U.S. takes North Korea off terror list.
U.S. takes North Korea off terror list.
North Korea has agreed to U.S. demands for nuclear inspection of its facilities, and in response, the Bush administration has agreed to take the country off its terrorism blacklist. The move was immediately criticized by conservatives, who were concerned about the effect it would have on Iran. “We are also sending a strong message to other rogue nations, such as Iran and Syria, that we will not hold them to their commitments, even as we give in to their demands,” said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has moved to the right of the Bush administration, yesterday blasting the anticipated announcement as, essentially, “appeasement.” As recently as July, the White House said that it still considered North Korea a member of the axis of evil.
It's interesting who was absent from the presentation this morning. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was not there. Chris Hill, who negotiated the deal was not there. The President did not make this announcement. It was a quiet announcement called at the State Department today, on a Saturday. So that tells you a lot about how nervous the administration is about this deal.
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Did they replace it with the Bush run United States?
October 11th, 2008 at 12:15 pmAs recently as July, the White House said that it still considered North Korea a member of the axis of evil.
Takes one to know one...
October 11th, 2008 at 12:17 pmLower the bar and declare victory!
October 11th, 2008 at 12:19 pmHow exactly has NK been involved in terrorism?
I'll wait for an answer....
October 11th, 2008 at 12:23 pmnext thing you know Sarah Mascara will be out suggesting that Obama should replace No Korea.
This whole "Axis of Evil" branding has always made me laugh. Sounds like a superhero cartoon from the 1970's or a pro wrestling tag team or something. SOMEONE CALL AQUAMAN!
October 11th, 2008 at 12:25 pmN.Korea probably is no longer useful to Bush.
October 11th, 2008 at 12:25 pmHe has less than three months left in his presidency. Whether N.Korea on the list or not...it makes no difference to Bush.
Dr. Hussein Matt Says:
How exactly has NK been involved in terrorism?
I’ll wait for an answer….
Kim's haircut is pretty scary-looking - does that count?
October 11th, 2008 at 12:25 pmDr. Hussein Matt says:
" How exactly has NK been involved in terrorism"
------------------------------
North Korean President Kim Jong is known to love movies sepcially Western movies.
He was also involved in movies productions.
May be he tried to make a scary Halloween movie:
October 11th, 2008 at 12:43 pm'Nights of Axis of Evil'...
I thought I saw a news report last week that NK was starting
October 11th, 2008 at 12:46 pmup the program again?
Well I guess it was a few wees ago:
October 11th, 2008 at 12:52 pm"North Korea expels UN nuclear inspectors"
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/09/24/nkorea-nuclear.html
WTF?
Uh, did I miss something.?....Oh I get it, our major FU is about to leave office...Maybe before assclown leave's he plan's to exchange nuclear(sp) weapon's with N.K......Do they have Mango's or bananas.?....Damn, I will be so glad to get "That one"..In office...Go cheney yourself mccrazy...Blessings
October 11th, 2008 at 1:00 pmHi lurker. The Bush admn got a deal with NK earlier this year and agreed to take NK off terrorist list for shutting down their reactor. They shut down the reactor but we didn't take them off the list, they got pissed and decided to restart. Now we take them off list and they don't restart.
October 11th, 2008 at 1:05 pmHello onoclea, but didn't he anounce back in June?
"Bush administration lifts North Korea sanctions"
Defense Secretary Robert Gates chimed in. "The reality is that there are so many other sanctions on North Korea because of its other behaviors that there's really no practical effect of taking them off the terrorist list," Gates said.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/26/america/US-NKorea-Optional.php
October 11th, 2008 at 1:14 pmIf they hadn't been so hard-arsed in the first place about this, progress might have been much farther along!
October 11th, 2008 at 1:24 pmI've read there's no practical effect as well lurker. Yet NK apparently thinks it's important. Who knows.
October 11th, 2008 at 1:52 pmReich-wingers on Faux are already calling for civil war when Obama wins:
October 11th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
"... So that tells you a lot about how nervous the administration is about this deal."
so, what is up?
and, what about ol' kim? has his existance been established lately?
sumpins up.
October 11th, 2008 at 4:02 pmdamn, dr. matt... no surprise though...
who's gonna, and HOW, make the idjits understand the facts?
i really don't undertand what it takes to attain such a mind set...
very worrisome...
October 11th, 2008 at 4:07 pmNorth Korea had already complied with everything the administration said they needed to do to get off the terror list and Washington reneged.
The idea that "The Axis of Evil" is a discrete entity would be laughable if our nuclear posture weren't so TRULY EVIL.
IMO, Bush is just using Korea as a PR yo-yo to keep the fear factor up. If the sky isn't falling, they're doing something wrong.
