Oct 21, 2002 2 min read

Is North Korea the lesser of two evils in the eyes of President Bush? In venting his anger at terrorists last year Bush, in naming the “axis of evil,” identified Iraq and North Korea. Since then the administration has gone out of its way to present Iraq to the world as a deadly scourge, stockpiling and developing weapons capable of killing en masse. To that end Bush wanted, and obtained from Congress, the power to wage war against Iraq if it refuses to submit to weapons inspections even if the United Nations isn’t on board. This week the Bush administration announced that North Korea admitted having a nuclear weapons program in violation of a 1994 treaty. The timing of this announcement should be questioned. It came after Congress gave Bush his war power, but weeks after the president knew.

The admission by North Korea came during Oct. 3-5 talks when the U.S. confronted North Korea with evidence of a program to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons.

Why did the White House wait for several weeks before informing the public?

Could it be that the Bush administration wanted to keep North Korea’s secret to avoid an appearance of a double standard while seeking a war resolution against Iraq for virtually the same thing?

Now that the secret is public, the Bush administration – committed to seeking a diplomatic solution with North Korea -appears to have softened its war stance against Iraq.

Secretary of State Colin Powell is now working with the U.N. to craft a resolution that calls first for stringent inspections. Only if that should fail, would military action be considered.

That is the way it should be.