White House Lied To China And South Korea About Pyongyang's Nuclear Program, And Got Caught
by Steve
On the second anniversary of a war that was spawned from lies and phony intelligence peddled to allies and our country, it appears that the Bush Administration tried it again but got caught.
According to today's Post, it appears we have now lied to our Asian allies about North Korea’s nuclear program and their actions. Why? Aside from wanting to steer China, Japan, and South Korea to our thinking about Pyongyang’s nuclear intentions and capabilities, it now also appears that we wanted to cover up the role that our great ally Pakistan has played in assisting the North and in arming Libya. Unfortunately for our long-term credibility, China and South Korea apparently figured out in the last couple of months that we tried to mislead them, and now want out of the multi-party talks at the same time that Pyongyang figured out what we were saying to the others. That is the reason why North Korea has also backed away from the talks as well.
Condi is making the rounds in Asia now to publicly browbeat the North back into the talks while privately begging our allies to stick with us and the multiparty talks. But once the Chinese and the South Koreans know that we tried to use doctored intelligence once again to foment tensions, why would these countries listen to us at all? It does put China’s recent hostile moves towards Taiwan after we had asked for restraint in a whole new light, doesn’t it? Plainly, China felt that after being lied to they could tell Bush and Cheney "F**k You!" without consequence.
Worse yet, the North Koreans now know that we lied, have pulled out of the talks, and are now dictating terms on what is necessary by us to get them back to the table. Rice originally pissed off the North by calling them an "outpost of tyranny", and now finds herself caught red-handed in the middle of a lie perpetrated by her friends in the NSA and CIA to the extent that she has now softened her rhetoric to entice the North back to the table. In other words, the White House has once again misplayed a situation so bad through lying to our allies that a rogue state now has leverage over us. Threatening Pyongyang with sanctions through a UN Security Council that will never approve of such sanctions with China sitting as a member will not pass a credibility test either, and will only lead to a debate that will formally reveal our lies to allies.
And no amount of image-making, message management, and politicization of Foggy Bottom by Condi and Karen Hughes will overcome the facts that despite the nice pictures of Rice wherever she goes, she cannot point to a single accomplishment or shift by our allies as a result of her travels. Our allies know she is a political hack with nice clothes and nothing more. Lying to them will not overcome that.