McCain Raps Clintons On North Korea

Leader In GOP Presidential Derby Takes Swipe At Democratic Front-Runner

(AP)  Republican Sen. John McCain on Tuesday accused former President Clinton, the husband of his potential 2008 White House rival, of failing to act in the 1990s to stop North Korea from developing nuclear weapons.

“I would remind Senator (Hillary) Clinton and other Democrats critical of the Bush administration's policies that the framework agreement her husband's administration negotiated was a failure,” McCain said at a news conference after a campaign appearance for Republican Senate candidate Mike Bouchard.

“The Koreans received millions and millions in energy assistance. They've diverted millions of dollars of food assistance to their military,” he said.

Democrats have argued President Clinton presented his successor with a framework for dealing with North Korea and the Republican fumbled the opportunity. In October 2000, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright made a groundbreaking visit to Pyongyang to explore a missile deal with Chairman Kim Jong Il. There was even talk of a visit by President Clinton.

Reports this week suggesting North Korea tested a nuclear device prompted a number of Democrats to criticize Bush, arguing that he focused on Iraq, a country without weapons of mass destruction, while ignoring legitimate threats from Pyongyang.

The criticism took a presidential campaign turn on Tuesday as McCain, the Arizona senator considered the Republican front-runner for the party nod, assailed Clinton's husband and mentioned her by name. The New York senator is considered her party's leading candidate in 2008.

Sen. Clinton's spokesman dismissed McCain's criticism and argued that it was time for a new policy from the president.

“Now is not the time to play politics of the most dangerous kind — with our policy on North Korea,” Philippe Reines, spokesman for Sen. Clinton, said in a statement. “History is clear that nothing the Bush administration has done has stopped the North Koreans from openly testing a nuclear weapon and presenting a new danger to the region of the world.”

Five years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Bush “has allowed the 'axis of evil' to spin out of control. Our Iraq policy is a failure. Iran is going nuclear and North Korea is testing nuclear weapons,” the statement said.

A spokesman for President Clinton, Ben Yarrow, said in a statement that it was “unfortunate that anyone would attempt to rewrite history to score political points at a time when we need to address this serious threat.”

“For eight years during the Clinton administration, there was no new plutonium production, no nuclear weapons tests and therefore no additional nuclear weapons developed on President Clinton's watch,” said Yarrow, who added that Colin Powell, Bush's secretary of State, endorsed Clinton's policy toward North Korea in 2001.

McCain's criticism also elicited a strong response from Democratic Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 presidential nominee and a potential 2008 candidate.

“He must be trying to burnish his credentials for the nomination process,” said Kerry, who labeled McCain's comments “flat politics and incorrect.”

“The truth is the Clinton administration knew full well they didn't have a perfect agreement. But at least they were talking. At least we had inspectors going in and we knew where the (nuclear fuel) rods were. This way, we don't know where the rods are, the rods are gone. There are no inspectors. Ask any American which way is better,” Kerry said.

The Massachusetts senator made the remarks in Nevada during a campaign appearance with Elizabeth Carter, wife of Democratic Senate candidate Jack Carter.

In U.S.-North Korea relations, the initial breakthrough occurred in October 1994 when U.S. negotiators persuaded North Korea to freeze its nuclear program, with onsite monitoring by U.N. inspectors. In exchange, the United States, with input from South Korea and Japan, promised major steps to ease North Korea's acute energy shortage.

These commitments were inherited by the Bush administration, which made clear almost from the outset that it believed the Clinton policy ignored key elements of North Korea's activities, especially the threat posed by the hundreds of thousands of troops on permanent duty along the Demilitarized Zone with South Korea.

McCain, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he backed tough U.N. sanctions against North Korea in response to the reported test. The measures, he said, should include a military embargo, financial and trade sanctions and the right to inspect all cargo in and out of North Korea.

McCain also called on China to “step up to the plate” and vote for sanctions and rejected calls for one-on-one talks between the United States and North Korea.

“The worst thing we could do is to accede to North Korea's demand for bilateral talks,” McCain said. “When has rewarding North Korea's bad behavior ever gotten us anything more than worse behavior?”

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, speaking during a debate Tuesday with his Republican rival for the Senate, accused the Bush administration of walking away from relationships the Clinton administration had developed.

“When the North Korean ambassador came to the United States, he had to go to New Mexico to meet Bill Richardson, who had been at the United Nations, because he didn't have anyone else to talk to,” Kennedy said. “The United States is the heavy in this. The United States has to engage. This administration has to have direct contact with North Korea.”

[nynative1340]

Actually, if you don't want to admit that the buck stops here and now, you could say it began in the early 50s when we lost that conflict and left Korea divided.

