Washington, Dec 31: Two former key officials in remarks published today urged President George W Bush to deal with both the Iraqi and North Korean crises simultaneously instead of waiting for solving the Iraq crisis first before tackling North Korea. "A North Korea with a burgeoning nuclear arsenal, a long-range missile programme and a record of selling weapons technology to others is a dangerous prospect- -for the direct threat it poses and the potential cascade of nuclear proliferation it could unleash in northeast Asia," wrote Samuel R Berger, former president Bush's National Security Adviser, and Robert L Gallucci, who negotiated the agreed framework on the nuclear issue with North Korea. In an article in the ‘Washington Post’, they warned that if the US decides to tackle one crisis first before dealing with the other, "It would send a chilling message that the US can be knocked off course in one arena by trouble-making in another."
They describe as unrealistic the administration's approach, which "Appears to be 'Iraq first, North Korea later.'" ‘The Post’ has strongly criticised Secretary of State Colin Powell for suggesting that North Korea already has a couple of nuclear bombs since the 1990s and it would not make much difference if it has half a dozen.
"The weapons themselves have never been confirmed. But the administration would be wrong to prematurely concede North Korea's standing as a nuclear power," it said in an editorial.
Bureau Report