NYT: Pact With North Korea Draws Fire From a Wide Range of Critics in U.S.

[DeepModem Mom]

Pact With North Korea Draws Fire From a Wide Range of Critics in U.S.
By HELENE COOPER and JIM YARDLEY
Published: February 14, 2007

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 — The deal that could lead North Korea to shut its main nuclear reactor came under criticism from both ends of the political spectrum immediately after it was announced on Tuesday.

From the right, hardliners argued that the United States should have held out until North Korea agreed to fully declare and dismantle its entire nuclear program.

From the left, Democrats argued that the deal was no better than one they said the United States could have gotten four years ago, before North Korea tested a nuclear bomb....Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, said the deal “takes us back to the future.”

“The good news is that it freezes in place North Korea’s nuclear program,” said Mr. Biden, who has declared his intention to run for president. “The bad news is that North Korea’s program is more dangerous to us now than it was in 2002, when President Bush rejected virtually the same deal he is now embracing.”

From the other end of the spectrum, John R. Bolton, who until December served under (Condoleezza) Rice as the United States ambassador to the United Nations, criticized the pact as too weak, telling CNN that it “contradicts fundamental premises” of the administration’s approach to North Korea during the past six years. Mr. Bolton, when in the administration, had argued in favor of a hard-line approach to North Korea....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/14/world/asia/14korea.html

[PSPS]

1. Yeah, so bush fucked up. What else is new?

Clinton did a masterful job with North Korea. but bush, as usual, had to undo "everything clinton" and canceled the arrangement (meaning the monitoring cameras that were in place were also removed.)

Now we're back to an agreement similar to what clinton had, only North Korea has moved further along, and we still don't have the monitoring cameras there from Clinton's agreement that bush forced them to remove because of his idiotic and senseless need to "look tough."

So, heck of a job, bush!

(As for Bolton, why isn't that vote-count-stopping thug from florida's 2000 presidential election in jail?)

[rodeodance]

2. BBC earlier said condi told Bush he needed a foreign policy victory, so

Whalla!!!!!!!!!

[sutz12]

3. Sounds like Clinton's deal.....only not as good. nt

[sabra]

4. (John) Bolton hits (North Korea) agreement as 'bad signal' to Iran

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20070214-120013-3871r.htm

Bolton hits agreement as 'bad signal' to Iran

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The deal reached in Beijing on North Korea's nuclear program is being criticized for making too many concessions to the hard-line government that violated a past accord, and gives up key U.S. leverage that blocked illicit financial activities by Pyongyang in the past.

"It is rewarding bad behavior of the North Koreans by promising fuel oil," said former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John R. Bolton, who emerged as an outspoken critic of the nuclear accord.

"It's a bad signal to North Korea and it's a bad signal to Iran," Mr. Bolton said in an interview, noting that the message to would-be arms proliferators around the world is that "if you hold out long enough and wear down the State Department negotiators, eventually you get rewarded."

Also, giving up financial leverage on North Korea after further talks by agreeing to lift banking sanctions is a "huge" mistake, Mr. Bolton said. "That leverage is what brought them to the table. ... The Chinese were paying them to come to the talks. Now we're paying them."

[PaDem]

5. This guy is just nuts

Keep this guy away from any policy makers, right or left. He clearly would rather start World War III than see any kind of resolution with these "threatening" nations.

[hadrons]

6. what an idiot ....

hey stupid, the policy since Jan 20th 2001 wasn't working asshat

[rodeodance]

7. and I bet Bush opens his news conf with: WH foreign Policy success!!

[rodeodance]

8. Condi told Bush he needed a Foreign policy success---BBC reporter

last evening said that.

[sabra]

9. indeed, this deal could have happened since 2001, the hardliners

did not allow it. This is all about spin and headlines.

[Doondoo]

10. The neocons are eating their own

[Hobarticus]

11. Key word there is "former"...

And he was largely ignored while he at the UN in any case. So in reality, he has about as much credibility as, say, my dog.

[alcibiades_mystery]

12. Private citizen Bolton is entitled to his opinion

I'm just happy that he's no longer in a position to drive negotiations. He can say whatever he wants. He's out the fucking door. Thanks for your thoughts, John Bolton. They are as important as my Mom's thoughts on the matter, which makes one wonder why they should appear in a newspaper...

[Eugene]

13. Reuters: Rice says Iran should see North Korea as example

Diplomacy carried the day rather than blowing everything up.
Poor Yosemite Sam Bolton! :nopity:

Rice says Iran should see North Korea as example

Tue Feb 13, 11:33 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday
that a deal with North Korea over its nuclear program should serve as a message
to Iran that international diplomacy could achieve results.

"Why should it not be seen as a message to Iran that the international community
is able to bring together its resources, particularly when regionally affected states
work together and that the strong diplomacy ... has finally achieved results?" Rice
told a news conference. Iran is at loggerheads with the United States and other
Western nations over its nuclear program.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070213/pl_nm/korea_north_rice_dc_1

(Reuters)

U.S. holds out North Korea deal as model for Iran

By Arshad Mohammed

Tue Feb 13, 6:58 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday held out as a model for Iran
a deal under which North Korea will take steps toward giving up nuclear arms, and
analysts said it might bolster Iranians who favor talks with the West.

White House spokesman Tony Snow called the deal a "template," but some analysts
cautioned that the United States would have less leverage with Iran than with
impoverished, communist North Korea.

-snip-

Proliferation experts said the deal, hammered out in talks among the two Koreas, China,
Japan, Russia and the United States, demonstrated the Bush administration's willingness
to abandon some of its hard-line positions and make compromises.

"We see a pattern developing. We negotiated a deal with Libya. Now we are negotiating
a deal with North Korea. They give up their weapons programs in exchange for a new
relationship with the United States. That model seems a lot preferable to the Iraq model,"
said Joseph Cirincione of the Center for American Progress think tank.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070213/wl_nm/korea_north_iran_dc_2

[Doondoo]

14. K&R