The last chance we had to stop North Korea's nuclear development was in 2003 when the UN inspectors were thrown out and most of the nuclear 'stuff' was all in one location. Since negotiations didn't work, we could have bombed them and wiped out their nuclear capability. But, alas, we were chasing non-existent WMD in Iraq.

[nynative1340]

You're defnitely a hateful person, janem...

[oleander8]

I am so disappointed in Mr McCain. I thought he was one of the good-guys, but his ambition appears to be getting in the way of his previously commendable independence.

[mjv2944]

Hey folks, it don't matter, repubs or dems they both have failed the American people. There is more than enough blame to spread around. I use to think a lot of McCain, but he has slid into the same grove as the rest of the worthless politicians that are in the congress. They have screwed this country up royally.

[exusmcsgt]

The falsity of McCain's assessment lies in the fact that the N. Koreans did not develop nuclear weapons on Clinton's watch, but rather during the 6 years Bush has held the chair.

Criticizing a plan that held the N. Korean program in check and not attributing the blame to the administration that fostered a development of N. Korean nukes is without merit or logic.

[janemcgreeve]

One more comment, NYNative,

Speaking of family values, great - do bring up an aberration like Foley. Yet if we pointed out those similiar perverts in your party - namely Gerry Studds, who STAYED IN OFFICE, Barney Frank, who STAYED IN OFFICE, or Jim McGreevey, who thank goodness did resign only after destroying his wife in public - well, a little Neo-Fat like you would accuse us of Gay Bashing, right? Well, how about the other Dem perverts - Clinton, Ted Kennedy, and Gary Condom, oops, Condit. They also stayed in office.

Care to call for their resignations? - too late on Clinton's account. Or are you waiting for Plastic Princess Pelosi and Barbie 'Ho Boxer to do so?

[janemcgreeve]

And your October surprise was the nukes of Kim, courtesy of Billy Clinton, hetero pervert, and the gutless bigot James Peanut Boy Carter aka Howdy Doody Junior.

Not to mention Her Incompetence Herself, Miss Piggy NoBright, who when Clinton gave Kim economic aid so he could proceed with his nukes went to Pyongyang to dance the hoochie koo with the baby starver. Funnily enough, about a month later she ran red-faced after Yasser, the Aids ridden Babykiller and 9 time visitor to the CLINTON White House because Yasser wanted to kill.

So much for Democratic achievements, oops, make that appeasements.

[janemcgreeve]

Oh pleeeeze NYNative, next thing you'll make an excuse for what Bin Laden did to NYC. You're living on Indian land, you know. Care to offer it back to them?

If not, then stop ranting like the sick little Fascist that you are. We overthrew Mossadeq, and rightly so. The pissant was unstable - and if he didn't take Iran into the Soviet camp then, who knows where it would have ended up. As it was, it did end up as an American ally for the next 3 decades, under a leader many, many times more tolerant - yes, even with SAVAK, then it has been under the Ayatollahs.

Until Fartbrain Carter with his pious harangues about Human Rights (funny his hate of the Shah when he was shipping the House of Saud advanced weaponry) chose to betray him. Know what Carter is writing about now? He's writing a vicious anti-Jewish tome about how nice Yasser Arafat was and how the Palestinians should be pitied.
For what? Doing to Jews what Bin Laden did to us?

So make your dumb excuses for us intervening in Iran. We were right then - and too bad we didn't have a President in 1977 who had guts and brains. We had the peanut fascist and coward.
Care to make an excuse for the guy who equals Jim Buchanan as our worst President - with Clinton coming in next?

[trueprogress]

Some things can not be solved with diplomacy alone.

That some countries are evil will not change by talking to them.

[nynative1340]

Yep, janem, neocons are so patriotic that not a one of them has served in the military. They're all too busy furthering their own greedy agenda.

You must be one p-i-s-s-e-d off woman to spew the ***** that comes out of your mouth.

BTW: The buck stops with Bush now, and bin Laden is still out there, laughing at the bumbling moron. I hopefully thought that capturing bin Laden would be Bush's October Surprise, but, lo and behold, his October Surprise was Foley the pedophile.

BTW: The Ayatollah was the result of the fledgling democracy we overthrew in 1953 (Ike - Republican?) and installed a vicious dictator named the Shaw, just because we liked his oil. It was Nixon who gave him F-14 aircraft, the top of the line in the early 70s. The citizens of Iran finally got tired of the terror tactics of the Shaw and threw him out, and the U.S. gave him, a terrorist in his own country, sanction. The tragic result of all this 'mismanagement of foreign affairs' was the Ayatollah and now the current democratically elected terrorist president of Iran.

Learn your history, girl!

Politicians by their very nature are greedy liars; all of them. They get elected on their promises and then go do their own thing, which is usually whatever it takes to enhance their own wealth and power.

The Republican Party is the 'self-proclaimed' party of 'Family Values.' What have they done for family values lately.