The Hyde Factor 
At the United Nations, they’re worrying much more about Henry Hyde than John Bolton
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Michael Hirsh
Newsweek
Updated: 6:33 p.m. ET June 1, 2005

June 1 - For all the controversy over John Bolton--President George W. Bush’s fiery nominee to be United Nations ambassador--U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is more worried about another threat from Washington, says his chief of staff, Mark Malloch Brown. Annan is so worried, in fact, that he believes Bolton and the Bush administration could prove to be his allies in what is shaping up to be another titanic battle over U.N. finances.
In an interview with NEWSWEEK on Wednesday, Malloch Brown said that while Bolton was not the candidate one would “ideally choose,” he may be the right ambassador “to represent the U.N. to Washington.” Why? Because a bill sponsored by House International Relations Committee chairman Henry Hyde, the Illinois Republican, is threatening to withhold U.S. dues to the world body if major reforms do not occur--reforms that most U.N. observers believe it will be impossible for Annan to deliver. 
And Bolton, Malloch Brown said, may be the man who can persuade the Republican right wing on Capitol Hill to avoid a “nuclear” confrontation that could bankrupt the U.N. and leave the United States isolated once again on the world stage, with not even the usually loyal British behind Washington. “This is not an endorsement of Bolton,” Malloch Brown said. But given Bolton’s reputation as a harsh critic of the U.N., at least “he would not be pre-empted on the right.” 
Malloch Brown noted that the Bush administration has advanced the same Nixon-goes-to-China argument about Bolton and U.N. reform. But he expressed some puzzlement that Bush and other senior administration officials have pressed the need for U.N. reform in recent weeks as the Bolton nomination has bogged down. “The administration was not particularly interested in U.N. reform until Bolton came along,” Malloch Brown said. “It never came up between the administration and the secretary-general.”
The United States, the biggest donor to the U.N., pays nearly one quarter of the organization's $2 billion annual budget, not including funds for peacekeeping and programs like the U.N. Development Program and UNICEF, which are funded separately.
The Hyde bill, which has gained widespread support in the House in the wake of the U.N. Oil-for-Food scandal, would withhold tens of millions of dollars from the U.N. if the world body does not agree to a highly specific reform plan, including semiannual financial-disclosure reports. 
The bill, which is expected to come before the House in the next few weeks, also seeks to scrap some U.N. programs or turn them into voluntary projects dependent on donations.  Fundamental change of that sort would require the agreement of all of the United Nations’ 191 states, including those hostile to the United States. 
Hyde's office said on Wednesday that no one was available to comment on the bill.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Mark Lagon recently told Hyde staffers in private session that the Bush administration opposed the legislation. But Malloch Brown and other U.N. officials worry that the administration has stayed silent publicly about its opposition as it has pushed for Bolton’s confirmation against Democratic opposition. The administration, he added, remains “deeply ambivalent” about the U.N. In order to avoid a blowup with Britain and other allies, Bush will have to again engage in Red on Red violence, as one Democratic congressional staffer put it--in other words, fight with his own party.
Annan and other U.N. officials fear another fight like the reform battle led by former senator Jesse Helms in the late 1990s when the U.N. was pushed deeply into arrears by Washington’s refusal to pay its dues. And Annan is also fighting for his post, Malloch Brown noted, as congressional critics target his son Kojo’s alleged involvement in the Oil-for-Food scandal. 
Asked about reports that Annan was deeply depressed, even taking medication, he responded, “There’s a view that all of that is very dated.” Malloch Brown said the secretary-general experienced a “psychological turning point” after a commission led by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker said it found no evidence that Annan had personally intervened to gain an Oil-for-Food contract for the company that employed his son. But the fear remains, Malloch Brown added, that he will be “hounded from office.”
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.