WASHINGTON, 29 June 2004 — President Bush named former Missouri Sen. John Danforth to make the administration’s Iraq case in the United Nations. Bush chose a Republican who was a Senate ally of his father and has been a troubleshooter for both Democratic and Republican presidents.
Sen. Danforth, whose nomination was approved unanimously by the Senate on Thursday, will succeed the current UN ambassador, John Negroponte, who will go to Iraq as Bush’s ambassador to the new government there this summer. Since 2001, Sen. Danforth has been Bush’s special envoy to war-torn Sudan, where he has tried to mediate a peace agreement between long-warring factions.
Sen. Danforth served in the Senate from 1976 to 1995, before that he was the state’s attorney general; he was also on Bush’s short list as a possible vice presidential choice in 2000.
Bush made the announcement in a statement released while he was in Ireland on a three-day European trip during which the UN’s role in post-occupation Iraq is a major topic.
A lawyer with a practice in St. Louis, Danforth, 68, is also a licensed Episcopal minister. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Yale University’s law school.
Sen. Danforth has often been tapped before to tackle complex issues since his 1995 retirement from the Senate. During the Clinton years, he acted as special counsel appointed by then-Attorney General Janet Reno and conducted a 14-month inquiry into the deaths in 1993 of about 80 Branch Davidians near Waco, Texas. His investigation cleared the FBI of wrongdoing.
Lawmakers said his experience in that position would be crucial as the world body seeks to restore peace and stability to the Middle East.
Republican Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, offered a strong endorsement of the nominee.
“Those of us who had the privilege of serving with him can certainly attest to his integrity, to his intellect, his sound judgment, and his good humor,” Sen. Lugar said. “President Bush has made a very wise choice in my judgment for an extremely important position.”
The top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, said Sen. Danforth would not be afraid to challenge the president’s policies when he believes it is necessary.
“Jack is a team player. Jack is a supporter of the president. Jack feels strongly that the president’s mission is correct. But Jack will also, if he disagrees, not hesitate one minute, in my view, to privately tell the president,” said Sen. Biden.
