The Progressive

Bush Still in North Korean Fantasy LandBy Matthew Rothschild

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October 10, 2006
The Bush Administration’s North Korea policy has yielded its nuclear fruit.

For years, instead of engaging in serious diplomacy, Bush preferred to bully and to namecall, as when he so diplomatically referred to Kim Jong Il as a pygmy.

When Colin Powell wanted the United States to begin bilateral talks with North Korea, Bush dressed him down.

And Bush refused to agree to a promise not to destroy North Korea, so Kim, long described as erratic and irrational, did the rational thing: He hurried up and got himself a nuclear weapon to try to deter Bush.

North Korea’s test is a highly unwelcome one. But it doesn’t change the basic facts.