Ex-Ambassador Challenges Bolton Testimony; Powell Opposes Bolton

As President Bush tries to shore up support for John R. Bolton among wavering Republican senators, his former ambassador to South Korea is challenging Bolton's Senate testimony and his diplomatic style.

The criticism leveled at the nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations by retired career diplomat Thomas Hubbard, who held the Seoul post during Bush's first term, adds to allegations by several former and current State Department officials that Bolton mistreated them and threatened their careers.

Bolton has denied the charges in sworn testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the Bush administration is portraying Democratic efforts to derail Bolton's troubled nomination as a smear campaign. Still, the committee has delayed its vote on Bolton.
Meanwhile, former Secretary of State Colin Powell has talked to several senators at their request about specific questions that had been raised about Bolton, his spokeswoman Peggy Cifrino said Thursday.

"The general considers the discussions private," Cifrino said.

Among the senators Powell called was Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., who last week said he was inclined to vote for confirmation but this week said the "dynamic" had changed.

Powell was the only former Republican secretary of state who did not sign a letter of support for Bolton that was sent to the committee chairman, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.
(AP)