Boutros-Ghali Lashes Out at U.S. for Removing Him
May 26, 1999 - 0:0
UNITED NATIONS -- Lashing out at Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has written a no-holds-barred book about the Clinton administration's maneuvering to deny him a second term. The book, "Unvanquished: a U.S.-UN Saga," is an account of the conflict between the Egyptian diplomat's vision of a post-Cold War United Nations and the way in which he said the world's only superpower saw fit to use or abuse it, while failing to pay its dues.
Boutros-Ghali, now 76, was secretary-general from January 1992 to December 1996. "When the United Nations was allowed to do its job without substantial U.S. involvement, as in Mozambique, the operation succeeded," Boutros-Ghali said. "When the United States felt a political need for the United Nations, as in Haiti, the operation also fulfilled its main objective. "But when the United States wanted to appear actively involved while in reality avoiding hard decisions, as in Bosnia, Somalia, and Rwanda, the United Nations was misused, abused, or blamed by the United States and the operations failed, tragically and horribly." A constant theme of the book, to be published by Random House in June, is how Boutros-Ghali fell from Washington's grace and, as a result of an extraordinary U.S. campaign, was barred from a second term as secretary-general.
Even so, he won the support of 14 of the Security Council's 15 members on the first of a series of ballots in November-December 1996. The 15th vote was the veto cast by the United States, which eventually succeeded in securing the election of its favored candidate, then under-secretary-general Kofi Annan of Ghana. When then secretary of state Warren Christopher informed Boutros-Ghali in May 1996 that Washington opposed his candidacy, he "refused to tell me why the United States had decided that I must go." But Boutros-Ghali said he "knew that the reason was to be found in the political dynamic of the 1996 American presidential campaign combined with the remarkable events of the previous five years." Ever since the Republican Party's victory in the 1994 congressional elections, "the Clinton administration had, step by step, turned against me, as the White House apparently felt a growing need to compete with the GOP (Republican Party) over which party was more anti-United Nations," he wrote.
He suggested Clinton was seeking to preempt accusations by Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole that the Democratic administration had allowed Boutros-Ghali to decide how U.S. troops should be used in Somalia and when U.S. NATO aircraft should be called in to strike Serb targets in Bosnia. But Boutros-Ghali's most bitter criticism was reserved for then-American UN envoy Albright who, with Christopher, mounted an unrelenting drive to prevent his re-election.
He quoted a senior American UN official as having heard her say well before 1996 that "I will make Boutros think I am his friend; Then I will break his legs!" The book is peppered with comments denigrating Albright, including that, before taking up her post at the United Nations, she had been "a professor and a democratic political advisor of no particular prominence." "Her uncivil tongue had won praise in Washington from both political parties.
Thus her worst characteristic, when it came to diplomacy, was reinforced by her domestic American audience." Belittling her skills, he said: "She seemed to have little interest in the difficult diplomatic work of persuading her foreign counterparts to go along with the positions of her government, preferring to lecture or speak in declarative sentences, or simply to read verbatim from her briefing books.
She seemed to assume that her mere assertion of a U.S. policy should be sufficient to achieve the support of other nations." State Department spokesman James Rubin, Albright's spokesman when she was UN ambassador, told questioners Albright had believed it was important for Boutros-Ghali to "understand, appreciate, and be as in sync as possible with the United States." Creating maximum support for the United Nations "required great diplomatic and political skill to navigate the difficult political waters of the United States. And unfortunately, Secretary General Boutros-Ghali was not able to do that," he said.
Describing an awkward final dinner with Albright after he had said farewell to the UN General Assembly, Boutros-Ghali wrote: "She had accomplished her diplomatic mission with skill. She had carried out her campaign with determination, letting pass no opportunity to demolish my authority and tarnish my image, all the while showing a serene face, wearing a friendly smile, and repeating expressions of friendship and admiration.
"I recalled what a Hindu scholar once said to me: There is no difference between diplomacy and deception."
Boutros-Ghali, now 76, was secretary-general from January 1992 to December 1996. "When the United Nations was allowed to do its job without substantial U.S. involvement, as in Mozambique, the operation succeeded," Boutros-Ghali said. "When the United States felt a political need for the United Nations, as in Haiti, the operation also fulfilled its main objective. "But when the United States wanted to appear actively involved while in reality avoiding hard decisions, as in Bosnia, Somalia, and Rwanda, the United Nations was misused, abused, or blamed by the United States and the operations failed, tragically and horribly." A constant theme of the book, to be published by Random House in June, is how Boutros-Ghali fell from Washington's grace and, as a result of an extraordinary U.S. campaign, was barred from a second term as secretary-general.
Even so, he won the support of 14 of the Security Council's 15 members on the first of a series of ballots in November-December 1996. The 15th vote was the veto cast by the United States, which eventually succeeded in securing the election of its favored candidate, then under-secretary-general Kofi Annan of Ghana. When then secretary of state Warren Christopher informed Boutros-Ghali in May 1996 that Washington opposed his candidacy, he "refused to tell me why the United States had decided that I must go." But Boutros-Ghali said he "knew that the reason was to be found in the political dynamic of the 1996 American presidential campaign combined with the remarkable events of the previous five years." Ever since the Republican Party's victory in the 1994 congressional elections, "the Clinton administration had, step by step, turned against me, as the White House apparently felt a growing need to compete with the GOP (Republican Party) over which party was more anti-United Nations," he wrote.
He suggested Clinton was seeking to preempt accusations by Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole that the Democratic administration had allowed Boutros-Ghali to decide how U.S. troops should be used in Somalia and when U.S. NATO aircraft should be called in to strike Serb targets in Bosnia. But Boutros-Ghali's most bitter criticism was reserved for then-American UN envoy Albright who, with Christopher, mounted an unrelenting drive to prevent his re-election.
He quoted a senior American UN official as having heard her say well before 1996 that "I will make Boutros think I am his friend; Then I will break his legs!" The book is peppered with comments denigrating Albright, including that, before taking up her post at the United Nations, she had been "a professor and a democratic political advisor of no particular prominence." "Her uncivil tongue had won praise in Washington from both political parties.
Thus her worst characteristic, when it came to diplomacy, was reinforced by her domestic American audience." Belittling her skills, he said: "She seemed to have little interest in the difficult diplomatic work of persuading her foreign counterparts to go along with the positions of her government, preferring to lecture or speak in declarative sentences, or simply to read verbatim from her briefing books.
She seemed to assume that her mere assertion of a U.S. policy should be sufficient to achieve the support of other nations." State Department spokesman James Rubin, Albright's spokesman when she was UN ambassador, told questioners Albright had believed it was important for Boutros-Ghali to "understand, appreciate, and be as in sync as possible with the United States." Creating maximum support for the United Nations "required great diplomatic and political skill to navigate the difficult political waters of the United States. And unfortunately, Secretary General Boutros-Ghali was not able to do that," he said.
Describing an awkward final dinner with Albright after he had said farewell to the UN General Assembly, Boutros-Ghali wrote: "She had accomplished her diplomatic mission with skill. She had carried out her campaign with determination, letting pass no opportunity to demolish my authority and tarnish my image, all the while showing a serene face, wearing a friendly smile, and repeating expressions of friendship and admiration.
"I recalled what a Hindu scholar once said to me: There is no difference between diplomacy and deception."