The Courage of Conviction
Surrender Is Not an Option
By Michael Ledeen
New York Sun
November 8, 2007
Muffled as we are so often by the filters of political correctness, it comes as a welcome liberation to read the clear words of John Bolton. "Surrender Is Not an Option" (Threshold Editions, 488 pages, $27) is not a short book, but there aren't many wasted words, and you won't be in any doubt about Mr. Bolton's thoughts and convictions, both of which are clear and honorable. Take North Korea, for example, a subject that has afflicted him for many years:
Just as the Italians once dealt with Mussolini, and the Romanians with Ceausescu, one day the North Korean people may have the chance to deal with Kim Jong-il. His death will be dirty and contemptible, like his life and his regime, and it will be exactly what he deserves.
Or take Iran, now dominating the front pages, as it dominated much of Mr. Bolton's time at both the United Nations and the Department of State:
The fact is that Iran will never voluntarily give up its nuclear program, and a policy based on the contrary assumption is not just delusional but dangerous. This is the road to the Nuclear Holocaust.
Those two quotations can stand for the entire volume, which is candid, urbanely and elegantly witty, wise, and exceedingly depressing. The picture Mr. Bolton paints is a very ugly one, in which the world's greatest institutions — from the Department of State to the foreign ministries of Europe, from our most costly and prestigious universities to the United Nations — are utterly unable to cope with any of the serious problems of our time. The United Nations, he says, can neither deal effectively with "high-profile, high-risk international issues," nor, at the other end of the scale, with "low-profile, low-risk issues," even — as in the case of Darfur — when a majority on the Security Council and the General Assembly seem to want to do something useful. Thus, he wryly comments, there isn't "much room for optimism at either end or in the middle."
Most of our leaders blend nicely into the dark hues and depressing patterns of that fresco. Most "Washington books" traffic in personal gossip, but "Surrender" doesn't have much about personalities; it concentrates on ideas, on policy, and, inevitably, on bureaucratic maneuver. Thus, you won't hear a lot about the personal foibles of the people with whom Mr. Bolton worked at the United Nations, but you will learn about how they advanced their causes. He often disagreed with Secretary of State Powell and his deputy, Richard Armitage, but he admired the closeness of their relationship, which he found unique and effective. He often disagreed with Secretary of State Rice, but he admired and respected her close relationship with President Bush. One of Mr. Bolton's most interesting tales is about Mr. Powell's oddly sexist comments about Ms. Rice, suggesting that she was inclined to be guided more by her "hormones" than by her mind. And Mr. Bolton well describes the relentless hunt by Mr. Powell and Mr. Armitage for anyone in the "system" who made critical remarks about them to the media.
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Senator Tom Coburn
Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security
340 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-2254 Fax: 202-228-3796
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