Diplomats to Bolton: I Said I Loved You But I Lied

Fifty-nine former American diplomats have sent a letter to the Senate challenging President Bush's nomination of John Bolton to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

After considering the resumes of these esteemed diplomats and their expansive foreign service records, I can only come to the conclusion that the condemnation of retired bureaucrats from stagnant posts decades old should largely be ignored.

With the possible exception of Arthur A. Hartman, the four other minor luminaries cited by CNN's coverage held assignments that seem more like purgatory than public service, and some of these assignments happens so far in the past as to have little relevance in today's rapidly-evolving political climate.

Quite frankly, does the former deputy ambassador to the United Nations under Ford and Carter have an opinion relevant in today's global political environment? Do we really need the opinion of an Arms Control Agency leftover from the Carter Administration, or Clinton's ambassador to Nigeria?

Bolton's nomination is controversial, to put it mildly, but it would be a refreshing change to have someone in the United Nations who would freely speak his mind without first needing to secure immunity from investigators.