Posted on 01/01/2003 12:31:51 PM PST by TheWriterInTexas
I’m Sorry, Daddy
by Linda A. Prussen-Razzano
In the Spring of 1953, my father was standing along with the other members of the 31st Infantry, 7th Division, just north of Seoul. Forty-five years later, when he decided to write about his experiences in the Korean War, I expected the pages to be filled with a certain patriotic flair; instead, his descriptions were brutal, blunt, and altogether alarming. He was especially critical of the rank stupidity he saw permeating all levels of command; stupidity that ranged from bumbling privates daring to fish while on alert, to commanders leading their troops in useless, dangerous circles.
When he came home from Korea, he was not the same man. After watching his best friend get shredded by enemy fire, and after having a shell explode just above his bunker, he left his innocence, and the better part of his hearing, behind.
Individuals within the Clinton Administration would have us believe that the political climate of yesteryear is no longer relevant today; that the aggressors my father faced on the battlefield are somehow less insidious now that we have won the cold war.
If this line of rhetoric sounds remotely familiar, then you have been paying attention. This is the same song and dance they fed America to justify ignoring China’s gross and repeated violations of nonproliferation treaties, abominable human rights record, and saber rattling against Taiwan.
They perpetuated this lie to prop up their China policy; now they are doing the same to prop up their North Korean policy.
On October 21, 1994, the United States and North Korea entered into an "Agreed Framework" of cooperation. Under this agreement, "North Korea agreed to freeze the construction and operation of its existing nuclear reactors and related facilities, to eventually dismantle this equipment, and to comply with the international Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. In exchange, the United States pledged to help North Korea acquire two light-water nuclear reactors for electricity generation by arranging for their construction through an international consortium, the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO)."1
"Furthermore, to offset the energy forgone by the freeze on North Korea's nuclear reactors, the United States pledged to arrange through the organization for deliveries of 500,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil annually until the first reactor was completed."2
The United States also contributes a significant amount of humanitarian "aid" for food to help the starving in North Korea.
Please note, we entered into this agreement despite the fact that Kim Jong, II announced on March 12, 1993, North Korea would withdraw from the nuclear nonproliferation treaty (NPT). Even though they amended their decision on June 11, 1993, they refused to agree to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) standards.
We maintained this agreement even though North Korea attempted to blackmail the United States into paying them not to produce weapons of mass destruction.
We maintained this agreement despite the fact that in June of 1998, they engaged in a 5-day standoff and threatened military action against South Korean ships inside the U.N. enforced "buffer zone."
We maintained this agreement despite the fact that in August of 1998, North Korea launched a Taepodong missile over Japan.
On September 17, 1999, Joe Lockhardt, White House Spokesperson, announced that President Clinton would ease sanctions on North Korea. This decision apparently came at the behest of by Dr. William J. Perry, U.S. North Korea Policy Coordinator and Special Advisor to the President and the Secretary of State, in a brief that was declassified on October 12, 1999.
Dr. Perry had a year to conduct his review and make his recommendations. Apparently, he should have waited another month or so.
Why?
According to an October 7, 1999 article by Pacific Stars and Stripes commentator Jim Lea, "Several times since the sanctions were lifted, North Korean officials have said Pyongyang will continue its missile development and will launch missiles whenever it deems necessary."
According to an October 12, 1999 article in The Indian Express, "In its 1999 White Paper, the [South Korean] ministry said a 1997 U.S.-South Korean study raised its estimate of North Korea's chemical weapons stockpile to between 2,500 and 5,000 tonnes from the previous year's 1,000 tonnes. North Korea is also estimated to have at least 10 different kinds of biological weapons."
According to an October 27, 1999 Agence France Presse news report, Yonghap, a South Korean paper, indicated that "North Korea is building bases at six different places for Scud-C missiles with a range of 500-550 kilometers (313-344 miles)... The Yonhap report came one day after South Korea's largest daily, Chosun Ilbo, disclosed the North's deployment of four new batteries of Rodong-1 missiles, which have a range of 1,300 kilometers (810 miles)."
According to an October 27, 1999 news release by Rep. Gilman, Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, a General Account Office report indicated that "at least $11 million of fuel aid has been diverted by the North Korean government. Fuel monitoring is dependent on the North Korean power system which is often out of service. We have also learned that despite assurances from the administration that U.S. aid will not go where food cannot be monitored, at least 14,000 tons of food aid, valued at $5 million, was diverted to military counties where monitors are denied access."
According to an October 28, 1999 news article by Washington Times reporter Bill Gertz: "North Korea has not stopped developing a long-range missile capable of hitting the United States and is stepping up sales of missiles and related technology around the world, according to U.S. intelligence reports."
In response to all of this, what can we expect from the White House? Nothing, at worst; parsing, at best. If they follow the "China" model, they will continue to ignore this situation, conveniently looking the other way.
Besides, now that sanctions have been eased, North Korea can help itself to all those lovely dual-use goodies we have for sale. Thanks to a recent move by Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre, he "not only wants [the State Department] to slash the number of license requests to DTRA [Defense Threat Reduction Agency], but also to in essence rubber-stamp those few it would get. His plan would give the armed services just two days from the time they get a request to submit a draft veto."3
In 1953, my father and thousands of men like him risked everything, including their lives, to defend America’s interests. In just seven years of the Clinton Administration, they have done everything they could to violate America’s interests.
I’m sorry, Daddy.
1. GAO/RCED-99-276, United States General Accounting Office, GAO Report to the Chairman, Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, "NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION: Status of Heavy Fuel Oil Delivered to North Korea Under the Agreed Framework," September 1999.
2. Ibid.
3. Investor’s Business Daily, "An End To Export Controls?" by Paul Sperry, November 8, 1999.
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This morning, Diane Sawyer asked her guest if the 'axis of evil' comment caused all of the global turmoil.
They're losin' it.
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