Jim Webb Was Right About North Korea

Wouldn't it have been nice if someone had seen the growing threat posed by North Korea and taken it seriously? Jim Webb did. (From January 2003) "'I think North Korea is far more dangerous than Iraq because of several reasons,' Webb said. 'One is, their leader truly is nuts. Saddam Hussein is shrewd. [North Korean President] Kim Jong Il is crazy . . . he's totally unpredictable.' 'Second of all, North Korea is . . . within a stones throw of 37,000 American troops who are in fixed defensive positions. So our forces are truly at risk if something goes haywire.' 'Thirdly, [Kim] has nukes,' Webb said, referring to CIA estimates that North Korea already has two nuclear weapons and could potentially build five or six more in the next six months. Further, Webb told ITN, 'If we do go to war with Iraq, we should have a clear exit strategy. And without a clear exit strategy, we run the risk of basically falling into a strategic mousetrap' and being bogged down in the region for many years to come. Keeping troops in Iraq in the long term could be detrimental to U.S. military efforts worldwide, said Webb, pointing to the war on terrorism and 'hot spots' such as North Korea, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan that could require U.S. attention." But instead of listening to Jim Webb and others like him, we listened to the Bush Administration and we have 2747 killed and 20468 wounded American service personnel and 655,000 dead Iraqis. What has this policy gained us? We eliminated a regime that had no WMD. In doing so we accepted ownership of a country of 25 million and sparked a civil war. This has sponged up much of our available military, leaving us at a reduced capacity to deal with the looming North Korean threat. North Korea being a regime that had an active WMD program in 2003 and has now detonated a nuclear weapon. Jim Webb was right. It seems that our Iraqi exit strategy may now be to shift troops in Iraq to the Korean Peninsula to fight our 3rd war in 5 years. Why? Because the Bush Administration is incapable of conducting diplomacy. "I believe in talking to your enemies. I don't believe you restrict your conversations to your friends...In my view its not appeasement to talk to your enemies." - James Baker The Administration's non-policy has been to saber-rattle and name-call in place of negotiations. That has clearly failed us in North Korea (and Iraq, and Iran, and Palestine, and Syria, and Lebanon). Let me lay this out clearly: Jim Webb recognized where the real danger lay. George Bush had to ask "Why should I care about North Korea?" George Allen, who is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee has voted with Bush 100% of the time on foreign policy. We cannot afford to have George Allen rubber stamping Bush Administration foreign policy at such a pivotal and dangerous time in our Nation's history. We need people who will ask the right questions and steer policy in a wise direction. We need Jim Webb: "'I am not against fighting when fighting is necessary,' Webb told Inside the Navy during a sit-down interview last month. 'What I am for is making sure you are fighting the right war.'" PS: For more interesting (and sometimes terrifying) North Korea analysis, see Armchair Genralist and Richmond War Room. To contribute to Jim Webb for Senate, click James Webb, VA-Sen, Virginia, Virginia Politics, Politics, Jim Webb, News, 2006, Senate, George Allen, 2006 Races, Democrats, Republicans, Campaigns, Congress, Campaigns-Elections, macaca