President names Bolton new ambassador to U.N.

WASHINGTON -- Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton, an outspoken arms control expert who rarely muffles his views in diplomatic nuance, is President Bush's choice to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.\nSecretary of State Condoleezza Rice made the announcement Monday with Bolton at her side.\n"The president and I have asked John to do this work because he knows how to get things done," Rice said at a State Department news conference. "He is a tough-minded diplomat, he has a strong record of success, and he has a proven track record of effective multilateralism."\nBolton promised to work closely with members of Congress to advance Bush's policies and said his record demonstrates "clear support for effective multilateral diplomacy."\n"The United Nations affords us the opportunity to move our policies forward," said Bolton, who acknowledged that in the past he has written critically about the world body.\nPresidential spokesman Scott McClellan, while not mentioning Bolton by name, told reporters: "The person (Bush) has selected to nominate to the position of ambassador to the United Nations is someone who shares the president's strong commitment to making sure multilateral organizations are effective."\n"This president believes it is important that the United Nations focuses on achieving results to make the world a safer place and a better place," McClellan said.\nBush, already viewed suspiciously in some sectors of the United Nations for his pre-emptive attack in 2003 on Iraq, reached out to a tough lawyer whose strong statements have irked leaders in North Korea and China.\nLast month, for instance, in a strongly worded speech in Tokyo, Bolton lashed out at China before an international audience for not stopping its munitions companies from selling missile technology to Iran and other nations the United States considers rogue states.\nHe also took the lead in strongly opposing plans of European allies to lift a 15-year embargo and sell weapons to Beijing.\nIn his current post as undersecretary for arms control and international security, Bolton, 56, has traveled the world several times over in the past four years, mostly to try to halt the spread of dangerous technology.\nBefore the 1991 Persian Gulf war, as an assistant secretary of state for international organizations, Bolton collaborated with then-Secretary of State James A. Baker III in organizing an alliance with European and Arab countries for the war with Iraq that liberated Kuwait.\nBolton, who has served as Washington's top arms control official, would succeed former Sen. John Danforth, who retired in January.\nSecretary of State Condoleezza Rice informed the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and the senior Democrat, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, of the selection. She also notified U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said a government official knowledgeable about the situation.\nBolton must be confirmed for the post, which is being filled temporarily by Anne Patterson, a career foreign service officer, who took over for Danforth.\nIn a measure of the partisan hackles Bolton has raised in the past, the Senate confirmed him to his current post by 57-43, with all the votes in opposition coming from Democrats. The vote was on May 8, 2001.