Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice will undoubtedly make their appearances on the morning talk shows claiming that "we are all much safer" under the enlightened leadership of George Bush. Perhaps, they could synchronize their silly assertions to coincide with the explosion of Korea's next nuclear weapon.
How could Bush let the situation get so out-of-hand? After all, the central tenet of the war on terror is: "We will not let the world's most dangerous weapons fall into the hands of the world's worst dictators"? Instead, they have elevated an unstable megalomaniac into a nuclear-armed menace. It could turn out to be the greatest foreign policy meltdown in American history.
Bush needs to forgo the Texas bravado and make substantive changes to the present policy before North Korea becomes the world's largest WMD-production factory.
First, he should agree to two-party talks with representatives from the North, which is what North Korea has demanded from the very beginning.
Second, he should review all sanctions directed against North Korea and publicly state that he will reassess whether they are truly justified.
Third, (and most important) Bush should offer firm assurances in the form of a treaty that North Korea WILL NOT BE ATTACKED BY THE UNITED STATES IF IT ABANDONS ITS NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAMS. This has been the North's primary demand from the very onset of the crisis. (although it has been omitted from newspaper coverage to conceal the fact that the rest of the world is actually terrified of the America's erratic behavior)
Forth, the administration should reconsider providing the oil, food, and light-water reactors which were part of the original "Framework Agreement" as long as North Korea agrees to undergo intensive "go anywhere, see anything" inspections conducted by the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA.
A larger tragedy can still be averted if cooler heads prevail. The time for bluster is past. The present policy is a dead-loss which has put everyone in greater peril.
The North is currently working out the kinks in its Taepo-dong ICBM. If we are serious that "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud," (as Condi Rice opined) the administration must take positive steps to defuse the present crisis; its time to change directions, amend the policy, and negotiate a peaceful settlement. The alternatives are too horrific to even consider.
1 | 2
