Posted on 02/15/2003 12:05:27 PM PST by TLBSHOW
McCain: North Korea is 'Clinton's Greatest Failure'
When Arizona Sen. John McCain criticizes the White House, his comments usually receive wide coverage in the mainstream press. That is, at least when he criticizes the Bush White House.
However, Sen. McCain's scathing denunciation of the Clinton administration's bungling of the North Korea nuclear crisis this week has yet to appear anywhere it print.
NBC Today Show host Katie Couric asked the celebrated Republican maverick on Wednesday about the advice ex-President Clinton offered the day before, where Clinton urged the Bush administration to begin an "intense, exceedingly high-level engagement" with Pyongyang and then offer "a grand bargain" to resolve the crisis.
"My reaction," said McCain, "is that the greatest failure of the Clinton administration was the agreement they made with North Korea, which allowed them to reach the stage where there are today, where they have nuclear weapons."
"We supported their regime," he continued, "with over a billion dollars and fuel while 2 million of their citizens starved to death (and) 200,000 of their people are in gulags reminiscent of Joseph Stalin."
McCain recommended that the U.S. not negotiate with North Korea, but instead begin intensive talks with China, South Korea, Japan and Russia to force Pyongyang to comply with the nuclear nonproliferation treaty."
Meanwhile, MSNBC, which offered the Clinton and McCain audio on its Web site, claimed in a companion blurb that McCain had also told Couric that the latest Osama bin Laden audiotape "did not necessarily prove a link between al-Qaida and Iraq."
Actually, while Couric did her best to elicit such a comment from the Arizona Republican, he repeatedly confounded her efforts. Here's an excerpt from their exchange:
COURIC: (After quoting from the bin Laden tape) Some might argue, Senator, that it doesn't sound as if these two men (Saddam and Osama) are necessarily in cahoots, but that bin Laden is reaching out to Islamic fundamentalists in Iraq itself.
MCCAIN: Well, I think he does that. But I also think that he's exercising an old Middle Eastern adage that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And clearly he has a common cause with Saddam Hussein and that is the destruction of the West and all the cultures and values that we hold so dear, and the United States of America in particular. (End of Excerpt)
Listen to Sen. Hillary Clinton, in remarks embargoed by the mainstream press, as she blames the Bush administration for "mishandling North Korea" in an exclusive interview with WLIE Radio's Mike Siegel.
Clinton has a long list of failures ... but ignoring the problems with terrorirst groups and failing to do anything about them .. I would think would be his greatest failure
9/11 proved that
North Korea Wants Arms and More Aid From U.S.In Vienna, Dr. ElBaradei emphasized the need for diplomatic solution. He did not rule out economic sanctions, though Washington says it is not pressing for them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/13/international/13KORE.html?ex=1045803600&en=9605e81da676cd57&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
China and Russia are not stepping up to the plate because they want to distract us from Iraq. President Bush has not fallen for the ploy. What he's telling China and Russia is that THEY have to clean up their own neighborhood and when they come up with a plan, we'll help them enforce it. In my opinion, that's the right attitude. Japan knows we'll be there for them. As to South Korea, when they decide they don't want to be anti-American anymore we might decide to be there for them too. President Bush is giving them a very valuable lesson in loyalty and why it's a bad idea to bite the hand that feeds you. I think they are learning.
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