The Missiles of July

"Are we having fun yet?"


So often in the slow news days of summer the media sink their teeth into a story and don't let go. They obsess and exaggerate.

We've had the summer of shark attacks in 2001, even though numbers of attacks for that year were actually down slightly.

Last summer, Natalee Holloway's disappearance became an obsession, until Hurricane Katrina bumped her story out of sight and mind.

And this summer, the hurricane crazy media were poised to jump on impending storms. It seemed that the media stage was set to follow the drama of each tropical depression.

Now, that's changed.

There's no need to manufacture news or hype a story's importance this summer.

The threat that Kim Jong Il's North Korea poses needs no exaggeration to be truly frightening and get the public's attention.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- A U.S. envoy expressed support for China's proposal to hold informal six-nation talks on the North Korean nuclear threat and offered to meet bilaterally with the North on the sidelines of those discussions.

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill was in Seoul as part of a regional tour to coordinate the international response to the North's test-firing Wednesday of seven missiles. The tests caused international outrage but also division over whether North Korea should be punished.

Over Chinese and Russian objections, Japan on Friday proposed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would impose sanctions on North Korea and order the communist regime to stop developing ballistic missiles.

Backed by the United States, Britain and France, the new resolution came as President Bush expressed frustration with the slow pace of diplomacy and urged world leaders to send Pyongyang a strong message condemning the missile tests, staged in defiance of international warnings.

"What matters most of all is for Kim Jong Il to see the world speak with one voice," Bush said Friday during a trip to Chicago. "That's the purpose, really."

What are the odds of the world speaking "with one voice" when Americans don't?

Here we are, faced with a legitimate threat to our security.

Rather than presenting a united front, there are politically opportunistic Dems and rabid Leftists trashing President Bush.

While the Bush administration is working to assure the safety of Americans, they are out there trying to weaken the President, all in the name of their personal political gain.

What a dangerous game that is!

Madeleine Albright is behaving extremely irresponsibly. I suppose her criticism is an effort to deflect from the fact that SHE AND BILL CLINTON FAILED SO MISERABLY to manage North Korea in the 1990s.

On the Fourth of July, Albright had the audacity to blame President Bush for the North Korean missile mess.

From Larry King Live:

KING: We'll check with what John Roberts and David Ensor think.

But on the phone with us is the former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Madam Secretary, what's your read on what happened?

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE (by telephone): Well, I think it is very serious and I certainly agree with the comments made by the others. The North Koreans have managed to get the world's attention and although the Taepodongs failed it certainly has given the North Koreans an opportunity to learn a lot more about what they have in terms of their missile technology.

And frankly, Larry, I think the problem here is that we are watching the failure of five years worth of American diplomacy. I'm very worried about it and I hope very much that we do have a review of our North Korean policy.

Later in the discussion:

KING: Ambassador Albright, let's ask the un-askable (ph) in a sense. What do we do if they throw a missile into Tokyo?

ALBRIGHT: Well, I think clearly that will be a cause for major retaliation but I was thinking, Larry, and listening...

KING: That would be World War III?

ALBRIGHT: Well I hope not. I think we have to do everything to avoid that because that would be a disastrous war. But in listening to all this what I have a sense about, Larry, is how much the Bush administration has on the table.

You have been talking about this issue. We have to keep our allies all together if we're going to go to the United Nations. There's also the issue of Iran and a deadline that we've set for a response on our offer there. And then also there's the G8 meeting coming up.

And, in many ways, all these issues are linked together because we are asking a lot of the various people, various countries in terms of support and from listening to your various correspondents you can see that the reaction in Japan and South Korea and China is quite different.

And so, there's a huge amount of diplomacy to be done from an administration that has not really been that successful in diplomacy in this particular part of the world.

GAG!

DOUBLE GAG!

UNBELIEVABLE!

Albright is in no position to be casting stones at the Bush administration for unsuccessful diplomacy on North Korea.

It is intellectually dishonest to ignore the Clinton administration's pivotal role in the North Korean crisis we face today.

Read this enlightening August 1, 1994 editorial from National Review for some historical perspective.

Obviously, it's not as if no one saw the potential for North Korea to be a serious threat to U.S. security and world stability.

Instead of criticizing Bush, Albright should be apologizing to Americans and the global community for her failures. She should be begging for forgiveness.

A nuclear North Korea is part of the "proud" Clinton/Albright legacy.

FACT.