Investigating the Bolton Memos

The media's ignoring it, so the blogs are stepping in. Steve Clemons has some grist for the Bolton mill, even as Beltway Democrats are starting to say that his confirmation looks inevitable. And whad'ya know, it looks like Bolton is guilty not only of an utter lack of diplomacy-- if not competence-- but of the charges that he's a vindictive schmuck. Here's the post:

John Bolton so irritated British negotiators who were working on a resolution to Libya's WMD programs that they asked the American team on Libya to remove John Bolton from the case. Bolton was dropped.

TWN has now learned from a highly placed intelligence source, "with direct knowledge," that one of the 10 intercept requests made by John Bolton was about Libya. The identity of the U.S. official requested by Bolton was William Burns, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.

This shows a couple of things about Bolton that further underscore his vanity and irresponsibility when it comes to national security issues.

First, Bolton was NOT on a need-to-know basis in the Libya case. He had been removed from that portfolio.

Second, this shows that Bolton was in fact spying on his colleagues and their work. In this case, Bill Burns was his target.

The Bolton Battle is getting ready to rev up again -- and this news on Bolton, Burns and Libya may turn a number of other U.S. Senators against his nomination.