Dan

Calabrese

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June 30, 2008

Bush Makes Progress on North Korea; Everyone Complains

Is George W. Bush a reckless cowboy? Or is he a legacy-seeking sellout willing sign off on any deal, even a bad one, that allows him to claim a diplomatic achievement?

The guess here is neither, at least in reality, but the media consensus is either or both.

When President Bush announced on Thursday that North Korea had agreed to offer a declaration concerning its nuclear activities, and further had agreed to destroy its nuclear reactor tower at Yongbyon, it was one of the most carefully worded, qualified announcements Bush has ever made. At no point did he entertain the illusion the declaration was complete or that the North has given up its nuclear program entirely, nor did he intimate in any way that they should be trusted to do so.

He simply said a step is a step, and that the U.S. would keep its fairly inconsequential promises in return. A few North Korean assets are being unfrozen, and North Korea is no longer considered a state supporter of terrorists for the purposes of enforcing the Trading With the Enemy Act. None of this changes the fact that North Korea is still the most economically and politically isolated country in the world.

If, in fact, this is a first step toward an ultimately non-nuclear North Korea, Bush’s achievement is enormously important. The odds are probably still against it, but this is the most concrete achievement the U.S. has had in the effort since North Korean nukes became an issue.

But as you might expect, Bush is catching flack from all sides.

His own former ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, is incensed at what he sees as a bald capitulation to a communist tyrant, with little or nothing expected in return. Bolton may be right that what North Korea gave was nothing compared to what it still needs to give, but the declaration, the tower explosion and the opportunity for U.S. officials to personally verify further steps were not easy to get. Does Bolton, of whom this column is a fan, think it is feasible to get Kim Jong Il to simply destroy all his nukes in a single step without giving him anything at all?

Meanwhile, the mainstream media is crowing over what it claims is some sort of reversal of course from the post-9/11 Axis of Evil talk, and delighting at the clear displeasure of “hard-liners” like Bolton and, if you could believe the New York Times, even Vice President Cheney.

Lost in the obsession over the development’s political ramifications is the possibility that Bush’s aggressive foreign policy, including a willingness to act unilaterally if necessary, might have lit a fire under North Korea. It’s also worth recalling John Kerry’s preposterous suggestion during the 2004 presidential campaign that we should abandon the six-party talks and negotiate directly with Kim Jong Il. Oh, what could have been under President Kerry!

No president’s track record is complete seven-and-a-half years in, and the long-term impacts of Bush’s decisions won’t be known for sure for a very long time. Just as well, it’s impossible to say if last week’s developments in North Korea are anything more than a hopeful step that will ultimately lead nowhere.

But it seems to be a step in the right direction. And it’s worth noting that it occurred in the same month in which Israeli fighters engaged in exercises designed to prepare themselves for a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. In order to carry out such an operation, Israel would need access to Iraqi airspace, which they will have until January 20, 2009, and maybe not beyond.

When Bush took office, the Axis of Evil consisting of Iraq, Iran and North Korea was very real indeed, and every one of the three was dangerously capable of becoming a nuclear power – if not already there. If the long-term effect of Bush policy is that each of the three, each in a different way, is rendered nuclear-free, that’s not a bad performance for the president who supposedly destroyed our alliances and made the world hate us.

The world should be grateful as hell if the United States is responsible for Saddam Hussein, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il not having nuclear weapons – not to mention Mohmmar Khadafy, who saw what we did to Saddam and quickly decided nuclear-free is the way to be.

It’s way too soon to declare victory on any of this. No one says so more stridently than Bush himself. But it’s nice to see that the president intends to finish his job as best he can, even while the chattering classes remain fixated on polls, approval ratings and supposed flip-flops over issues they never understood in the first place.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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