Bolton: State Department Leftists Have Defeated Bush

By: Kenneth R. Timmerman, NEWS MAX

“I think we are very close to a decision point,” John Bolton says. “And if the choice is between nuclear Iran and use of force, I think we have to look at the use of force.”

Resistance by partisan ”shadow warriors” at the Department of State has limited the president’s options and is bringing us dangerously close to a military showdown with Iran, former Bush administration official John Bolton told Newsmax in an exclusive interview.

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice initially had planned to provide significant aid to the pro-democracy movement in Iran, as a means of giving the president more policy options, Bolton said. But resistance by the State Department bureaucracy crippled the programs and rendered them ineffective. CONTINUE

This article includes the interview of Bolton by Timmerman.

Bolton rejects the NIE and argues that you can’t wait until the last moment to move. It may be too late then. He is also critical of the fact that Bush shed himself of conservatives, leaving him without a support group.

And as he points out in the following quote, the threat is not limited to Iran acquiring nuclear weapons.

It’s not just the nuclear program. It’s Iran’s support for terrorism in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, the Gaza strip, including their activity particularly against our forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. So if steps are not taken soon, Iran and other nations in the region will draw the conclusion that we are not serious about stopping Iran’s nuclear program, we are not serious about stopping Iranian support for terrorism and they will draw the appropriate conclusions, all of which will be negative to American interest.

Finally he points out that pursuing diplomacy is not cost free. He argues there is the opportunity lost cost. US should have been doing other things rather than wait for negotiations.