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Toasts and Hopes for a Better Day: Albright's Visit to North Korea Recalled [can we survive AP?]
AP ^ | Jan 12, 2003 | By George Gedda Associated Press Writer

Posted on 01/12/2003 3:45:59 PM PST by Ragtime Cowgirl


Toasts and Hopes for a Better Day: Albright's Visit to North Korea Recalled

Published: Jan 12, 2003

WASHINGTON (AP) - At the time, all things seemed possible.

It was October 2000, and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, on a groundbreaking visit to North Korea, spoke of the need to end the "bitterness of the past." Chairman Kim Jong Il talked of a new "historical point" between the two former wartime rivals.

A scant 15 months later, President Bush designated North Korea as a charter member of an international "axis of evil."

He pledged in a State of the Union address that the United States would not permit North Korea and other dangerous nations "to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons."

Against the background of the recent escalation of tensions, the images of America's top diplomat making the rounds of North Korea's capital three falls ago seem almost surreal: toasts in Pyongyang with Kim and greetings, with Kim and President Clinton's top diplomat clasping all four hands in a knot and smiling broadly.

The good feelings would not last. Soon Albright and her Democratic boss were gone from power.

When a new president from a different party takes over the White House, there are often differences in emphasis on key foreign policy issues. But overall continuity, not wild swings, usually is the norm.

North Korea is an exception.

Clinton believed that it was possible to work with North Korea. Bush has always been skeptical.

To some, Clinton's decision to dispatch Albright to North Korea is looking highly questionable following the North's acknowledgment that, even as Kim was toasting Albright, it had been developing uranium-based nuclear weapons in violation of agreements.

North Korea has followed up that disclosure by threatening to restart plutonium production and by withdrawing from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the centerpiece of the global arms control effort.

Former Clinton administration officials defend Albright's trip and have serious questions about how Bush is dealing with the communist country.

Wendy Sherman, who served as State Department counselor under Albright, recalled that the central purpose of Albright's visit was to lay the groundwork for an agreement to curb the North's missile program in exchange for economic benefits from the United States.

"If you don't have missiles it's hard to deliver a bomb," said Sherman, a key architect of North Korea policy under Albright.

The hope was that with the establishment of beneficial ties, mostly economic, with the United States and other developed countries, North Korea would be "less likely to do bad things because they would have much more to lose," Sherman said.

The Bush administration was prepared to go down the same path with North Korea but that offer is now off the table in light of the North's defiance.

Sherman said it was unfortunate that Bush designated North Korea as "evil."

"I don't think the White House appreciates how that would be heard by North Korea," she said. I don't think that alone has created the crisis but it is one of the rallying points used by North Korea" in justifying its current policy of intimidation and proliferation.

Sherman staunchly defends the 1994 U.S.-North Korean agreement under which the North agreed to freeze its plutonium production program in exchange for two new plutonium-resistant reactors financed by South Korea and Japan.

The agreement was successful for a time, Sherman said, because without it, "North Korea would have had the capability to have 50 to 100 bombs by now."

North Korea has now declared that agreement to be nullified, although construction on the nuclear reactors has not yet stopped.

Ivo Daalder, a National Security Council aide in the Clinton administration, contended it is unseemly for Republicans to ridicule Clinton's effort to reach out to North Korea.

He said Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell, in their efforts to induce North Korea to reverse course, have taken the military option off the table, something Clinton never did.

"If Clinton had done that, the Republicans would have started impeachment hearings," Daalder said.

Daalder also finds fault with Powell's seemingly dismissive attitude toward the possibility that North Korea's nuclear arsenal could jump from two to six in a matter of months.

"If they have a few more, they have a few more," Powell said two weeks ago. Daalder said a North Korea armed with six nuclear weapons could credibly threaten multiple targets and still have enough left over to sell some.

Bush administration officials insist they have not acquiesced in North Korea's weapons development program, pointing out that they seeking the dismantling of Pyongyang's nuclear programs through diplomatic pressure.

AP-ES-01-12-03 1319EST



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I apologize to every Freeper for posting this trash.

