Clinton and North Korea
By scantojr Posted in User Blogs — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Madeleine Albright is always talking "5 years". Of course, Albright is talking about the five years since they left office. Therefore, I am very happy that IBD has taken the time to reconstruct the Clinton years and our relationship with North Korea.
History won't be kind to Bill Clinton and I'm not talking about Monica or impeachment. As I said in January 2001, he will be remembered as the president who kicked the can forward hoping that problems would go away. Well, they didn't and we see that all over the world.
What about North Korea? What did Madeleine and her gang do about it? Check out IBD:
"Indeed, a pattern of appeasement and blindness to the growing threats around us by the Clinton administration led us directly to where we are today. So, in light of Albright's comments, this would be a good time for a little review.
- 1993: North Korea threatens to leave the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. After conducting U.N. inspections there for a year and a half, former International Atomic Energy Agency chief Hans Blix warns he can't provide "any meaningful assurances" North Korea isn't making nuclear weapons.
- 1994: Under the "Agreed Framework" negotiated by the Clinton administration with help of ex-President Carter, North Korea agrees to stop building nuclear weapons. In exchange, it gets billions in aid, including food, oil and modern nuclear reactors.
By 2000, according to a congressional report, North Korea would become the "largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid" in Asia. North Korea immediately starts cheating on the deal, acquiring nuclear know-how and material from Pakistan and China.
- 1998: A U.S. government report finds at least 1 million North Koreans have died of starvation as aid is used to kick-start the nuclear weapons program.
- 1998: Clinton's military chief of staff tells Congress North Korea has no active ballistic missile program. A week later, North Korea shoots a Taepodong-1 missile over Japan and toward Alaska.
- 1999: Clinton eases sanctions against North Korea. U.S. signs a $5 billion deal to build two nuclear reactors. North Korea diverts aid to speed WMD program. Mass starvation reportedly continues.
- 2000: Despite continued breaches of the "agreed framework," Albright travels to Pyongyang, where she cheerfully clinks glasses with Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il. Media hail the meeting as a diplomatic masterstroke by Clinton.
- 2002: New York Times headline: "North Korea Says It Has A Program On Nuclear Arms."
That, essentially, brings us to where we are today. North Korea was conditioned in the '90s to believe that no matter how bad its behavior, or how egregious its human rights abuses, it would be rewarded and appeased. Any wonder it's acting as it is now?
Looking at this record, maybe Albright actually had it right. North Korea's acquisition of nuclear weapons and ever-more sophisticated ballistic missiles -- including the Taepodong-2C launched this week -- were indeed the result of five years of failed diplomacy.
It's just that the five failed years lasted from 1994 to 1999." (http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=20&artnum
=1&issue=20060706)
Sorry Madeleine. I don't care how many times you travel to Europe and tell the French that you hate Bush. History is going to issue a very harsh judgment on you and the president that you worked for.