US can't be bothered with North Korea

Oh. This is choice.

The United Nations nuclear monitoring agency accused North Korea on Thursday of ''nuclear brinkmanship,'' but the Bush administration continued to downplay the potential threat from North Korea and kept its emphasis on Iraq.

Let's recap:

North Korea is far more a threat than Iraq at the moment. Not only does it have a confirmed nuclear weapons program -- with knowhow and technology provided by nuclear power Pakistan, but:

• North Korea has repeatedly threatened South Korea, launching small scale military attacks and sabotage raids throughout the past years.

• North Korea has multi-stage rockets with a range of 3,000 miles. And they are but a technological bunny hop from developing ICBMs -- rockets with the ability to reach targets in the United States.

• North Korea has shown a willingness to trade and sell its technologies to anyone who can pay. For example, its missile technologies were bartered to Pakistan in exchange for help in building up its nuclear program.

By contrast, Iraq is impotent, rendered helpless by sanctions and US/British enforcement of the no-fly zones. Not one of Iraq's neighbors, not even Kuwait, feels threatened by Hussein.

But North Korea is not coveted by Bush's oil friends, so the administration can't be bothered by a nation that can already nuke Alaska. Heck, a nuclear-armed North Korea helps the Administration sell their missile defense boondoggle.

What amuses me the most, however, is how conservatives loves to pass blame. Many commentators on the right have blamed Clinton for N.Korea's nuclear program. But, are they criticizing the current administration for doing absolutely nothing?

A State Department official suggested Thursday that the Bush administration would allow the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to take the lead on North Korea and call for a meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the crisis next year.

How magnanimous -- the administration is allowing the UN to take the lead. This is after it has done everything in its power to subvert the UN in Iraq.

Truth is, dealing with a real problem -- North Korea -- would distract from the obsession with a non-entity like Iraq. So the administration will ignore North Korea and hope the rest of the country follows suit.

It's not about security, it's about making his friends at Chevron and the Carlyle Group happy. Priorities in Bush's world.

Posted December 27, 2002 11:00 AM | Comments (50)