E-mail AP

1 posted on 01/12/2003 3:45:59 PM PST by Ragtime Cowgirl
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To: Sabertooth; Tailgunner Joe; MeeknMing; Mudboy Slim; PhiKapMom; Miss Marple; Mia T; Alamo-Girl
"Let me be clear. Only the president and the executive branch can speak for the United States." - Secretary of State Madeline Albright, Jan. 2000

http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0200helms.htm


2 posted on 01/12/2003 3:51:42 PM PST by Ragtime Cowgirl
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3 posted on 01/12/2003 3:54:12 PM PST by Anti-Bubba182
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl
What trash. I'll give it points for consistancy, though. It starts out as trash, transitions into trash, and ends as trash, creating the perfect intellectual landfill atmosphere that we have come to expect from AP.
4 posted on 01/12/2003 4:01:55 PM PST by Steel Wolf
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To: Steel Wolf
Agreed on the trash in trash out aspect of it. I did not see where it said that North Korea was not abiding by the Klinton agreement and was cheating. This is typical of the liberal Ostrich head in the sand syndrome. Parley
5 posted on 01/12/2003 4:04:36 PM PST by Parley Baer
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To: Parley Baer
Here it is, paragraph 10:

"To some, Clinton's decision to dispatch Albright to North Korea is looking highly questionable following the North's acknowledgment that, even as Kim was toasting Albright, it had been developing uranium-based nuclear weapons in violation of agreements."

What I want to know is this, if Albright's visit to the DPRK is looking questionable to "some", who are the others?
6 posted on 01/12/2003 4:16:51 PM PST by John Valentine
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl

I don't see this as being too trashy. It seems to me the Clinton-era officials come off sounding pretty lame.

The reporter makes it clear that the North Koreans were building bombs even as Albright was smiling for the cameras with Dear Leader Kim. She looks like an absolute fool now.

In response to this, the one guy says the real purpose of Albright's visit had to do with missiles (as though they stopped those), and the next one says that without missiles, the bombs aren't much good. That's just lame. In light of the fact that the Nokors built the missiles too (and shot one over Japan while Clinton was still president), their whole act just sounds stupid.

It's clear from this article that the Clinton foreign policy team got snookered. The Nokors were building bombs and missiles, and Clinton was pretending that he and Jimmy Carter had solved the problem. Now the Clinton guys have the nerve to say that they have "serious problems" with how the Bush Administration is handling this? It is to laugh.

I don't buy for a minute that the military option has been taken off the table. Powell is entirely too obvious about saying "nice doggie" in this case. He and Bush are both walking very softly here. I smell a Big Stick coming. Powell can afford to be nonchalant about what Kim might do in three months because he knows that Kim isn't going to be there in three months. There is no way Bush is going to let that guy get his hands on 30 or 40 nuclear weapons. No frigging way.


7 posted on 01/12/2003 4:38:51 PM PST by Nick Danger (Kim Jong Il: the other dead meat)
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl

Madam Not-so-Bright

8 posted on 01/12/2003 5:09:45 PM PST by MeekOneGOP (Just for grins: http://muffin.eggheads.org/images/funny/dogsmile.jpg)
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To: Gael
MadCow ping
9 posted on 01/12/2003 5:10:37 PM PST by wonders (It's a cleaning lady... it's a troll... it's a...)
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To: MeeknMing
I don't normally make comments about anyone's physical appearance, but whenever I see a picture of Mad Maddie I can't help but think of my grandfather's old saying: "so ugly she'd draw blisters on a bulldog."
10 posted on 01/12/2003 5:15:09 PM PST by wonders (Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes down to the bone)
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To: wonders
...but whenever I see a picture of Mad Maddie I can't help but think of my grandfather's old saying: "so ugly she'd draw blisters on a bulldog."

LOL ! Reminds me of an expression that my ex-cousin-in-law used:

Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly is to the bone !

Madeleine Albright - Senior portrait

Secretary of State since 1996 and class of 1959 alum.


http://www.wellesley.edu/Activities/homepage/legenda/gallery/alums.html
11 posted on 01/12/2003 5:57:53 PM PST by MeekOneGOP (Just for grins: http://muffin.eggheads.org/images/funny/dogsmile.jpg)
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To: All
He said Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell, in their efforts to induce North Korea to reverse course, have taken the military option off the table, something Clinton never did.

"If Clinton had done that, the Republicans would have started impeachment hearings," Daalder said.

O.K., will you Liberals tell us where you stand really? Is Bush the Younger being too bellicose or has he "taken the military option off the table?" Mind you, it is your typical Liberal wussies who have wanted Dubya to not consider military action to resolve the crisis.

Secondly, just stand up like grown adults (hah!) and admit that the Stalinist thugs snookered you.

