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Correspondence on the Kyoto Protocol Edward I. KochFollowing is correspondence on the Kyoto Protocol that I think you will find interesting. March 18, 2004
Professor Richard N. Gardner
Dear Professor Gardner:
On the Charlie Rose show recently you conveyed your support of the Kyoto Treaty and criticized President Bush’s opposition to it. I am interested in knowing why you support the treaty in view of the fact that 95 U.S. Senators, Democrats and Republicans, voted against it.
As you know, the treaty totally exempts China and India which, in the aggregate, comprise 40 percent of the world’s population, from any environmental controls. It was recently reported in the media that China has taken the place of Japan as number two, after the U.S., in the use of fossil fuels.
Under these circumstances, do you suggest that the President and 95 Senators change their position and ratify the treaty? If so, why?
All the best and many thanks.
Sincerely, Edward I. Koch *************************************************************************** April 5, 2004
Dear Mayor Koch:
Thank you for your letter of March 18. I certainly agree with you that the Kyoto Protocol is unacceptable in its present form. My problem with the Bush Administration is that they have given the impression that global warming is not a real problem and that the United States is unprepared to take on any international obligations to deal with it.
I was in Madrid when President Bush made his first announcement about Kyoto, and I can tell you it created a very negative reaction across the entire political spectrum, as has been true of other Bush Administration policies with respect to the Comprehensive Test Ban, the Biological Weapons Protocol, and the International Criminal Court.
One of the most damaging mistakes was the promulgation of the Bush doctrine of preventive war, which all of our allies find unacceptable, as well as totally irrelevant to the war on terrorism. The enclosed essay of mine will explain way.
With best wishes. Richard N. Gardner ************************************************************************************ April 13, 2004
Dear Mr. Gardner:
Thanks for your April 5th response. In continuing my inquiry, it is not my intention to badger you but rather to debate the issues.
I believe the criticism of President Bush on the Kyoto Protocol by you, Senator Kennedy and others is unfair irrespective of how you otherwise feel about him. In your letter to me you agree that "the Kyoto Protocol is unacceptable in its present form.” You then defend your criticism of the Bush Administration for not supporting the protocol by stating that it has "given the impression that global warming is not a real problem. ...”
If you would not accept the current Kyoto Protocol, why did other nations accept it? I agree with you that global warming and cooling are phenomena that have reoccurred through the eons. During the last Ice Age, some 10,000 years ago, the New York City area was under thousands of feet of ice. During the Medieval warm period, the world was warmer than it is today. This warm period was followed by the "little ice age,” which lasted for some 300 years and from which some scientists say we are still recovering. All this global warming and cooling occurred long before the industrial age, so obviously, it was not caused by human activity. Yet, like you, I side with those who believe remedial action is required. Nevertheless, those with a contrary opinion cannot be dismissed as dummies.
Senator Ted Kennedy, who voted with 94 other U.S. Senators to reject the Kyoto Protocol, like you, berates President Bush for rejecting the treaty. Again, I believe your and his criticism of President Bush in the media without at the same time stating your objections to the Kyoto Protocol is deceptive.
You are opposed to the Bush Administration having ended the ABM Treaty, as the treaty allowed it to do, so as to be free to deploy a missile shield. I am not. Do you rule out the possibility of a rogue nation like North Korea using the bomb or a nation like Pakistan with rogue scientists making the bomb available to terrorists? Has the feared Soviet nuclear buildup predicted by Bush’s opponents occurred as a result of terminating that treaty? No.
With respect to your support of the International Criminal Court, do you doubt that under today’s global political situation there would have been a clamor in some west European countries and surely in developing countries to indict as war criminals President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Powell, and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice? I don’t believe they are war criminals. Do you? The Belgium government, not wanting to lose the U.N. facility scheduled to be paid for by the U.S., ended its own court comparable to the International Criminal Court which had indicted President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon. Did you approve of those indictments?
You refer to the Bush doctrine of preventive war as "totally irrelevant to the war on terrorism,” and you refer to your essay on the subject which, regrettably, was not enclosed with your letter. I believe one of the great doctrines today, rivaling the Monroe and Truman doctrines, is the Bush Doctrine and his statement, "[We will] make no distinction between the terrorists who committed [the September 11] acts and those who harbor them,” a concept which you undoubtedly believe is within the concept of preemptive war.
With hindsight, shouldn’t France and England have ejected Nazi German troops from the Rhineland which they had occupied in violation of the Versailles Treaty in 1936? If they had, do you think World War II might have been avoided and millions of lives saved?
I look forward to hearing from you.
All the best.
Sincerely, Edward I. Koch ************************************************************************************** E-Mail Received from Mr. Gardner's Assistant: ... Amb. Gardner is travelling and will not be able to respond to Mayor Koch for several weeks. However, in the meantime, attached is the essay referred to that was not enclosed in Gardner's letter to Koch. Thanks. **************************************************************************************************** E-Mail From Ed Koch to Mr. Gardner's Assistant: I have your e-mail reporting that Ambassador Gardner is traveling. Is it not possible to refer my e-mailed letter to him by e-mail or fax? I would appreciate your doing that. All the best. Ed Koch ****************************************************************************************************** Response from Mr. Gardner's Assistant: No, I'm sorry it's not. But I will certainly let him know of it. ******************************************************************************************************* March 22, 2004
The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy Dear Senator: I saw your interview with Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" yesterday. You were superb in stating your position on a host of issues, particularly on Iraq.
In one of your responses you stated, "Look, this nation, this president, brought us unilaterally to war. They have had a unilateral foreign policy where they rejected the Kyoto Treaty. ..."
I don’t believe it was a unilateral action on the part of President Bush to reject the Kyoto Treaty in that 95 Senators voted to reject it in Senate Resolution #98. You were one of those who voted "yes" in the unanimous vote to reject it. I would ask whether in retrospect you regret not supporting the Kyoto protocol which exempted both China and India from any requirements limiting their use of fossil fuels. The Resolution resolved that "it is the sense of the Senate that the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol to, or other agreement regarding, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992, at negotiations in Kyoto in December 1997, or thereafter, which would."
It was recently reported that China is now the second highest user of fossil fuels replacing Japan. The United States, of course, remains number one.
I would appreciate receiving your comments on this matter.
All the best.
Sincerely, Edward I. Koch ***************************************************************************** No Response to Date Edward I. Koch is the former mayor of New York City. His commentary for Bloomberg radio is republished here. You can hear his weekly radio show by going to www.bloomberg.com/radio.
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