Does Bolton’s Libya-Style Denucleariztion of North Korea Include Bombing Or Invasion?

When U.S. Secretary of Defense James “Mad Dog” Mattis greeted National Security Advisor-designate John Bolton for the first time at the Pentagon, Mattis evidently told Bolton “it’s good to finally meet you, since I’ve heard that you’re actually the devil incarnate.” Although there were lots of laughs and chuckles all around, Mattis may not have been that far off from the obvious regarding President Donald Trump’s new pick to advise him in making important foreign policy decisions around the world.

According to Newsmax, for instance, the incoming self-described conservative and American nationalist not only insisted that any meeting with North Korea’s leader must be focused squarely on how to eliminate that country’s nuclear weapons programs as quickly as possible, but that it must be backed-up with a Libya-style denuclearizing. In other words, if North Korea’s Kim Jong-un doesn’t forgo his ballistic weapons program right away it should be met with immediate retaliation like the 1987 bombing of Libya.

Recycling War Criminals
Bolton, who’s a senior advisor for Freedom Capital Investment Management and Fox News commentator, actually started his political career in the Nixon Administration. Years later, while serving in the Reagan Administration, he opposed financial reparations for Japanese-Americans who’d been confined to internment camps during World War II. He was also involved in the 1980’s Iran-Contra affair that tried to topple the Sandanistas in Nicaragua, and which traded arms for hostages and drugs that flowed into the U.S.

Bolton flexed his militant views as well when it came to Libya. He not only pushed back against Colonel Muammar Gadhafi’s plans for a greater African Continent, his dislike of Israel, his dream of a petro-dinar versus petro-dollar, and his growing ties with the Soviet Union and a nuclear program, but he accused Libya of state-sponsored terrorism. He was in fact instrumental in encouraging President Ronald Reagan to bomb Libya, costing U.S. taxpayers $1.1 billion and Libya dozens of lives-including women and children.

A New Pearl Harbor and Sept. 11
Bolton was moreover part of the inner circle that wrote the 1997 Project for a New American Century (PNAC). Recall in addition to promoting America as the only global leader of the world, the kind that’s built on “a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity,” it called for regime change in Iraq, Iran, Syria, and North Korea. Their plans for global domination and the required increase in military spending would also require, in their own words, a catalyzing event along the lines of a new Pearl Harbor.

Speaking of another Pearl Harbor, after the attack on Sept. 11, 2001, Bolton was known to skew intelligence reports on Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction and in the lead-up to the war with Iraq. He also vehemently supported the war even as the military all but collapsed. Others resented that he went to great lengths to suppress their contradictory analyses and retaliated against those who disagreed. His own analysis was inflated and cherry-picked, so as to bolster his own views and policies.

The Oxymoron of Military Intelligence
Another thing Bolton got wrong was just as the Bush Administration hunted for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and was starting to prep the American people to invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein, he couldn’t help but to notice another imaginary looming threat on the horizon. To be sure, and as then the State Department’s undersecretary for arms control issued, he accused Cuba of secretly developing biological weapons. Although more seasoned experts denounced his findings, he still pushed for a war.

But then Nixonianism, Reaganism, and PNAC’s inner circle has always been a perfect fit for how Bolton perceives the world, and his first-strike-regime-change policies against real or imaginary threats. It also reinforces what he’s always believed about the U.S. and United Nations. In a interview with Juan Williams on NPR, June 6, 2000, he said: If I were redoing the Security Council today, I’d have one permanent member, because that's the real reflection of the distribution of power in the world-the United States.”

Speaking of the Devil…
Trump’s nomination of Bolton, which doesn’t require Senate confirmation, would make him by far the government’s most important judge when it comes to competing views on foreign policy. It would also put him and his hawkish views he’s espoused in the driver seat to determine what constitutes as the most serious treats to national security. Given that Bolton didn’t deny “Mad Dog” Mattis’s comment about him being the devil incarnate, it should cause every citizen in America and of the world to be concerned.

Speaking of the devil incarnate, in chapter 4 of Luke’s Gospel the devil tempts Jesus by taking him up to a high place and by showing him in an instant all the nations of the world. The devil then declares he can give Jesus all their authority and splendor, since it had been given to him and he could give it to anyone he wanted too. There’s one condition, however, and it’s to fall down and worship the devil. Sadly, there are some political leaders like the devil who fall for the trick thinking they too rule over all.

Better the Devil You Don’t Know Than the One You Do
In Bolton’s case, and considering his political background and soon to be Libya-style denuclearization of North Korea, not to mention potential ethical violations that have just been reported, the U.S. might be better off with the devil it doesn’t know than the devil it does know.

Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com/dallasdarling.