Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Blah...Blah...Blah...

Time To Test Our Seriousness?

"Every once in a while, a member of the combative, snippy White House press corps will ask a combative, snippy question that also happens to be wholly appropriate.

This happened Tuesday, when NBC's David Gregory juxtaposed two events on history's timeline:

* 2002: President Bush says we cannot tolerate North Korea as a nuclear power.
* 2006: North Korea is a nuclear power.

His question: What went wrong?

The usually facile spokesman Tony Snow did his best to unwrap a multi-layered reply involving how it is really North Korea that has miscalculated if it expects a continuation of concessions it has received after past saber rattling.

That's handy, but this week's bomb test is more than saber rattling. Even if it's largely a dud, the concept of a nuclear test by a communist dictator cannot be glibly sidestepped with diplomatic spin.

I would have preferred an answer that addresses the realities both of North Korea's threat and our stark options in reply.

Yes, North Korea has reached the threshold of the nuclear club against our objections. However, this never meant that it would never try to thwart global will. Local police do not "tolerate" crime, nor do they suggest that they can eliminate it.

For America, zero tolerance of North Korean nukes means undertaking exactly the path we are on – making clear that we expect the United Nations to pass meaningful sanctions with teeth.

This could mean an economic blockade. It could mean forcing Pyongyang to submit to inspections. Since countries can endure sanctions for long periods and inspections can be reduced to a silly shell game, we had best be ready with a plan should Kim Jong Il remain unyielding..."

Yawn. Condi says we will not attack North Korea. Lil Kimmy breathes a sigh of relief and raises the rhetoric bar. Pundits across the world have a go at what our response should be. Democrats have no plans...do they ever?... but point a finger towards the past and say, well, the Norks were cool as long as we were paying them, so why did we stop...

And the beat goes on. We won't do a damned thing except push the UN to sanction North Korea, because at this point in time they do not have a viable nuclear device, and no means of delivering this non-viable nuclear device. In other words, while the pundits foam at the mouth, the President looks for non-aggressive ways to keep Lil Kimmy under wraps. From the moment he appointed Rice, it was clear that there were no more wars in our immediate future. Condolezza is a placater, not a wartime councellor.

Bush goes out with a whimper. Case closed.

No comments: