Tuesday, July 15, 2003

The flap over yellowcake makes the bigtime Even though George Tenet, CIA Director, stepped up to take the bullet and the President says he considers the matter closed the controversy is gaining momentum. Why won't it go away?  Time says "... the controversy over those 16 words would not have erupted with such force were they not emblematic of larger concerns about Bush's reasoning for going to war in the first place." 2:31:59 PM    comment []

'A pattern of dishonesty and delusion' Nicholas Kristof has more to say about the Administration's use of the false information about Iraq's attempts to buy nuclear material in Niger. He says: "What troubles me is not that single episode, but the broader pattern of dishonesty and delusion that helped get us into the Iraq mess — and that created the false expectations undermining our occupation today." Read his full commentary.   9:26:41 AM    comment []

While we agonize over Iraq is war with N. Korea looming? Former US Secretary of Defense, William Perry, thinks so according a to report from the BBC.  The Washington Post has a more complete account of the interview with william Perry.  'The immediate cause of concern, Perry said, is that North Korea appears to have begun reprocessing the spent fuel rods. "I have thought for some months that if the North Koreans moved toward processing, then we are on a path toward war," he said. ' The NY Times reports that while N. Korea claims it has made nuclear material for atomic weapons,  US intelligence can't confirm it. But we don't  believe what anybody says I guess and so we have the opposite problem from the case of Iraq.  The Times article quotes one US government official. "It's the mirror image of the Iraq problem," one official said. "We spent years looking for evidence Iraq was lying when it said it didn't have a nuclear program. Now North Korea says it's about to go nuclear, and everyone is trying to figure out whether they've finally done it, or if it's the big lie." Perry doesn't believe that we have any policy toward N. Korea and the the administration, assertions to the contrary, is adrift. If Perry is close to correct then we have some serious problems ahead. The United States will have to decide whether to accept N. Korea as a nuclear power or undertake a pre-emptive military strike. Saddam Hussein, in comparison, may turn out to be a minor threat when compared to Kim Jong Il. 7:35:36 AM    comment []