Oct 19 2006
Bush Puts North Korea On Notice
People forget the one reason North Korea wants nukes: money. Yeah, they like to yank the chain of the UN and see how impotent the UN is. It is a reality check to make sure the acts they are about to take won’t backfire. You do what you want, tell the world, and watch the UN try and scold you. If they do their usual handwringing in committees you go to the next step. It also has the benefit of ‘easing’ the UN into accepting their fate.
NK and Iran are both playing this game. But the real issue is letting the nukes out of the bag and into the hands of terrorists. NK needs money – they are a poor, backward nation in general. And this is why the sanctions are actually a risky approach (verses a military strike). The more hungry NK gets, the more they will consider selling their wares. So Bush stepped up and gave NK a clear warning (probably because they detected something forming) that any attempt to sell the nuclear know-how or material will be stopped – period:
President Bush said Wednesday the United States would stop North Korea from transferring nuclear weapons to Iran or al-Qaida and that the communist regime would then face “a grave consequence.”
Bush refused to spell out how the United States would retaliate. “They’d be held to account,” the president said in an ABC News interview.
In light of North Korea’s Oct. 9 test detonation of a nuclear bomb, Bush warned that any transfer of nuclear material elsewhere in the world by the North would be considered a grave threat to the security of the United States. He previously used “grave threat” in relation to Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, whose government was toppled in the U.S.-led war in 2003.
If nuclear material is leaving NK, there will be no UN resolution. There will be no time. President Bush is not going to let politics and the election stay his hand if he sees something this dangerous. The US media (and their counterparts in the EU) have been playing a dangerous game in their liberal misrepresentations of America and Bush. They have stoked the idea Bush is an idiot and political pressure can be used to make him change his mind. It is this kind of misrepresentation that led Saddam to think Bush I wouldn’t do anything. It is this same misinformation that led Al Qaeda to assume we would not react like we did to 9-11. The ‘harmlessness’ of the media’s bias is disappearing as they imply to insane dictators an incorrect view of America, which leads the leaders to make bad decisions. NK and Iran think they can play America the way they play the UN. They think we are constrained by bureaucratic process and procedure and cannot react quickly and with force. That is because in the liberal view of the world it would be wrong. But the liberal view is not reality. And Bush is now attempting to do what is necessary to warn NK not to listen to CNN and listen up.
Critical to this effort will be the response from the Dems. I am afraid to check, but their kneejerk BDS might cause them to disagree with Bush, and therefore diminish and fog-up his message. This is why politics needs to stop at our shores and the Dems have been playing a dangerous game with their dissention. It is not patriotic to convince our enemies to attack us. And that is what this dissention is doing. People can do the wrong thing for seemingly good reasons – especially when they are so desparate to get power so the can do their ‘save the world from itself’ fantasy.
Update: This is not the best of news. A NK General is now predicting war with the US is inevitable. Just realize the US will warn of NK as much as possible if we see something coming. We will do it first quietly through back door diplomatic channels, so as to give the NK leaders an opportunity to save face. Then we will do it openly. If we did it quietly and got a sharp rebuke, then a public rebuke would make some sense. I am not saying this is happening. But let’s look at what was said (and give a suggestion to the ratings starved media):
If President Bush continues to ask North Korea to “kneel,” war “will be inevitable,” and it would begin on the Korean Peninsula, North Korean Gen. Ri Chan Bok told “Good Morning America” anchor Diane Sawyer, in an exclusive interview inside North Korea. [AJStrata: A clear counterthreat and escalation move]
…
In the interview, Sawyer read Ri the president’s statement warning of grave consequences for North Korea should the nation continue nuclear testing or transfer nuclear technologies to third-party countries.
She asked whether the general had a reaction.
Ri told Sawyer that he didn’t tend to believe what Bush said.
“Can the general guarantee or reassure the American people that this nuclear information will not be passed to terrorists?” Sawyer asked.
“We have nuclear weapons to defend our country and our people,” he said.
The general said he could guarantee that these weapons were to defend North Korea and not to earn money or be sent to third parties. He added that North Korea did not have a relationship with terrorist organizations.
And no doubt, International Expert Sawyer believed the general when he said NK did not want the money! Right. NK has been caught many times lying, and now all of a sudden they are to be believed? They signed agreements with the Clinton administration which Kerry and others now admit we knew in 1997 they had cheated on (but of course Clinton was defending himself from impeachment and could do nothing – a lesson to both sides about that mess). The idea of having to ‘kneel’ means NK may have been caught doing something. I would suggest to the media they stop being pawns for the NK. For once don’t fall for the idea they media has a role in this very tense situation. They do not and it is best the amatuers sit quietly behind their anchor desks.
