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From Draft Dodger to Hellacious Hawk: John Bolton's 'Greatest Hits'

Sputnik 09.04.2018
As John Bolton prepares to assume his post as US President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser, Sputnik traces some of the man's most controversial moments.

1 Dodging the Vietnam Draft

 

Despite his hawkish reputation, Bolton actively sought to avoid enlistment in the US army during the Vietnam War. During the 1969 war draft lottery, Bolton drew number 185 - by his own admission, he had “no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy”, so enlisted in the Maryland Army National Guard rather than wait to find out if his draft number would be called. As Richard Nixon’s administration relied primarily on conscript troops rather than reserve forces, joining a Guard or Reserve unit became an effective way to avoid service during the conflict.

Bolton later defended his decision - and controversial statements - by stating he considered the war “already lost” thanks to its domestic opponents. They “had made it certain we could not prevail,” and he had “no great interest in going there to have Teddy Kennedy give it back to the people I might die to take it away from."

In government 2001 - 2006, Bolton has frequently brushed shoulders with other high profile draft dodgers - President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney both avoided national service - and the Trump administration will be no different. In fact, Donald himself dodged the draft on five separate occasions.

2 Helping North Korea Join the Nuclear Club

 

 

 While Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs under Bush, North Korea became a fully-fledged nuclear power. While not his fault per se, North Korea’s ambitions in this regard were facilitated by his successful sabotage of Congressional efforts to improve and tighten the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Legislators were mulling measures that if passed would prevent countries from dropping out of the treaty after reaping its dual-use benefits, as North Korea did - and voluntary protocols on inspection many countries have stopped observing since would’ve been made compulsory.

 

Bolton is also credited for scuppering high-level talks between the Bush administration and Pyongyang when, in 2003, he he described then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il as a "tyrannical dictator" and life under his rule as a “hellish nightmare." Despite much domestic criticism, Bolton later wrote he’d specifically been looking for a "hammer" to "shatter" the Clinton government’s 1994 Agreed Framework with North Korea. Ever since, he has strongly advocated for pre-emptive strikes against the country.

3 Facilitating the Iraq War

 

Bolton is perhaps most (in)famous for being a prominent and voluble proponent of the potentially illegal US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, support perhaps over a million deaths and the descent of the region into bloody, terroristic chaos has done nought to diminish. However, he also played an important role in laying the foundations for the calamitous conflict in the years prior, as Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs.

When Iraq attempted to join the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in 2001, a move that may have undermined the Bush administration’s claims that Baghdad possessed weapons of mass destruction, Bolton was instrumental in removing then-OPCW leader Jose Bustani from his post, and ensuring Iraq was never visited by OPCW inspectors.

4 Lying About Cuban WMDs

 

A year prior to the Iraq War being launched - primarily off the back of lies about weapons of mass destruction, that Bolton helped perpetuate - Bolton advocated an invasion of Cuba, on the basis then-leader Fidel Castro was developing weapons of mass destruction and supplying other ‘rogue’ states, such as Libya and Syria.

He made the astonishing allegation during a May 2002 speech to the Heritage Foundation, calling the Cuban program “at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort.” However, when mainstream media outlets asked Bolton’s office for substantiation of this historic, incendiary claim, they responded by saying Bolton merely believed Cuba “could” develop or be developing WMDs, not that they certainly were.

5 Advocating for War in Libya, Blaming Others Later

 

In March 2011, while considering running for President, Bolton advocated in a speech in Iowa assassinating Muammar Qaddafi, then-Libyan leader, calling him a “legitimate target”.

Later that month, the US-led intervention in Libya began - and Bolton got his wish in October, when Qaddafi was brutally murdered by Western-funded jihadists. In the ensuing power vacuum, extremist groups took over control of great swaths of the country, where they remain to this day.

In a rare moment of clarity, Bolton subsequently lambasted Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for intervening in the country.

from UKRAINE --- People are deceived by the U.S. / EU - Nazis and fascists in control of government http://bit.ly/2M6mGjh
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