attracted widespread attention with a speech in South Korea in which he leveled repeated personal attacks on North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Some U.S. diplomats feared the speech would lead North Korea to pull out of international talks on its nuclear weapons program.

In testimony last week, Bolton implied that Hubbard, former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, had approved of the speech in advance and that he had thanked Bolton for his comments afterward.

But Hubbard, a career diplomat who was Bush's ambassador to South Korea from 2001 to 2004, contradicted Bolton, saying in an interview that he had not expressed gratitude for the speech and that he had disapproved of it.

"I didn't approve personally of the tone of the speech, and had urged him to tone it down," said Hubbard, now retired from the foreign service.

Bolton testified that the night before the speech, Hubbard had "reviewed it one last time and made a few more changes." After the speech, Bolton testified, Hubbard had praised him.

"And I can tell you what our ambassador to South Korea, Tom Hubbard, said after the speech," Bolton said under questioning by Sen. Lincoln Chafee (news, bio, voting record) (R-R.I.). "He said: 'Thanks a lot for that speech, John; it will help us a lot out here.' "

Hubbard disputed Bolton's testimony.

Before the speech, Hubbard said, he had urged Bolton and his staff "to tone it down, on grounds that it would be counterproductive to getting the North Koreans to the negotiating table."

But Bolton "rejected that suggestion," Hubbard said.

He said that Bolton did agree to accept some recommendations on factual errors, and on some phrases that Hubbard "thought would be taken badly or misunderstood by the South Koreans." When he offered thanks, it was for those changes, Hubbard said.
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