Amb. Bolton: Obama’s Apologies for US ‘Incite’ Violence Abroad

Undersecretary of State John Bolton

By: David A. Patten

Posted: Feb. 25th, 2012

President Barack Obama’s readiness to apologize for an apparently accidental Koran-burning incident is a signal of weakness that actually incites further unrest, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton says.

In an exclusive interview with Newsmax Saturday afternoon, Bolton said that President Obama’s apologies are only making things worse.

“Look, you apologize when you’ve done something wrong and you want to make amends,” Bolton said. “You don’t apologize when makes you admit to a mistake that you haven’t made, and in fact in this case incites the people to do some of these things, because they think the apology is an admission of wrongdoing.

“When in fact,” he added, “I think the facts are still murky as far as I’m concerned, but I don’t think anybody set out intentionally to desecrate the Koran. I think quite the opposite is true.”

Bolton stipulated that the administration is not intentionally trying to fan the flames of religious violence in the Middle East.

“But I do think … they assume our people had made a mistake, and that I think is going to have a very negative effect on morale in Afghanistan at exactly the time when operations are beginning to decline.

“And the reaction,” he said, “shows how incorrect it is for the administration to follow this arbitrary timetable to suspend combat operations next year,” said Bolton.