October 11th, 2008 at 4:30 pmNorth Korea does have a long and ugly tradition of terrorism: one of the biggest was the bombng of the Martyr's Mausoleum in Yangôn--otherwise known as Rangoon, in Burma/Myanmar, as an attempt to kill South Korean president Chun Doo Hwan in 1983.
But it's incredible: Saddam Hussein had a crippled military, no air force, no nuclear capability--HIM we had to rise up and destroy. But North Korea, who actually had missiles that could reach US soil and actual bomnbs--Well, him we sit down at a multination peace conference with and bribe and sweet talk him, and now take this brutal dictator off the terrorism list so he'll pretty please be nice?
How on EARTH does this square with our policy towards Iraq, the Bush doctrine, or anything else? Bush and his legion of warbloggers say stand up to terrorism! destroy them! Ya gotta be tough! Stand up to the enemies of Freedom! Democrats are wusses if they even offer to talk with terrorists! Never! When you pry it from my stiff, cold fingers!
But none of that seems to apply to North Korea.
How insane is this? Every single one of their hairy-chested WWWF-based principles for the Global War on Terror is completely ignored, and they deal with this member of the Axis of Evil as if the State Department were being run by Warren Christopher on ambien, and it doesn't even bother these yahoos.
Was the Bush Administration hoping no one would notice?
Back when they had a deathgrip on the MSM, yes, it actually seemed to work. But now?
Hey, wingnuts, here's the syllogism:
If the Bush Administration's treatment of Saddam Hussein was a good and proper use of American power, then their treatment of Kim Jong Il is weak, humiliating, and treasonous.
If the Bush Administration's treatment of Kim Jong Il was good and roper policy, then their treatmen of Saddam Hussein is vicious, lunatic, and hysterically counterproductive.
Why is there this movement-wide blind spot on North Korea on the Right? Did Sun Myung Moon put secret hypnotic fairy dust on copies of the Washington Times? Do they think Team America World Police have taken care of it?
It really mystifies me.
October 11th, 2008 at 4:34 pmpbg, North Korea's nuclear arsenal (and I'm using the term "nuclear arsenal" very loosely here) is not a threat against our 10,000+ strategic nuclear warheads, long-range missiles with MIRVs, etc. North Korea could be forever destroyed by our tactical nukes. But that isn't necessary. I don't think it is ever necessary to use a nuclear weapon.
North Korea is poor. Negotiating with food and a little fuel will suffice. When you label someone EVIL, what kind of reaction do you expect? Negotiations with Korea had gone just fine, until Bush stepped in and opened his big, fat, shit-talking yap.
And 1983 was a long time ago. Wasn't the U.S. running death squads in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala then?
What mystifies me is how America manages to have so many catastrophically, life-threatening ENEMIES. I hope we live beyond this age of Paranoid Politics qua the neo-con imagination qua broken record.
October 11th, 2008 at 5:00 pmWiley, anything you say about Kim Jong Il could also be said about Saddam hussein.
And 10,000+ nuclear arms are not a defensse against anything--especially since nuclear retaliation against North Korea would destroy South Korea.
Just to be clear, I think that negotiation is in fact the proper way to deal with a rogue state like North Korea, along with regional alliance building and all that other stuff.
It's just that the Bush Administration, the Republican Party, John McCain and Sarah Palin, and the Mighty Wurlitzer all act as if none of this is going on, that negotiating with terrorists is evidence of treason an and horrifying defeatism, and on and on. But their big toughness edifice is just a stage set with only one wall. Al the stuff they vilify Bsrack Obama for even suggesting, they're doing with North Korea.
I don't want them to become more consistent by invading or bombing North Korea, and I realize that that could be the way my post was taken. But we've had seven years of them posturing and bellowing (and killing) and nobody has pointed out that they're doing exactly what they decry in others, and nobody on the right even seems to notice, let alone be bothered by it.
October 11th, 2008 at 6:00 pmWhat I find disturbing about the terrorism watch list is that countries appear to be put on it for political reasons which have nothing to do with whether they support terrorism or not. For example, North Korea appears to be on the list because they would not allow UN inspectors to see their nuclear facilities. They are on the list for a reason unrelated to their support (or lack of support) for terrorism and they are removed from the list for a reason similarly unrelated.
October 11th, 2008 at 6:13 pmSaddam Hussein wasn't a threat to anyone outside his nation either.
Sorry. Just not gonna buy this us against the cold, cruel, violent extremist world meme.
October 11th, 2008 at 7:54 pmAh, so who is the terrorist-appeasing, white-flag-of-surrender-waving, cheese-eating, war-on-terror-losing, surrender monkey now?
Bush bootlickers out there (I know you are lurking), do you care to give us your perspective?
On second thought, never mind -I don't really have use for what any of you mouthbreathers think.
October 12th, 2008 at 1:55 am