Well said! (although the update is a bit scary) I just discovered you blog a week or so ago and it has swiftly become one of my favorite stops on the web each day.
Thanks Keith, and welcome!
The general said he could guarantee that these weapons were to defend North Korea and not to earn money or be sent to third parties. He added that North Korea did not have a relationship with terrorist organizations.
Was Diane Sawyer able to keep a straight face? What a JOKE!!
Your last three sentences form sage advice that will, as you know, go unheeded. I believe the media will make this difficult situation worse. We all know that is what they do. To them truth is when you say what they want to be the truth. My concern is not the media but the people who are still influenced by them, mainly our military leaders. For a long time we have not used the full might of our forces out of what I believe to be the mentality of “I would rather be loved than fearedâ€. We know the “Hearst and Minds†campaign in Vietnam and we know, from Desert Storm, that when military leaders saw the pictures of the “Highway of Death†back to Baghdad they gave up. We know the fight in Iraq is worse than it should be and we saw the Israelis hold back as the media coverage intensified. If North Korea forces this response from us we need to get that fight over with very quickly and not allow external fighters in. The South Koreans and Japanese will have to play a big role. If we have to linger with a big military presence there, Iran will move very quickly to increase their provocation.
Not that it will ever happen, BUT:
We should cordon off North Korea with a naval blockade- only allow non-military goods through after an inspection process that takes a couple of weeks per ship.
We should start giving China an incentive to play ball with a stiff tariff on Chinese goods coming in this country, increasing by, say 5% per month each month that China fails to persuade North Korea to halt its nuclear program.
Begin consultations with Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan regarding anti-missle defense and nuclear offense.
Iran is watching right now to how “serious” we are. I think that they’ll be delighted to find that the answer is “not very.”
The interesting thing about this post to me is that Diane Sawyer went to North Korea to interview this general. I would like to know when the media started going to our enemy countries and getting their side of the story. What are they trying to accomplish except to cloud the issues and make the world think our government is weak and will do nothingto protect us. I am so sick of the anti Americanism that is going on in this country. This is a time of extreme danger and the liberals are playing games.
Why wouldn’t she go to NK when the acts of TREASON by our leaders like Kerry, Carter and Rockefeller are now well established without consequence???
AJ,
When Pakistan and India first conducted nuclear tests, I believe they were unannounced. But NC is pre-informing China and then we are pre-informed. Proof that Bush’s multi-party talks are of some value.
You are right to note that our MSM is a poor information source for foreign leaders. They would do well to take Bush at his word.
NC should read NK
Sorry
Strata:
The US media has portrayed Bush as an intransigent escapist
from reality, not as malleable.
Saddam believed Bush would do nothing? Why had he planned out
much of the Baathist sector of the insurgency?
al Qaeda was not expecting our reaction to 9/11? No, it
wanted to draw us into the Mideast and fight us in a draining,
polarizing guerrilla war , gaining them more recruits.
Ken,
The media has portrayed Bush as dim- witted which probably does give false confidence to our enemies.
Based on our recent history, al Qaeda was surprised at Bush’s strong response to 911. And they didn’t expect our expeditious toppling of the Taliban and the Afghans quick embrace of self government. And if you think no one was surprised, ask Kadhafi.
There is a real history, and it is not what the Left or the Neo-fascists wish it were.
Macker
“Afghans quick embrace of self-government.” Not so much.
Warlords control most of the country which the Taliban does not.
Women have about 5% more rights than they did under the
Taliban and the poppy crops are blooming. Did I mention the
Taliban? They are resurgent and control swaths of Afghanistan.
They are demanding release of al Qaeda prisoners. Real history
is far from the neocon vision of a democratised Afghanistan.
I’ll give you a tottering 5% increase since 9/11, but that’s
like being a little bit pregnant.
Ken,
Exaggeration is always rooted in truth . You exaggerate the Taliban’s influence. And tribes are a part of their culture. But never let it be said that Ken is “multi cultural.” Citizens ignore the danger to vote. Girls now go to school. I suggest the 5% is a made up number and way off the mark.
Read somewhere today that our fleet in Japan has left for NK waters, and Japanese fishermen have been advised to leave.
Just saying: )
Saddam read the newspapers and thought we would not invade his country because we were too weak, so he continually played games with the UN. He found out differently.
Iran reads the newspapers and thinks we are weak and will not invade their country even though nukes are a danger to us. They are still playing games.
North Korea reads the newspapers and thinks we are weak and will not invade their country even though nukes are a danger to us. They are still playing games.
And there you have it, my friends. The axis of evil proclaimed by George Bush. Can he call them or what? This just shows that he knew what he was talking about when he called them this.