N.Korea has nukes. Where's the saber-rattling?

Hesiod nails this one on the head (permalink not working):

"In a startling revelation, North Korea has told the United States it has a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of an 1994 agreement with the United States, the White House said Wednesday night."

[...]

This raises a whole BUNCH of issues. Like...

1) Why did this news "stun" the administration? Massive intelligence failure there.

2) This blows up the entire Rube Goldberg rationale for invading Iraq. If the North Koreans ADMIT they are developing nuclear weapons, and we don't immediately call for "regime change," this whole Iraq operation looks more and more like a grab for oil, than a "preventative war" of "self-defense."

Stalinist North Korea is the most closed society on the planet today, so I can almost forgive the intelligence failure. But his second point is valid. Of course, the last thing I want to see is a belligerant US threatening war against a nuclear-capable North Korea. However, if the US resorts to intense diplomacy to resolve the situation (as it should), it would beg the question why Iraq is facing a loaded gun instead.

Posted October 16, 2002 08:23 PM | Comments (14)