North Korean Bomb
President Bush is gearing up to use the news of North Korea’s bomb detonation as the reason to vote Republican in the November elections. He will claim that only the Republicans know how to conduct a war against US enemies. This is further from the truth then even the history of the past six years implies.
The question is which came first – the Axis of Evil or the Bush speech about the Axis of Evil? In January 2002 Bush named Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as our prime enemies. A year was spent preparing for invasion of Iraq on trumped up claims of the possession of weapons of mass destruction and ties to terrorism. The much more real threats of Iran and North Korea were deemphasized, let alone our cut-and-run Afghanistan policy. North Korea watched what happened in Iraq, listened to Bush rhetoric, and although seemingly a self-destructive government, was not stupid in concluding that they stood a much better chance of avoiding a similar invasion if they were a nuclear power.
Our descent into the Iraq morass made us unable to effectively counter any North Korean move. Now we are talking about sanctions, which will further isolate North Korea. But North Korea has already isolated itself by its own design and our ability to further deprive them of what they need is limited.
The Bush policy, as with Iran, is to refuse meeting one-on-one with either country. Supposedly, John Bolton at the UN does occasionally use back door meetings (I guess using the diplomatic skills he honed as a Bush lawyer in Florida in November 2000.) That doesn’t seem to be working with either country.
The Bush performance during his six years as President is one of incompetence coupled with lies. The last few months have revealed to more and more people the dearth of ideas emanating from the administration. The NIE estimate concluded that Iraq has made terrorism worse and that the US is less safe than before we started there. Woodward’s book has shown how the administration ignored reality in favor of their agenda. And the Foley affair shows the paucity of leadership in the Republican Congress.
The only chance for a realistic assessment of how we interact with the rest of the world in the two remaining years of this administration is for the Democrats to gain control of Congress and force the administration into compromise or if nothing else inaction. If the Democratic candidates can't counter the Bush claims of the next four weeks they don't deserve to be elected.
The question is which came first – the Axis of Evil or the Bush speech about the Axis of Evil? In January 2002 Bush named Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as our prime enemies. A year was spent preparing for invasion of Iraq on trumped up claims of the possession of weapons of mass destruction and ties to terrorism. The much more real threats of Iran and North Korea were deemphasized, let alone our cut-and-run Afghanistan policy. North Korea watched what happened in Iraq, listened to Bush rhetoric, and although seemingly a self-destructive government, was not stupid in concluding that they stood a much better chance of avoiding a similar invasion if they were a nuclear power.
Our descent into the Iraq morass made us unable to effectively counter any North Korean move. Now we are talking about sanctions, which will further isolate North Korea. But North Korea has already isolated itself by its own design and our ability to further deprive them of what they need is limited.
The Bush policy, as with Iran, is to refuse meeting one-on-one with either country. Supposedly, John Bolton at the UN does occasionally use back door meetings (I guess using the diplomatic skills he honed as a Bush lawyer in Florida in November 2000.) That doesn’t seem to be working with either country.
The Bush performance during his six years as President is one of incompetence coupled with lies. The last few months have revealed to more and more people the dearth of ideas emanating from the administration. The NIE estimate concluded that Iraq has made terrorism worse and that the US is less safe than before we started there. Woodward’s book has shown how the administration ignored reality in favor of their agenda. And the Foley affair shows the paucity of leadership in the Republican Congress.
The only chance for a realistic assessment of how we interact with the rest of the world in the two remaining years of this administration is for the Democrats to gain control of Congress and force the administration into compromise or if nothing else inaction. If the Democratic candidates can't counter the Bush claims of the next four weeks they don't deserve to be elected.
posted by John Weiss at 11:28 AM
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