12 posted on 01/12/2003 6:23:18 PM PST by Lysandru
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To: Nick Danger
Thank you for your post, Nick. I am not objective re. the Clinton admin. Your take on Mr. Gedda's article is more accurate than my first take.

Every time the Clinton wounds begin to heal - the head Rat pops up again taking credit where credit isn't due, blaming others for his mistakes, and practicing the politics of personal destruction...with help from the press.

Thank Al for the internet -

CLINTON THE ANTI-TERRORIST: AH, 'THE PERMANENT CAMPAIGN'
  Byron York
  National Review
  September 2, 2002
   
  Saxby Chambliss is a little perplexed. The Republican congressman from Georgia is chairman of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security and a key player in the congressional investigation into the roots of the September 11 attacks. He knows a lot about the subject. Yet it was not until he read a recent issue of Time magazine that he learned that in late 2000 the Clinton administration came up with a new, aggressive, wide-ranging plan to topple the al-Qaeda terrorist network. In an article headlined "Could 9/11 Have Been Prevented?" Time reported that top Clinton officials handed the plan to the incoming Bush administration, but, tragically, the Bush team chose not to act until it was too late. The heroes of the article were Richard Clarke, a top anti-terrorism aide who is said to have put together the plan, and Samuel Berger, President Clinton's national security adviser, who is portrayed as a tough-talking hardliner on terrorism.

And that's what has Chambliss perplexed. "I've had Dick Clarke testify before our committee several times, and we've invited Samuel Berger several times," Chambliss says, "and this is the first I've ever heard of that plan." If it was such a big deal, Chambliss wonders, why didn't anyone mention it? Sources at the White House are just as baffled. In public, they've been careful not to pick fights with the previous administration over the terrorism issue. But privately, they say the Time report was way off base. "There was no new plan to topple al-Qaeda," one source says flatly. "No new plan." When asked if there was, perhaps, an old plan to topple al-Qaeda, which might have been confused in the story, the source says simply, "No."

The Time article, which was the work of a team of 15 reporters, said that after the October 12, 2000, attack that killed 17 American sailors on board the USS Cole, Clarke began work on "an aggressive plan to take the fight to al-Qaeda." Clarke reportedly wanted to break up al-Qaeda cells, cut off their funding, destroy their sanctuaries, and give major support to the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. In addition, Time reported, "the U.S. military would start planning for air strikes on the camps and for the introduction of special-operations forces into Afghanistan." It was, in the words of a senior Bush administration official quoted by Time, "everything we've done since 9/11."

According to the magazine, Clarke presented the plan to Berger on December 20, 2000, but Berger decided not to act on it. "We would be handing [the Bush administration] a war when they took office," an unnamed former Clinton aide told Time. "That wasn't going to happen." Instead, Berger urged his successor, Condoleezza Rice, to take action. To the Clinton team's dismay, the Bush White House did not come up with its own finished plan against al-Qaeda until September 4, 2001.

On its face, the story was a sensational indictment of the Bush administration's response to terrorism. But if the president's critics hoped it would inflict political damage on the Bush White House, it has instead had the opposite effect, backfiring on Clinton's defenders and causing them to back away from the story's main conclusion.

Indeed, even a cursory look at the Clinton administration's record on terrorism raises questions about the article's premise.
For example: If there was indeed such a plan, why did the Clinton team wait so long to come up with it?

In the past, former Clinton officials have said that they moved into fully engaged anti-terrorism mode after the August 7, 1998, bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. More than 200 people, including twelve Americans, were killed, and an investigation quickly showed the attack to be the work of Osama bin Laden. In an interview with National Review last year, Daniel Benjamin, a former National Security Council official, said the Africa bombings were a turning point in the administration's response to terrorism. "I and a whole lot of people basically did very little else other than Osama bin Laden for the next year and a half," Benjamin said.

At the time, top Clinton officials vowed a long, tough campaign. "This is, unfortunately, the war of the future," Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told reporters on August 21, shortly after the U.S. fired cruise missiles at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. "This is going to be a long-term battle against terrorists who have declared war on the United States." Other officials, including President Clinton, said similar things.

So why, when by their own account the war unquestionably began in August 1998, did Clinton administration officials wait until December 2000, a few weeks before leaving office, to come up with a plan to fight it? Why was the plan created so late that it could not be implemented but was instead presented to the incoming Bush administration with the admonition, "Here -- do this"? There's no answer in the Time story.

