John Whitehead's Commentary
North Korea: Distinguishing Real Threat from Mere Shadow
"North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens.... States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world."
--President George W. Bush, January 29, 2002
After a year in which the Bush Administration has repeatedly threatened to take preemptive strikes against Iraq for a variety of United Nations violations, including Iraq's refusal to allow U.N. inspection teams into the country and alleged production of biological weapons, the Bush administration's bluff is suddenly being called by an altogether different source.
North Korea, claiming that the U.S. has kept its country under constant threat of military aggression, has pulled out of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. Drafted in 1970, the treaty has been signed by more than 187 nations as a pledge to neither share nor acquire nuclear weapon technology. Prior to exiting the treaty, North Korea had expelled two international nuclear monitors from the country. And it is widely believed that North Korea already possesses two nuclear bombs, with plans to produce several more within the coming months.
With North Korea threatening to "turn the citadel of imperialists into a sea of fire"--an action that could lead to a third world war--the rest of the world waits and watches to see how serious the U.S. really is about countries that produce and possess weapons of mass destruction.
Previously, in his 2002 State of the Union address, President Bush issued his own threat when he identified North Korea, Iran and Iraq, along with their terrorist allies, as "constitut[ing] an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world." Bush has since retreated from what has been termed overzealous language and contented himself with waging a war against Saddam Hussein.
Yet according to data collected by the Federation of American Scientists, Iraq is not alone in its possession and pursuit of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, as well as missile delivery systems. As of 2000, China, India, Iraq, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa and the United States also shared the same status.
In fact, according to CNN news reports, both Pakistan and India have tested nuclear weapons, and Israel is believed to have more than 100 atomic weapons. But the U.S has taken no action against these nations.
For months, leaders of the Arab world have accused the Bush administration of warmongering, of using Iraq as a convenient scapegoat in the war on terrorism, of acting the part of a schoolyard bully and hypocrite. Undoubtedly, these critics will be closely following President Bush's handling of the volatile situation with North Korea.
Thus far, the U.S. has reiterated its commitment to finding a diplomatic solution to the situation with North Korea. So far, however, former Clinton administration ambassador Bill Richardson--now governor of New Mexico--has taken the lead in appeasing the North Koreans.
There is a lot to be said for the old maxim, "Know thy lot, know thine enemies, know thyself." In light of its recent threats, North Korea seems to have appointed itself America's #1 enemy, usurping the place long held by Iraq. And it's clear that North Korea poses a much more formidable threat than Saddam Hussein does.
According to one popular travel guide, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is "a fascinating blend of George Orwell's 1984 and Cold War comic opera." Formed after WWII, when the USSR and U.S. split their occupation of the Korean Peninsula, North Korea quickly fell into a tyrannical, oppressive communist government influenced by Marxist-Leninist philosophies where the concepts of democracy and freedom do not exist. Not surprisingly, this military-minded nation's makeup shows a complex mixture of Soviet strategic and Chinese tactical influences, with China and Russia remaining two of its closest allies.
If North Korea's long-term goals were to be summed up in two words, they would be unification and self-defense. Having made no secret of its intent to unify the Korean Peninsula under its own control, North Korea's main deterrent from achieving that goal through use of military might has been the United States and its backing of South Korea. In keeping with U.S. nuclear doctrine during and after the Cold War, North Korea has come to view acquisition of weapons of mass destruction as a key military strategy in the art of deterrence.
If there is any evil in the president's "axis of evil," it is North Korea. The U.S. continues to pour troops and armaments into the Middle East as it prepares to subdue Saddam Hussein, a mere shadow compared to the North Korean monster. The Bush administration, however, tiptoes lightly around the real adversary that, without trepidation, issues threats against the U.S. Thus, the U.S. is facing a true foreign policy snafu that seems to have the Bush administration somewhat befuddled.
In September 2002, President Bush released to Congress his National Security Strategy. Clearly, Bush sees America's role on the world stage as that of a leader, a protector, a guardian of justice. However, in laying out a blueprint for world peace, Bush seemed to not only be setting the United States up as sole arbiter of that peace but establishing the supremacy of the U.S. military now and forevermore.
It is completely commendable that the president is seeking, as Harvard professor John Lewis Gaddis puts it, "to complete the idealistic task Woodrow Wilson began more than eight decades ago: the world must be made safe for democracy, because otherwise democracy will not be safe in the world." World peace, democracy and national security are worthy objectives for any nation. But it would be foolish, indeed, were the United States to think that we alone should be judge, jury and jailer for the rest of the world. Instead, a more consistent foreign policy, based on a communicative diplomacy, would be more welcomed at the present time.
