Powell Undermining Bolton Nomination

Former secretary of state Colin L. Powell is undermining the nomination of John R. Bolton's nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations.

The Washington Post reports that Powell told at least two key Republican Senators that Bolton is a "very problematic government official:"

Powell spoke in recent days with Sens. Lincoln D. Chafee (R.I.) and Chuck Hagel (Neb.), two of three GOP senators on the Foreign Relations Committee who have raised concerns about Bolton's confirmation, the sources said. Powell did not advise the senators to oppose Bolton, but offered a frank assessment of the nominee as a man who was challenging to work with on personnel and policy matters, according to two people familiar with the conversations.

"General Powell has returned calls from senators who wanted to discuss specific questions that have been raised," said Margaret Cifrino, a Powell spokeswoman. "He has not reached out to senators," and considers the discussions private.

A spokesman for Chafee confirmed that at least two conversations took place. Bolton served under Powell as his undersecretary of state for arms control, and the two were known to have serious clashes.

The New York Times also reports on Powell's involvement:

Mr. Powell has not spoken publicly about the Bolton nomination. But his associates said he had told two Republican senators, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, that he had been troubled by the way Mr. Bolton had treated an intelligence analyst and others at the State Department who had disagreed with him.

According to the Times it isn't clear whether Mr. Powell or the senators had initiated the phone calls:

A spokeswoman for Mr. Powell said he had only returned calls from others, but one person familiar with one conversation said it had been Mr. Powell who had reached out to Mr. Hagel.

[. . .]

Told of the accounts provided by Mr. Powell's associates, Peggy Cifrino, a spokeswoman for Mr. Powell, said in an e-mail message: "To be precise, General Powell has returned calls from senators who wanted to discuss specific questions that have been raised. He has not reached out to senators. The general considers the discussions private."

Regardless of any reservations Powell might have about Bolton, the former Secretary of State gave Bolton credit for his work on several issues:

One associate said Mr. Powell had used at least one of the conversations to say Mr. Bolton had worked "fairly well" with Mr. Powell on several issues, including ; an effort to intercept shipments of dangerous weapons; and the phase-out of the Antiballistic Treaty with Russia and the phase-in of an alternative known as the Moscow Treaty.

But the associate said Mr. Powell had made clear that Mr. Bolton "had problems" with Mr. Westermann and others who disagreed with him.

Comments

[Half Sigma]

This is all just a management problem for Bush. He needs to make sure his staff doesn't undermine his administration through public bickering.

[GunTrash]

If true, makes you wonder if Chaffee or Hagel might not have shared some of their Powell conversation with Voinovich once he decided to show up for a committee meeting.