In addition, the Clinton defenders' account is plagued by some internal contradictions. For example, Time says the Clinton administration was constrained from taking action in the aftermath of the Cole bombing because "the CIA and FBI had not officially concluded [that bin Laden was behind the attack] and would be unable to do so before Clinton left office." But the article also documents the frustrations of John O'Neill, a top FBI official who had "run afoul of Barbara Bodine, then the U.S. ambassador to Yemen, who believed the FBI's large presence was causing political problems for the Yemeni regime." Time says that "when O'Neill left Yemen on a trip home for Thanksgiving, Bodine barred his return." It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the Clinton administration, for whatever reason, made the investigation more difficult and then claimed it could not act against al-Qaeda because the investigation had not yielded conclusive results.

It didn't quite make sense, and indeed, after the Bush White House denied the Time story, some former Clinton officials began to pull back on some of its claims. Now, one of them -- who asks not to be named -- says Time didn't have it quite right. "There were certainly ongoing efforts throughout the eight years of the Clinton administration to fight terrorism," the official says. "It was certainly not a formal war plan. We wouldn't have characterized it as a formal war plan. The Bush administration was briefed on the Clinton administration's ongoing efforts and threat assessments."

That's pretty much what the Bush White House says happened. So why make all the headline-grabbing charges in the first place? More than anything, the article's appearance is evidence of the dogged determination of former Clinton officials to portray their administration as tough on terrorism. Sometimes that public-relations campaign has involved positive defenses of Clinton's record, and sometimes it has involved attacks on the Bush White House. The Time piece was the most spectacular example yet of the latter; it was, in Saxby Chambliss's words, "a full-bore shotgun blast at the Bush administration." And even though it missed, there will no doubt be more. For their part, Bush officials say they don't want to "get into this game." But they'd better get used to it.

Link.

Another Clinton administration parting gift for President Bush?
Poking the Taliban hornet's nest...and running:

"Today, the United Nations removed all its remaining relief workers from the country, fearing a backlash from the Taliban, who will be almost completely isolated diplomatically when the resolution takes effect in 30 days, a grace period during which the Taliban could avoid sanctions by meeting the Council's demands." UN, Dec. 20th...2000.

Link to copy of original NY Times article, scroll down to near bottom.

Why did Clinton wait until Dec. 19th, 2000 to push the UN for tougher sanctions against the Taliban?

Clinton's 1999 State Dept. Report on Terrorism shows that his administration knew much about the international terrorist threat....complete with weapons, locations, history of terrorist actions, etc. The UN understood the danger...they pulled their own people out the same day they issued the new threat.

On Dec. 18th, 2000, the electoral college elected President Bush, officially ending the lengthy 2000 election. On Dec. 19th, Clinton went to the UN to push for tougher sanctions on our most deadly enemy. On Dec. 20th, the UN reluctantly issued the threat with the 30 day grace period....to go into effect Jan. 19 th, 2001 - President Bush's inaugeration eve.

Other Clinton gifts left for the new President:
Clinton's peace proposals, which he unveiled at a meeting in Washington last week, call for a Palestinian state in 95 percent of the West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip. They also envision Palestinian control over Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem and the Temple Mount area, which is in the eastern part of the city.
CNN, Dec. 24, 2000.

See also:
Clinton Timing Release of New Peace Proposal, Sept.28, 2000.
US Embassy - press conference, Dec. 20, 2000
CLINTONWORLD.



And more:
Last minute regs. putting ANWR and more than 5.6 million acres of federal land and our resources essentially off limits, signing the "Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000" (the "Act") on December 21, 2000..."record funding" - 5 years worth, killed the program created by Congress in 1999 to allow imports of low-cost prescription drugs, repealed the "tough new ethics rules" regarding lobbying he imposed on senior White House staff and other high-level administration appointees when he came into office, chose the UN over US sovereignty by signing us onto the ICC, changed arsenic level regs. for drinking water (and destroyed the "scientific evidence")...among the added 30,000 pages of new federal regulations, awarded $1 billion in grants for inner city housing, relaxed export controls on military grade computers, vandalized government property, appointed 21 of his own Dems. to protect our nation from cybersecurity threats- including Gore advisor Jack Quinn and Wellington Webb.
Just three weeks before his scheduled return to private life, Clinton instructed White House domestic policy aide Bruce Reed and economic chief Gene Sperling to "keep coming up with new ideas," according to Reed.
One morning at the nub end of Bill Clinton's presidency, Clinton chief of staff John Podesta walked into a senior staff meeting in the Roosevelt Room waving a copy of USA Today. Holding the paper aloft, Podesta read the headline out loud, "Clinton actions annoy Bush." The article detailed the new rules and Executive Orders the outgoing President was issuing in his final days, actions aimed in equal measure at locking in Clinton's legacy (in areas like environmental protection) and bedeviling his successor. "What's Bush so annoyed about?" Podesta asked with a devilish smile. "He's got four years to try to undo all the stuff we've done."
Link.

