NYT op/ed blames Bush for dangerous N Korean nuke situation and more

[Nothing Without Hope]

Kristof does not pull punches as he lays out a devastating argument that if Bush had listened to Powell from the first, “then this mess could probably have been averted.” It’s the triumph of anti-statecraft, the devasting result of the overwhelming influence of the ideology-based neocon worldview. And the consequences range far beyond the situation in North Korea.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/26/opinion/26kristof.html?th&emc=th
OP-ED COLUMNIST

N. Korea, 6, and Bush, 0

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: April 26, 2005

(snip)

The single greatest failure of the Bush administration's foreign policy concerns North Korea. Mr. Bush's policies toward North Korea have backfired and led the North to churn out nuclear weapons, and they have also antagonized our allies and diminished America's stature in Asia.

The upshot is that there's a significantly greater risk of another Korean War, a greater likelihood that other Asian countries, like Japan, will eventually go nuclear as well, and a greater risk that terrorists will acquire plutonium or uranium.

In fairness, all this is more Kim Jong Il's fault than Mr. Bush's. Right now some administration officials are glaring at this page and muttering expletives about smarty-pants journalists who don't appreciate how wretched all the options are.

But if the Bush administration had just adopted the policies that Colin Powell initially pushed for - and that Mr. Bush largely came to accept several years later - then this mess could probably have been averted.

(snip)

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. I think that the perspectives are still not quite there

Bush doesn't care. Period. All these people want is their money, now. The effects of their actions will most likely not effect them at all.

[Nothing Without Hope]

2. Not only does Bush not care, he's CLUELESS and easiily influenced

Still, good to see blame put on the administration - got to get them out of office

[AndyTiedye]

4. Boosh** DOESN'T Care. NK's Nukes Can Only Hit As Far as the West Coast

If they get missiles that can hit Texas, then he'll care.
As long as they can ony nuke blue states, that's fine with **.

[Nothing Without Hope]

5. I really don't think he comprehends any of this. He's a figurehead

played by the neocons.

[AndyTiedye]

9. The Neocons Behind ** Are Even Worse

"advanced forms of biological warfare that can "target" specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool.
p.60 Rebuiliding America's Defenses, PNAC 2000

These people could turn out to be a lot worse than the Nazis.
Fortunately for the rest of the world, they're also
worse than the Nazis at running a war.

[indepat]

3. Only the greatest single failure of many massive failures for everything

is done for highly flawed partisan political or ideological reasons sorely at odds with everything this country should stand for.

[kodi]

6. bushevik ideology precluded following any policy of clinton's

that's it in a nutshell. anything clinton did was to be opposed on the principle that whatever clinton did was wrong.

this inability to discriminate fact from political rhetoric is probably the worst disease a president could gave, and bush's infection may doom us all.

for his failures with north korea alone he should be removed from office by impeachment, convicted, tried for treason and forced to spend the rest of his miserable life in a jail cell.

[Nothing Without Hope]

7. kick - worth a read n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

8. one last kick n/t