Ultra-Hawk John Bolton Fired From Trump Administration
He got the boot before managing to start any new wars.
CHRISTIAN BRITSCHGI | 9.10.2019 2:05 PM
[...]
Trump's mention of differences between Bolton and "others in his administration" appears to be a reference to the conflict between Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Pompeo has been overseeing peace negotiations with the Taliban as a prelude to a U.S. drawdown of troops in Afghanistan.
According to reporting from The Washington Post, Bolton had opposed these talks, preferring a unilateral, partial withdrawal of U.S. forces.
This was not the first disagreement between the ultra-hawkish Bolton and the occasionally more intervention-skeptic Trump. Time and again, Bolton has appeared to undermine the president's efforts to scale back U.S. interventions abroad.
In April 2018, for example, Bolton seemingly attempted to sabotage his boss's peace overtures to North Korea by suggesting that the U.S. would pursue the "Libyan model" of disarming the country. (The U.S. helped to overthrow Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi after he had agreed to give up his country's nuclear program.)
Bolton also helped to stall a U.S. exit from Syria. In December 2018, Trump announced that the U.S. would be withdrawing military forces from the country, only to have Bolton condition that withdrawal on a Turkish agreement to not attack Kurdish forces in Syria.
To be sure, Trump himself has been—at best—an erratic and fair weather dove. He suggests troop withdrawals one day and then makes bellicose threats the next.
Trump has certainly needed no encouragement to take a hostile line on Iran. Nevertheless, Bolton clearly helped to raise tensions with that country during his time in the White House. In May, for instance, Bolton made a very public show of dispatching an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf in order to send Iran "a clear and unmistakable message" of U.S. resolve.
[...]
https://reason.com/2019/09/10/ultra-hawk-john-bolton-fired-from-trump-administration/
He got the boot before managing to start any new wars.
CHRISTIAN BRITSCHGI | 9.10.2019 2:05 PM
[...]
Trump's mention of differences between Bolton and "others in his administration" appears to be a reference to the conflict between Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Pompeo has been overseeing peace negotiations with the Taliban as a prelude to a U.S. drawdown of troops in Afghanistan.
According to reporting from The Washington Post, Bolton had opposed these talks, preferring a unilateral, partial withdrawal of U.S. forces.
This was not the first disagreement between the ultra-hawkish Bolton and the occasionally more intervention-skeptic Trump. Time and again, Bolton has appeared to undermine the president's efforts to scale back U.S. interventions abroad.
In April 2018, for example, Bolton seemingly attempted to sabotage his boss's peace overtures to North Korea by suggesting that the U.S. would pursue the "Libyan model" of disarming the country. (The U.S. helped to overthrow Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi after he had agreed to give up his country's nuclear program.)
Bolton also helped to stall a U.S. exit from Syria. In December 2018, Trump announced that the U.S. would be withdrawing military forces from the country, only to have Bolton condition that withdrawal on a Turkish agreement to not attack Kurdish forces in Syria.
To be sure, Trump himself has been—at best—an erratic and fair weather dove. He suggests troop withdrawals one day and then makes bellicose threats the next.
Trump has certainly needed no encouragement to take a hostile line on Iran. Nevertheless, Bolton clearly helped to raise tensions with that country during his time in the White House. In May, for instance, Bolton made a very public show of dispatching an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf in order to send Iran "a clear and unmistakable message" of U.S. resolve.
[...]
https://reason.com/2019/09/10/ultra-hawk-john-bolton-fired-from-trump-administration/
