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BREAKING: Bush Administration to Ask Congress on Thursday to REMOVE North Korea from TERROR WATCH LIST
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(Asst. Secretary of State for East Asia Christopher Hill)
Tonight, The Washington Note confirmed that the Bush administration will "ask Congress" to de-list North Korea from America's "terrorist watch list." This request will be made on Thursday -- if there are no last minute, unexpected interventions.
Rumors have been kicking around that this might be happening, but no administration officials would confirm until today that this was finally decided.
During the day today, I spoke with officials from the State Department, the CIA, the Department of Defense, President Bush's staff, and the Office of the Vice President -- and several sources from these departments confirmed that the administration was moving forward on formally asking Congress to remove North Korea from the controversial watch list -- which is seen as a key confidence building step by North Korea and China in moving towards North Korea's eventual return to the nuclear non-proliferation club.
Sources also tell TWN that while the Bush administration will take this step Thursday, Vice President Cheney's office was a dissenting voice in the administration's internal discussions.
While North Korea's behavior continues to be erratic and often troubling, the Bush administration's decision will be considered a major victory for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Deputy Secretary John Negroponte, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and others -- but the real winner is Department of State Asst. Secretary for East Asia Affairs Christopher Hill -- who has been under almost constant assault from John Bolton and others opposed to deal-making with North Korea.
More on the implications tomorrow.
-- Steve Clemons
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Reader Comments (15) - post a comment
No doubt voluntary compliance has more fans than ever in DC.
Don Bacon, despite the flippancy of your comment you do have black humor. You consider the terrorists who are killing the citizens of Iraq as “citizens†not defeated? I’m sure that if you had a modicum of the talents and imagination of Orson Welles you would have written the script of CITIZEN bin LADEN.
There is a strong movement in South Korea for better relations with the North, which includes a strong dislike of the US dissing the North (as in Terror Watch List). Also Western corporations are moving into the North for cheap labor.
The US is now going through a major base realignment in the South and needs cooperation and money from the South. There will be new bases built, and provisions for GI families as the South changes from a combat area to a larger outpost of the US imperial empire. The US wants 50-50 cost sharing with the South.
Finally, North Korea has no oil (like Iraq and Iran) and isn't even near any (like Afghanistan).
It's a HEAD FAKE.
It'll make Bush seem reasonable when he does NOT "ask Congress" whether it's ok to bomb Iran.
See how that works?
Ask Congress if it's ok to NOT to go to war with sovereign nations that pose no threat; DON'T ask Congress when you DO want to unilaterally attack sovereign nations that have not attacked America.
This is the only time you'll ever find George W. Bush asking anybody's permission for anything.
I doubt anyone can assert Bush made this "request" was undertaken in good faith.
can't resist: the sound you hear is wingnuts heads exploding in unison.
Now wait for the spin.
The "victorious strategy" in Iraq has resulted in a need for higher US troop levels than a year ago, when the troops are needed more in Afghanistan. Plus the surge's goal of improving the Iraqi government and its services has failed miserably. Some strategy. Put "victorious strategies" down as just another cover story for abject American failure.
Over five years of the "world's finest military" occupying a small defeated country and its citizens are still undefeated. So who's got the "victorious strategy?"
Gee, Kotz, ya musta missed the fresh GAO report that implies that Petreaus is, uh, well, trying to put lipstick on an anus.
Begging your pardon, but Rice said as much in a speech at the Heritage Foundation on June 17.
What this tells us is that the US has confirmed that North Korea has functional nukes, now. Once again the bully kow-tows in the face of a real threat.
“To de-list North Korea from America’s terrorist watch list†is a big tick to the Bush administration. But the biggest tick of all will be when a post-Bush administration will remove Iraq from its terrorist list as a result of the Bush-Petraeus Surge and the magnificent performance of the troops in implementing the victorious strategy.
Entering into or removing from the US-perceived terrorist listed states, the US administeration has its own self defined way or criteria to declare a country a terrorist state, this US policy is considered by many as nothing but Washington's entrapment to pressurise a state to follow the American dictates as have been the case of Libya and North Korea and now the seeminly US's venturing attempt to do the same regarding Iran's nuclear programme.
From Asia Times Online...
A secret US handshake with Pyongyang
The announcement by United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that North Korea will this week release a complete account of its nuclear activities has raised suspicions about Washington's over-eagerness to accommodate Pyongyang, and what else may have been promised, and at what cost. - Ralph A Cossa
I'd love to see that TWN was the first to report this. And I think Steve is probably right. It seems to line up with what I've heard lately.
Big win for Hill.
axis of evil - cheney, bush, rove.... 1 down, 2 to go..
Axis of evil? What axis of evil?
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