The Discerning Texan

In the film 'Pulp Fiction' the hit men played by John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson find themselves in a sudden dilemma when Travolta's gun goes off and accidentally blows their passenger's brains all over their car, in broad daylight in the middle of LA, and far from a "safe haven" that would not draw scrutiny. To resolve this issue, Jackson calls the "boss", who informs Jackson not to be concerned, because he is sending in "the Wolf". To paraphrase Jackson's response: "You're..sending the Wolf??..Why shee-it Negro, that's all you had to say...". For "the Wolf", played by Harvey Keitel; is the legendary "cleaner" of the film--he is the man the mob calls in to "solve problems", and had a reputation for doing just that. But just don't get in his way. And, of course, in the film he does exactly that.

The point of this trip down cinematic memory lane is to draw an analogy, however oblique it may be: the United Nations is in big trouble, much like Travolta and Jackson were; they have a serious problem. And the brain matter splattered throughout the car is not a bad metaphor for the state of affairs in the institution: Kofi Annan is knee deep in alligators over the oil-for-food scandal, and indeed several members of the Security Council had their hands deep inside Saddam's cookie jar at the very moment they voted to deny the US the authorization it sought for UN support in Iraq. Alternatively, the brain matter could be likened to the millions of murdered innocents in Rawanda and Sudan, while the UN sat on their hands and did absolutely nothing to stop it. Or perhaps it could represent hundreds of young girls who have been systematically raped and abused by UN "peacekeepers" who were supposed to be protecting them.

The United Nations is an institution that is crumbling at its foundations. And if the situation is to be salvaged (a long shot at best), it is time metaphorically to send in "the Wolf". And that man just might be John Bolton. True, this may well be an unsalvagable situation (I happen to think it is), but if anyone can salvage it, it is a driven, focused, take-no-prisoners individual who will not be shy about meeting the myriad problems of the institution head on. This is not a situation that calls for Jimmy Carter; it is a situation that calls for a Rommel or a Patton. And I think that is what we are getting with Bolton.

The Washington Times had a nice op/ed about Bolton's confirmation, pointing out that it is unlikely that Bush selected Bolton to dismantle the UN, as his liberal detractors are inferring; indeed the Times makes a strong case that he was chosen because Bush felt he was just the man to help clean this cesspool of corruption up. In fact, if the libs are truly as idealistic as they pretend to be about this utterly corrupt organization, they just might want to watch who they oppose when it comes to the unenviable task of leading the reform in an institution that has a light year to go to fulfill the promise with which it was founded, and to justify the staggering money that has been poured into this black hole, with very little to show for the expense. And Bolton seems to me to be just the kind of no-nonsense problem solver this monumental task requires. Sometimes when a tough job has to be done, you need a man like "the Wolf". The partisan Democrats in the Senate (is there any other kind?) might be wise to keep that in mind.