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. He can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org. Information about the Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.
--President George W. Bush, January 29, 2002
After a year in which the Bush Administration has repeatedly threatened to take preemptive strikes against Iraq for a variety of United Nations violations, including Iraq's refusal to allow U.N. inspection teams into the country and alleged production of biological weapons, the Bush administration's bluff is suddenly being called by an altogether different source.
North Korea, claiming that the U.S. has kept its country under constant threat of military aggression, has pulled out of the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. Drafted in 1970, the treaty has been signed by more than 187 nations as a pledge to neither share nor acquire nuclear weapon technology. Prior to exiting the treaty, North Korea had expelled two international nuclear monitors from the country. And it is widely believed that North Korea already possesses two nuclear bombs, with plans to produce several more within the coming months.
With North Korea threatening to "turn the citadel of imperialists into a sea of fire"--an action that could lead to a third world war--the rest of the world waits and watches to see how serious the U.S. really is about countries that produce and possess weapons of mass destruction.
Previously, in his 2002 State of the Union address, President Bush issued his own threat when he identified North Korea, Iran and Iraq, along with their terrorist allies, as "constitut[ing] an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world." Bush has since retreated from what has been termed overzealous language and contented himself with waging a war against Saddam Hussein.
Yet according to data collected by the Federation of American Scientists, Iraq is not alone in its possession and pursuit of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, as well as missile delivery systems. As of 2000, China, India, Iraq, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa and the United States also shared the same status.
In fact, according to CNN news reports, both Pakistan and India have tested nuclear weapons, and Israel is believed to have more than 100 atomic weapons. But the U.S has taken no action against these nations.
For months, leaders of the Arab world have accused the Bush administration of warmongering, of using Iraq as a convenient scapegoat in the war on terrorism, of acting the part of a schoolyard bully and hypocrite. Undoubtedly, these critics will be closely following President Bush's handling of the volatile situation with North Korea.
Thus far, the U.S. has reiterated its commitment to finding a diplomatic solution to the situation with North Korea. So far, however, former Clinton administration ambassador Bill Richardson--now governor of New Mexico--has taken the lead in appeasing the North Koreans.
There is a lot to be said for the old maxim, "Know thy lot, know thine enemies, know thyself." In light of its recent threats, North Korea seems to have appointed itself America's #1 enemy, usurping the place long held by Iraq. And it's clear that North Korea poses a much more formidable threat than Saddam Hussein does.
According to one popular travel guide, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is "a fascinating blend of George Orwell's 1984 and Cold War comic opera." Formed after WWII, when the USSR and U.S. split their occupation of the Korean Peninsula, North Korea quickly fell into a tyrannical, oppressive communist government influenced by Marxist-Leninist philosophies where the concepts of democracy and freedom do not exist. Not surprisingly, this military-minded nation's makeup shows a complex mixture of Soviet strategic and Chinese tactical influences, with China and Russia remaining two of its closest allies.
If North Korea's long-term goals were to be summed up in two words, they would be unification and self-defense. Having made no secret of its intent to unify the Korean Peninsula under its own control, North Korea's main deterrent from achieving that goal through use of military might has been the United States and its backing of South Korea. In keeping with U.S. nuclear doctrine during and after the Cold War, North Korea has come to view acquisition of weapons of mass destruction as a key military strategy in the art of deterrence.
If there is any evil in the president's "axis of evil," it is North Korea. The U.S. continues to pour troops and armaments into the Middle East as it prepares to subdue Saddam Hussein, a mere shadow compared to the North Korean monster. The Bush administration, however, tiptoes lightly around the real adversary that, without trepidation, issues threats against the U.S. Thus, the U.S. is facing a true foreign policy snafu that seems to have the Bush administration somewhat befuddled.
In September 2002, President Bush released to Congress his National Security Strategy. Clearly, Bush sees America's role on the world stage as that of a leader, a protector, a guardian of justice. However, in laying out a blueprint for world peace, Bush seemed to not only be setting the United States up as sole arbiter of that peace but establishing the supremacy of the U.S. military now and forevermore.
It is completely commendable that the president is seeking, as Harvard professor John Lewis Gaddis puts it, "to complete the idealistic task Woodrow Wilson began more than eight decades ago: the world must be made safe for democracy, because otherwise democracy will not be safe in the world." World peace, democracy and national security are worthy objectives for any nation. But it would be foolish, indeed, were the United States to think that we alone should be judge, jury and jailer for the rest of the world. Instead, a more consistent foreign policy, based on a communicative diplomacy, would be more welcomed at the present time.
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. He can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org. Information about the Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.
ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.
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