WASHINGTON -- Democrats yesterday began intense grilling of John Bolton, President Bush's nominee as ambassador to the United Nations, saying Bolton had disdain for the institution and suggesting he tried to have intelligence analysts who disagreed with him fired.

	Dennis Cook, Associated Press John Bolton prepares for his appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday on his nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Click photo for larger image. Updates from The Associated Press

Bolton, a well-known conservative and U.N. critic who serves as undersecretary of state for arms control, said he continues to believe the United Nations works only if and when led by the United States. But he also said he would work to reform the institution and said its secretary-general, Kofi Annan, was a friend.

"The United States is committed to the success of the United Nations, and we view the U.N. as an important component of our diplomacy," Bolton said.

Democrats conceded Bolton was "capable" and "intelligent" but said he was the wrong person for the world body. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said he found Bolton "hostile" to the United Nations.

Biden also said he was concerned that several intelligence analysts have told the committee that Bolton tried to get two analysts fired. One is undercover and was unidentified. The other analyst toned down a statement Bolton wanted to make in a recent speech saying the United States believed Cuba had an tive developmental biological weapons program that it was willing to sell to rogue nations. The analysts said the claim wasn't true.

Biden and most of the Democrats on the committee said they thought that in an administration that flatly told the United Nations that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when none have been found, Bolton's actions showed a pattern of undermining intelligence when it differs from administration policy.

Bolton disagreed, saying he was angry that one analyst, Christian Westerman, the head bioweapons analyst at the State Department, "went behind my back." He said his speech eventually was cleared, although his original language was changed, but he insisted he did not try to get Westermann fired. He said he simply told Westermann's superiors he no longer trusted him. Westermann was not fired. "There is no there there," Bolton insisted.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said seven people disagreed with Bolton's account of what happened. "It's very, very disappointing. We are going to pursue it," she said. The committee is expected to continue its hearings today and tomorrow.

Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., chairman of the committee, let the questioning go on all day and said it could continue today. But he also said he did not see the controversy as a serious issue.

Nonetheless, he referred to Bolton's abrasiveness, saying his critics have called him "confrontational" and "insensitive," while others think he offers a "refreshingly blunt approach to diplomacy."

Lugar added, "In the diplomatic world, neither bluntness nor rhetorical sensitivity is a virtue in itself. There are times when blunt talk serves a policy purpose. Other times it does not."

In the past Bolton has said that there is no United Nations as a separate entity aside from member states and that if 10 stories of the 38-story U.N. building in New York disappeared, "it wouldn't make a bit of difference." He also has been criticized for his harsh statements about North Korea and its leader, which some charge has been a factor in derailing negotiations with that country to drop its nuclear weapons program.

Biden told Bolton the U.N. needs a voice people respect but that he feared other diplomats would "tune you out." He said that while some say sending Bolton to the U.N. would be like sending former President Nixon to China, "I'm concerned it will be more like sending the bull into a china shop."

Sen. Barak Obama, D-Ill., said that he was concerned that Bolton thinks the United States should work with the U.N. only when its own self-interest is served. He questioned Bolton's harsh criticism of the six-party talks on North Korea.

Bolton said that every nation must act first in its own self-interest. He said that a U.S. official in South Korea praised him for giving the speech and said it was helpful.

"I don't know how that was helpful," Obama said, noting talks with North Korea have stalled.

Democrats on the 18-member committee would need a Republican vote to block Bolton, but none of the Republicans so far have indicated they would vote against him. Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., a moderate and a keen supporter of the U.N., mildly pressed Bolton on some of his past statements.

However, Sen. George Allen, R-Va., said in choosing Bolton, Bush had selected the "perfect person" for the job of reforming the U.N. He said Americans care less about an internal dispute in the State Department than they do about eliminating waste in the U.N.

"You will not be seduced by empty, meaningless pontifications," Allen told Bolton.

Today's hearing is expected to be another intense day. Boxer told Bolton she didn't understand why he wants the job. "You can dance around it," she said. "You can run away from it. You can put perfume on it. But the bottom line is why would you want to work in an organization you said didn't exist?"