Time to CONFIRM BOLTON

New York Post Online Edition:: "John Bolton must be confirmed as am bassador to the United Nations the sooner the better.
President Bush's pick has been bottled up for weeks as Senate Democrats and their liberal allies throw just about every possible smear in order to derail the tough-talking Bolton's nomination.
Yet as Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher stated in a letter of support released yesterday, 'A capacity for straight talking rather than peddling half-truths is a strength and not a disadvantage in diplomacy.'
Exactly.
And as the Democrats fiddle, the U.N. burns. In recent days, there have been more developments in one major scandal as a new one comes to light:
* Paul Volcker refused to waive diplomatic immunity to allow Robert Parton a member of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's commission examining Oil-for-Food to testify before a congressional committee.
* Sources close to Parton allege that the commission quashed two draft reports highly critical of Annan.

On Wednesday, Parton who quit the task force following the release of a whitewash report in March — responded to a House subpoena and turned over sensitive documents to the International Relations Committee.

* Michael Wilson — a former executive of Cotecna, the Swiss-based firm mired in the Oil-for-Food scandal that employed Annan's son Kojo as a consultant — is under suspicion of accepting $3.4 million in bribes in connection with a construction project undertaken by another U.N. subsidiary, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

A hearing and subsequent vote on Bolton in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is planned for Thursday.

Of course, if opponents have their way, Bolton will never become U. N. ambassador — which explains the extended delay and the drip, drip, drip of allegations of abusive behavior to subordinates.

But, there's scant evidence explaining why Bolton shouldn't get the job.

On Tuesday, complaints were leaked of three more ex-government officials who believe that Bolton doesn't have the appropriate "temperament" to be America's man at Turtle Bay.

The charge against Bolton?

Well, it seems that he at one time hung up on the American ambassador to South Korea (heaven help us if future job prospects hinge on poor phone manners).

It's also alleged that he spoke harshly to officials with whom he disagreed and clashed repeatedly with intelligence agencies.

Are Americans supposed to greet with a straight face the news that intelligence officials — who have gotten data wrong for years, often with tragic results — now bad mouth someone unafraid to say that maybe these guys could be wrong?

Again, this farce must end — the sooner the better— and with John Bolton's confirmation.