Posted on 2/20/2007, 2:30:28 AM by NotchJohnson
Watching George W. Bush struggle with foreign policy is like watching a rerun of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” You never know which personality, the good guy or the bad guy, is going to prevail.
The problem is, neither does he. Like the protagonist in Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic clash of dual personalities, George Bush is capable of doing both good and evil, often at the same time. Look at the contrast between Iraq, Iran and North Korea.
From the beginning, Bush’s policy in Iraq was pure Mr. Hyde: Bomb first, ask questions later. No time for diplomacy. No time for U.N. inspectors to finish their job. No time to discover the truth about WMD or Saddam Hussein’s connection to Osama bin Laden and Sept. 11 (none). Bush insisted we had to hurry up and invade Iraq in order to teach other unfriendly regimes in the Arab world a lesson.
Unfortunately, Mr. Bush-Hyde is also calling the shots in Iran. Ignoring the advice of the Iraq Study Group to engage in direct talks with Iran, the president’s already beating the Iranian war drums. “I’m going to do something about it,” he ominously warned at his latest news conference. It’s the Iraq war game all over again: no diplomacy; “evidence” of weapons of mass destruction; painting the country’s leader as a tyrant and nut case; warnings of threats to the United States. How soon before the bombs start falling?
Meanwhile, Dr. Jekyll rules in North Korea. Dealing with the one “axis of evil” nation that already has nuclear weapons, President Bush suddenly did a 180. He stopped making threats against North Korea, sought the help of allies in defusing a potential crisis, and – to the dismay of Dick Cheney and other hardliners inside the administration — authorized the resumption of six-power talks with the Pyongyang regime.
Yes, in North Korea, the Bush administration actually tried diplomacy. And, guess what? Diplomacy worked! Under the recently negotiated pact, North Korea agreed to freeze its production of plutonium at its five-megawatt nuclear facility in Yongbyon, and to allow international inspectors back into the country to monitor and verify its compliance with the freeze order. In return, the United States, China, South Korea and Russia agreed to provide North Korea with badly needed food and heavy fuel oil. The United States further agreed to begin the process of removing North Korea from its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism and lifting financial sanctions against the country.
The agreement is not without its flaws. For one thing, the most difficult challenge still lies ahead of us: convincing North Korea to destroy the arsenal of nuclear warheads it has already manufactured. For another, in some ways, the newly negotiated pact is too little, too late. It’s almost identical to the agreement reached with the North Korean government by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in the final days of the Clinton administration but rejected as “too soft” by newly elected President Bush. Had the agreement been adopted five years ago, North Korea might never have developed any nuclear weapons at all.
So the pact reached with North Korea is not perfect. But it’s better than another war. And it underscores both the promise and the efficacy of diplomacy over precipitous military action.
Nor is this the only diplomatic success the Bush administration can take credit for. In many ways, negotiations with North Korea were the mirror image of discussions with Libya. No matter how often Bush and Cheney insist that Libya suddenly agreed to abandon its own nuclear production program when Muammar al-Gaddafi saw what we did to Saddam Hussein, that’s not how it happened. Negotiations with Libya actually began in the 1990s, under Bill Clinton. Even though Gaddafi was as unpredictable and undesirable a leader as Kim Jung Il, an agreement with Libya was only possible once the United States convinced Gaddafi that our goal was policy change, not regime change. The same patience and purpose worked in North Korea.
Now surely there’s a lesson here as clear as any fable of Aesop. The failure to try diplomacy first proved to be a disaster in Iraq. Yet diplomacy worked both in Libya and North Korea.
Let the talks with Iran begin!
Figures this girl Bill Press would enjoy appeasement.
This Press guy obviously hasn't been outside in years, or someone cooked his meds.
Once a sucker, always a sucker.
I didn't have to read past the words "Bill Press".
Unfortunately, I did anyway.
It's always a gimmick built on a false fallacy with Bill Press.
This time the "sucesss" with North Korea.
That remains to be seen and then some.
Hey Bill Press, why don't you ask the mullahs what's there to talk about.
They see no reason to talk to anyone about their bomb enrichment plan.
Not too different on the surface, but quite a bit differest when one considers the quality of phone line to the source.
Kim Jung Ill believes he is working for himself...Ahmadinejad knows he is in the employee of something/someone vastly more powerful.
Difference in degree, you see.
and W thought he could compromise with these people.
What is fascinating about this article is seeing the pathology of the media on such transparent display,
Bush diplomacy has always been among the best in American history. The reason for this is the rather large stick the US has been carrying since 911-- although it should not be ignored that Bush immediately negotiated succesfully the return of a US aircraft and pilots after being knocked down over China.
Bush diplomacy brought more than 30 nations to the Iraq coalition. Bush diplomacy brought more than 60 nations to the Prolif Security Initiative which stopped the Kahn ring and various other prolif misdeeds. Bush diplomacy put six parties in for the bogus two party talks Clinton did with North Korea. Consequently the new agreement with North Korea has considerably more teeth that can be clenched by the jaws of Japan, China and South Korea.
Bush diplomacy also wisely voided limits on missile defense and other Kyoto agreements.
The media pretends that Bush never engages in diplomacy and so now has to pretend that it is Dr Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. The psychosis is in the media-- not the Bush administration.
Is this guy on crack, or does he just hope everyone else has a short memory?
We fiddled around with the U.N. for so long, if there were any WMD in Iraq at the time, they are now all safely tucked away in Syria.
And I give the North Korean "diplomacy" about 6 months (at the outside) before we find out we've been duped again.
What a country.
With blithering idiots like Bill Press it's little wonder that we struggle with winning anything, let alone a war - or more accurately a reverse crusade.
Like some of you I almost did not get past the "Bill Press" byline then curiosity as to what he said or wrote was worth posting on FR kicked in. Sad to say.
Addle brained idiot. If he had any sense, he would know that diplomacy has worked in Korea ONLY because after they exploded that atomic test, China said, "Whoa! Maybe diplomacy had better work here." Without China, no deal. Iran? Who in their right mind believes anyone could make a deal with a Muslim? They are taught to lie from birth. I wouldn't believe a Muslim if they said the sun was shining and it was.
Because as crazy as Kim Jung is, he is still not Moooslum with the #1 goal of blowing Israel off the map.
We are at war and so few Americans leaders can get their arms around it. Disgusting. Our front line gets it...but just a few of our leaders.
This presumption begs the question, Is liberalism a mental illness?
Bill Press, male(?) prostitute.
18 UN resolutions ignored. Over 10 years of the U.S. enforcing no-fly zones in Iraq at a cost of $10 billion per year. Over $10 billion lined Saddam's pockets through the oil-for-food fraud. And it was still a "rush to judgement" and we didn't allow enough time for the inspectors to do their job.
What a fantasy world in which he lives...
I thought that was Dan Garvin?
Regards.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.