North Korea - Yes, You Have Our Attention

North Korea has tested a low yield nuclear devicepower. We have to be careful what we say.
with 4% of the destructive power of the bombPresident Bush announced the "axis of evil"
that the United States dropped on Hiroshima,speech several years ago. He named North Korea
Japan at the end of World War II.and Iraq as two of the three countries. It would
Some believe that the device was much largerseem that he started his anti-terrorism campaign
but may have failed for technical reasons.in the wrong end of the world.
We don't know the truth, because the UnitedIraq did not have weapons of mass destruction
States has not devoted the resources to know(WMD), while North Korea has gone live with
what is really going on. If you are surprised, don'tthem. Now we are in a bind. Our defense policy
be. Intelligence collection is a tricky business.has been altered whereby we can only fight one
When Richard Nixon was President, you maywar in one country at a time, while fighting a
remember that one of our ships, the USS Puebloholding action in a second country. Prior to the
was brazenly attacked and hijacked in internationalBush Administration holding power, we were
waters in 1968, off the coast of North Korea.postured to fight two simultaneous wars on two
The 82 member crew was taken prisoner andfronts.
tortured over an 11 month period before theirThe bad guys know our new policy and will take
release was negotiated.advantage of us being pinned down in Iraq to
There is such a thing as institutional memory. Theexpand their own power bases. Since we have a
senior members of the military remember thefear of losing pilots or better yet, having a pilot
Pueblo incident well, and it still influences ourshot down, we are not doing the reconnaissance
behavior towards North Korea. As an aside,flights that we would normally do over North
President Nixon gave the order to attack NorthKorea.
Korea in retribution for the Pueblo incident. At theThe best thing to do right now is to realize that if
time the President believed a show of force wasNorth Korea is a problem for the United States, it
absolutely necessary to dissuade the Koreansis a much bigger problem for Japan, China,
from further provocative acts. Nixon's SecretaryPhilippines, and South Korea. This is a regional
of Defense at the time did not carry out theproblem in spite of our alliances, and treaty
Presidential directive. To the end of his life, Nixoninvolvements. Its one thing to build and detonate a
felt the biggest foreign policy error of hisnuclear weapon, it's quite another to have a long
administration was the failure to carry out arange missile delivery system. North Korea could
retaliatory raid against North Korea for the Pueblofairly easily develop a delivery system capable of
capture. The Pueblo incident has emboldened thehitting the countries in its immediate vicinity.
North Koreans ever since.Hitting the United States from a 9,000 mile plus
Both the Clinton and Bush Administrations weredistance is another story, not so easy really. Since
aware of the Pueblo incident and its aftermath,the countries bordering North Korea have the
when attempting to configure a new US policymost to lose, they should be the ones bearing the
towards North Korea's nuclear program. We havebrunt of the responsibility for multi-lateral talks
37,000 American soldiers stationed in South Koreaamong the powers involved.
protecting our alliance and interests with SouthThe real deal is that North Korea is a dictatorship
Korea. There is a phased troop withdrawal fromthat routinely starves its own people for the
the South Korea Peninsula taking place.benefit of the small leadership that has basically
You have to wonder why we are willing toenslaved the country. This leadership wants to
withdraw troops from South Korea during a timeplay the cards that it can. What it now has is
when they wish to pursue a nuclear developmentnuclear weapons. They will use this card to
process. The answer is that this area of themaximize whatever concessions they can from
world is loaded with dynamite, and if it blows up,the United States and the immediate surrounding
you don't want to have 37,000 American troopsneighbors.
sitting in the middle of it. North Korea has one ofAre we going to cave, and make concessions to
the largest stockpiles of artillery weapons of anythe North Koreans? Of course we are, because
army in the world. They are capable of strikingthat's what superpowers do. It's not about
Seoul, South Korea's capital from across theappeasement, it's about business, and what
border.makes good business sense. Churchill said that
It was recently reported that Prince Bandar, the"People have friends, nations have interests".
Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United StatesIt is in our interest to not divert ourselves from
had a private conversation with President Bush. Inthe issue of extricating ourselves from a tortuous
the conversation the Prince told the President thatsituation in Iraq. It is costing us treasure, and
the United States should withdraw US troopsbeginning to eat at the social fabric our country as
from South Korea. Bandar felt it was tooViet Nam did a generation ago. We must put a
dangerous to leave our soldiers in the middle of agood face on Iraq and get out. The President
possible confrontation where our OPTIONS wouldmay not be aware of it, but he is on a short
be limited. As Bandar put it, without troops on theleash in Iraq. The American people are very
border, if there's problem, it's a REGIONALintolerant of wars without objectives that last too
PROBLEM. With troops, you could have thousandslong, and that's precisely where George Bush finds
of American lives at risk, and it becomes a majorhimself. It is highly questionable that his party will
WAR instantly.survive the mid-term elections intact. The country
So what do we do about the North Koreanswill embrace CHANGE, even from a Democratic
announcing the ACTUAL testing of a nuclearparty that is devoid of ideas.
weapon? We have to realize that words have