"We laid a few traps," chirps a happy Clinton aide.....

13 posted on 01/12/2003 6:54:41 PM PST by Ragtime Cowgirl
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl
"This is, unfortunately, the war of the future," Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told reporters on August 21, shortly after the U.S. fired cruise missiles at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.

According to a great article in the WSJ a while back, the Taliban had had it with Osama and were on the verge of handing him over to the Saudis to be executed as a traitor. After Bubba lobbed those silly cruise missiles at Afghanistan, of course, the Talis had to change their minds. Had Clinton refrained from making a this little show with his firecrackers, Osama might well have been executed in disgrace at the hands of his fellow Muslims, and September 11 might never have happened. Nobody talks about that, for some reason.

14 posted on 01/12/2003 8:00:37 PM PST by wonders (What did Clinton know, and when did he know it?)
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Jeepers! Thanks for the heads up!
15 posted on 01/12/2003 8:39:59 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl
All one can say about the Clinton era is... it showed us that if you are going to lie, why not lie about everything, to cover up anything from foolish sexual indiscretions to outright federal crimes. While you are at it, why not even deny that you did or did not do certain things, long after the fact, regardless of whether there are obvious, verifiable, thoroughly documented, and irrefutable facts to the contrary? If you are going to lie, why hold back? The 90's truly almost did see the death of the "truth". What Clinton's very lame and pathetic apologists fail to realize is that George Bush is not Clinton. He is nothing like Clinton. And so they cannot pin Clinton's crimes and failures on George W. Bush.
16 posted on 01/12/2003 8:41:41 PM PST by Richard Axtell
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl

17 posted on 01/12/2003 9:24:00 PM PST by MamaLucci (Patty Murray can kiss my white Irish American a$$)
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl
LINKS OF INTEREST:

***NEWS4COLORADO.com: "NORTH KOREA CALLS FOR 'HOLY WAR' AGAINST U.S." (January 11, 2003)

***WASHINGTON TIMES.com: "IRAQ URGES ARABS TO FOLLOW NORTH KOREA" (010203)

NewsMax.com: "NORTH KOREA NUKES CLINTON LEGACY" by Charles R. Smith (010803)

FREE CONGRESS.org - Notable News Now: "NEGLIGENCE: BILL CLINTON'S REAL LEGACY ON NATIONAL DEFENSE" -Commentary by Paul M. Weyrich (120502)

FrontPageMagazine.com (WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL): "PYONGYANG'S NUCLEAR BLACKMAIL" (010203)

NewsMax.com: HOT TOPICS: "NORTH KOREA"

YAHOO! News - Articles - Topic: "NORTH KOREA"

NORTH KOREA DAILY News Online

GLOAL SECURITY.org: YONGBYON [NYONGBYON]

IAEA.org - INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: Press Releases



WorldNetDaily.com: "U.S. FIRMS HELPED CHINA WITH NUKES? State Accuses Hughes, Boeing of Providing Missile Technology" by Jon Dougherty (010203)

GertzFile.com

SoftWar.net

NewsMax.com: "Clinton Audio Exclusive: Pre-September 11 Bin Laden Strike Wouldn't Have Worked" (August 7, 2002)

stepping back in time....RPC.SENATE.GOV: "Clinton-Approved Iranian Arms Transfers Help Turn Bosnia Into Militant Islamic Base" (011697)

18 posted on 01/12/2003 9:56:38 PM PST by Cindy
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl
-The Atomic Genie- what we know about North Korea's Nuclear program--
19 posted on 01/13/2003 2:38:44 AM PST by backhoe (Has that Clinton "legacy" made you feel safer yet?)
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To: backhoe
Bill Clinton;

“My credentials? I've been impeached fer crissakes!

I'm a traitor to my country... and I'm a rapist.

I hired the ugliest, most stupid women ever to walk the earth to high office.

I can't even work an ATM! Now, about my fee for speaking...”

20 posted on 01/13/2003 3:13:53 AM PST by johnny7 (This sh_t flows up-hill)
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