Does Bush Know When to Declare Victory Over Pyongyang?

by Steve

The question regarding North Korea today is this: will the Bush Administration have the ability to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat? After Colin Powell admitted that his State Department may not have told others in the administration about Pyongyang’s confirmation that they were reprocessing fuel rods, Powell also admitted that the North has made a conciliatory offer that seems to be a victory for Bush.

North Korea offered to scrap its nuclear programme and to allow weapons inspectors into the country during talks with the United States in Beijing last week, it emerged yesterday.

The North Koreans also offered to suspend ballistic missile tests and to stop missile exports, but it demanded in return a non-aggression pact with America, according to Chinese officials present at the talks.

According to European Union envoys briefed by a Chinese official who was present at the talks last week, North Korea said that it would allow inspectors in if America dropped its “hostile attitude” and negotiated “on the basis of equality and mutual sovereignty”.

Note how the Chinese have cleverly provided information to the European Union of what was actually said at the meetings last week so that there would be no reliance upon the Washington version of events.

It appears that Pyongyang is willing to scrap its program and stop exports, and allow inspectors back in, primarily in exchange for a non-aggression pact with Washington. Since Bush has already said that we have no intention of invading North Korea, and since allowing inspectors back in and discontinuing their program and exports is all that we can ask, shouldn’t Bush be taking this deal? What’s wrong with declaring victory and going home?

Let’s see if the PNAC cabal that is really running foreign policy allows this to happen.