Twins From Different Mothers

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Twins From Different Mothers
by James Hall, Senior Associate Editor

Januay 9, 2003

"Leaning Left"

James Hall They are so alike that George W. Bush called them "an Axis of Evil." Yet they couldn't have been treated more differently by his administration. North Korea has already accomplished the things that Iraq has been accused to wanting to do, but the US strategy for dealing with a recalcitrant North Korea is apply diplomacy, while US strategy towards Iraq threatens --- no, promises --- war. And this all leads us once again to question George W. Bush's real motives for pursuing that war.

The arguments used against Iraq's Saddam apply equally to North Korea's Kim Jong Il. Iraq has attacked and threatened to attack its neighbors; North Korea has attacked and threatened its neighbors, too. Iraq has developed weapons of mass destruction; North Korea proudly admits having them and wanting more. Iraq gasses its people; North Korea starves its population. Iraq signed a peace treaty that it has not completely complied with; North Korea is still technically at war with the UN and recently violated once again the provisions of a long-standing truce.

The reality is that North Korea is everything Iraq wants to be. It boasts of creating nuclear weapons, while Iraq denies trying to create them. While Iraq has admitted UN inspectors, North Korea has kicked out inspectors monitoring its nuclear program. Iraq has only been accused of exporting weapons technology, while North Korea has been caught doing it. Since the Korean war truce was signed, North Korea has committed more than 1500 incursions into South Korea, resulting in the deaths of 90 Americans.

Bush apologists would have us believe that North Korea's ownership of one or two untested nuclear devices puts them in a different category now. We attack Iraq, they say, so Saddam Hussein's Iraq won't become another North Korea. But what this policy actually does is to set a clear bar for US opponents: If you're weak, count on a policy that includes the use of military force against you; but if you're strong enough, count on a policy that stops short of that force.

And if weaker Iraq is a danger to our nation, isn't a nuclear-armed, technology-exporting North Korea a greater danger? What conclusions will "rogue" nations like Libya, Syria, and Iran draw from this new refinement of the Bush Doctrine? I know the lesson I'd draw: better build a stronger army and a nuclear bomb, and build them fast. ***

James Hall
Orlando, Florida, USA

Photo of the author courtesy of staff files