“I got a phone call from John Bolton – it was first time I had contact with him – and he said he had instructions to tell me that I have to resign from the organization, and I asked him why. He said that my management style was not agreeable to Washington.”
He resolutely refused to resign, only to see Bolton again at OPCW headquarters in The Hague several weeks after the phone conversation. “He came to my office and said: ‘You have to resign and I give you 24 hours, this is what we want. You have to leave, you have to resign from your organization, director-general.’”
Bustani said he “owed nothing” to the US, pointing out that he was appointed by all OPCW member states. Striking a more sinister tone, Bolton said: “OK, so there will be retaliation. Prepare to accept the consequences. We know where your kids are.”
I wouldn’t trust anything that comes out of the mouths of anyone associated with the OPCW.
That’s the org that’s been caught out lying through its teeth about the “gas attacks” in Syria as part of the effort to drag us into yet another pointless war.
Can you give some context or a link to what you’ve posted? I’m missing something here, because I did not see this text in the subject article.
A story from the Bush era, resurfacing now? Is that germane to this thread?
https://theintercept.com/2018/03/29/john-bolton-trump-bush-bustani-kids-opcw/
Yes, Trump likes guys that emphatically and effectively push the US’ interests. That’s not what Muller was doing.
Bolton said, “We know where your kids are”?? Scary stuff.
So... blackmailing Flynn. Blackmailing Trump with the pee dossier. Hard to believe America’s come to this.
This has gotta be a smear! John Bolton is a good guy!! Right?
The OPCW.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is an intergovernmental organisation and the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, which entered into force on 29 April 1997. Wikipedia
Headquarters: The Hague, Netherlands
George W Bush did drive Bustani out of the OCPW in the lead up to invading Iraq, no one really denies that. The claim that Bolton threaten Bustani's children living in New York started in 2018. If Bustani was threatened in 2002, he could have said when giving interview about his removal as head of the OCPW.
My memory is that at the time during the build up to going into Iraq and Afghanistan, while not friendly toward Bush, was a little less hostile. Given that, the claim that a senior White House official threatened the family of the head of the OCPW would have been newsworthy. Waiting seventeen years to say this is a little bit suspicious.
Scary. I once ran against an important local official, and the next year the tax people tried to say I owed almost $20,000. I fought this and the hearing examiners found unanimously on my side and wrote a rather crisp letter to the local tax authority.