Free Republic

TOKYO — North Korea took a step on Thursday toward reintegration into the world community and rapprochement with the United States by submitting for outside inspection a long-delayed declaration of its nuclear program. The 60-page declaration from North Korea, one of the world’s most isolated and impoverished nations, was expected to describe in previously undisclosed detail its capabilities in nuclear power and nuclear weapons — meeting a major demand of the United States and other countries that consider the North a dangerous source of instability. “This can be a moment of opportunity for North Korea,” said President Bush, announcing the...

In the spirit of holding our political leaders accountable, this year-end review will tabulate the worst lies told by Bush and company, along with several stories that were underreported in the media. Much of what was generated got lost in the fog of war, but the long arm of history will retrieve these moments. As the president said in his news conference this week, if they’re still writing about No. 1—George Washington—there’s plenty of time before the historians can properly evaluate No. 43. Judging by the mess in Iraq, it could be 200 or 300 years—if ever—before Bush is vindicated....

North Korea's second most powerful leader has said that whether further nuclear tests are carried out depends on US policy, Japanese media report. Kim Yong-nam said the decision depended on how the US treated North Korea, Japan's Kyodo news agency said. He said US policy was also the main factor in determining whether to return to stalled six-party talks. The comments were the first from a senior North Korean official since the country's claimed nuclear test.

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is a journalist imprisoned in Bangladesh for the "crime" of advocating interfaith dialogue and an end to the blind hatred of Israel in his country. The 16-month effort to free him advanced significantly last week in Washington, when Congressman Mark Kirk (R-IL) and I met with Bangladeshi ambassador to the US Shamsher Chowdhury. Shoaib Choudhury is a Muslim who had the courage to condemn radical Islam's growing power in Bangladesh. The newspaper he published and edited, The Weekly Blitz, gave his people their first unbiased news about the Middle East before police grabbed him in 2003...