FCNNEWSSOURCE
(FinalCall.com) – One has weapons of mass destruction and is moving toward producing more. The other has no such weapons–at least none that have been proven–and is under very tight world scrutiny to make sure it does not develop the capacity to do so.
The one that has weapons of mass destruction, North Korea, is expelling from the country UN weapons monitors who are there to track weapons production activities. North Korea feels threatened by the unilateral approach of the world’s super cop, the United States, which has tightened its economic grip on that nation since President Bush labeled it part of the three-nation “axis of evil.”
Iraq, another “member” of Mr. Bush’s “axis of evil,” has accused the U.S. of using the weapons inspectors as spies. The Bush administration says these three nations threaten the stability of the world.
Nevertheless, Iraq has accommodated a UN resolution allowing weapons inspectors back into its borders to search anywhere they wish for weapons of mass destruction, including presidential palaces. This country has cooperated with U.S./UN demands to hand over the names of scientists who have worked with its weapons programs. Iraq, though it despises the policies of the world’s super cop, has been so cooperative with U.S. demands that it has stopped the Bush administration in its tracks from finding a reason to unleash U.S. military weapons of mass destruction on Iraq’s 24 million inhabitants.
While war is planned for Iraq, the U.S. is now pushing for economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea. South Korea wants China and Russia, longtime allies of North Korea, to help defuse the situation through talking. Secretary of State Colin Powell, while quibbling about no face to face meetings, stressed Dec. 29 on Sunday TV talk shows that the U.S. was “looking for ways to communicate with North Korea.”
The hypocrisy of U.S. foreign policy in this scenario is that the Bush administration is prepared to use diplomacy to resolve a presumed threat in one instance, while it is prepared to launch a massive attack on the same perceived threat in another instance.
Tens of thousands of U.S. and British troops are amassing on the borders of Iraq. President Bush is biting at the bit for an excuse to launch a massive attack in order to kill Saddam Hussein and allow for regime change.
There is no such build up on the border of North Korea, which is taking its position because of aggressive Bush administration language and actions as a result of naming North Korea part of the “axis of evil.” This aggressive language from the U.S. has put North Korea on notice that it might be next on the U.S. “hit list” and is subject to a pre-emptive U.S. attack.
Before North Korea raised its head and challenged U.S. imperialism, the Bush administration said it was willing to go it alone and sacrifice the lives of untold numbers of American soldiers to gain control of Iraq.
Initially, Bush defied world opinion, saying he would launch an attack whenever he is ready. Fortunately, cooler heads in the administration prevailed and got the UN involved.
Why isn’t the President threatening any nation that has weapons of mass destruction? Why is Mr. Bush approaching Iraq and North Korea differently?
When we find the answer to the last question we’ll know what forces are controlling U.S. foreign policy and in whose interest we’re willing to go to war for, in one instance, and willing to use diplomacy in another.
