Kessler: NoKo Test Shows Failure of Bush AdministrationBut of course, only if you buy
his argument:
When Bush became president in 2000, Pyongyang's reactor was frozen under a 1994 agreement with the United States. Clinton administration officials thought they were so close to a deal limiting North Korean missiles that in the days before he left office, Bill Clinton seriously considered making the first visit to Pyongyang by a U.S. president.Well, for starters, Bush did not become president in 2000; he became the president-elect. He was sworn in during January 2001. But more important, the North Koreans were still moving ahead with
their nuclear program.
But North Korea cheated on its 1994 pledges by secretly obtaining uranium enrichment technology. When confronted by the United States, it kicked out the inspectors and abandoned the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Pyongyang has since boasted that it has reprocessed all 8,000 spent fuel rods; its erstwhile supplier A.Q. Khan now claims to have seen North Korean nuclear weapons.Our buddy the
Real Ugly American points out that this story has driven Mark Foley off the front page.
