More On Bush and North Korea

A GREAT post at AlterNet about Bush and North Korea:

Second point. You know the drill. Focusing on Iraq, which had no weapons, or operational weapons program, Bush allowed North Korea to develop these nukes. And they did so with the help of Bush's ally, Pakistan. Via former 60 Minutes producer, Barry Lando:

That tunnel vision persisted even after June 2002, when, according to Seymour Hersh, the CIA revealed to President Bush and his key advisors that, since 1997, Pakistan had been "sharing sophisticated technology, warhead design information, and weapons-testing data with North Korea, including how to conceal their nuclear research from the U.S. and South Korea." The Bush administration sat on the CIA report; the White House didn’t want to divert the focus from Saddam Hussein, and Pakistan had become a vital ally in President Bush’s war on terrorism.

Even more damning to the man and the party whose supposed strength is national security, it looks like Bush didn't even attempt to make a nuclear program a no go. Via the WaPo:

Unlike the Clinton administration -- which suggested to North Korea that it would attack if Pyongyang moved to reprocess the plutonium -- the Bush administration never set out "red lines" that North Korea must not cross. Bush administration officials argued that doing so would only tempt North Korea to cross those lines.

[...]from Woodward's State of Denial, via RoxPopuli:


George W. pulled Bandar aside.


"Bandar, I guess you're the best a__hole who knows about the world. Explain to me one thing."


"Governor, what is it?"


"Why should I care about North Korea?"