North Korea Blame Game
Oct 12, 2006
The Republican blame game is now in full swing.
Instead of viewing North Korea’s recent nuclear test as an opportunity to revamp its approach to North Korea and jumpstart diplomatic efforts, President Bush and other Republicans have seized the moment to point the finger at former President Clinton.
At his press conference on Tuesday, President Bush blamed Bill Clinton. Arizona Senator John McCain said that North Korea’s actions are the Democrats’ fault.
The reality is thatthe Bush Administration’s policy towards North Korea has been an absolute failure. Even if one accepts that the Clinton Administration had mixed success on North Korea, the Bush Administration has had almost six years to get it right and instead has made it worse.
Since President George W. Bush took office in 2001, the threat of North Korea’s nuclear weapon program has increased significantly for the United States and US allies in the Northeast Asian region.
If you have already signed the petition, please tell your friends to also sign the petition.
Council for a Livable World hopes tocollect 5,000 signatures by the end of the week.In the past 24 hours, we’ve already collected almost 2,000 signatures but we still need your help in order to achieve our goal.
The Bush Administration has spent six years focusing on the seating arrangement for negotiations rather than seriously tackling the urgent problem. It has wasted important opportunities by first refusing to talk to North Korea directly and then complicating negotiations by adding unrealistic conditions.
The result has been an acceleration of North Korea’s program in comparison to Clinton-era efforts that significantly delayed North Korea’s program by stopping the production of plutonium.
As proposed by Center for International Policy director Selig Harrison, “To advance U.S. security interests, the United States should agree to bilateral negotiations. It should press North Korea to suspend further nuclear and missile tests while negotiations on normalization proceed, freeze plutonium production, and make a firm, timebound commitment to return to the six-party talks.” (Washington Post, 10/10)
If you have already signed the petition, please tell your friends to also sign the petition.
With your help, we can send a message to the White House: Strong international sanctions are needed in response to North Korea’s nuclear test, but so is strong diplomacy.
Sincerely,
John Isaacs Guy Stevens
