North Korea Tests Nuke, While U.S. Troops Die in Iraq

[Bob Geiger]

In the wake of today's news that North Korea has announced a successful underground detonation of a nuclear weapon, we find that three Marines were killed in action in Iraq's Anbar Province on Sunday, bringing to 32 the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq in just the first eight days of October.

What more grim reminder could Americans possibly get of the dangerous toll of having an incompetent ideologue like George W. Bush in the White House and a rubber-stamp Republican Congress showing no oversight over his catastrophic rule? We have as proof today the news that a true danger to America in North Korea has gone ignored and unchecked by the Bush administration, while we continue to hemorrhage blood and money in a war of choice, against a country that posed no danger whatsoever to us.

What we can expect to unfold with sickening predictability, will be Bush and the Republican party citing North Korea's action as a reason they should be allowed to stay in power -- you know, when in doubt, try to scare the American people.

Democrats need to forcefully point out that just the opposite is true -- that North Korea has become such a hazard to the world because of Bush and the do-nothing Republican Congress's reign of error and that our country has been undeniably weakened because of their total incompetence and corruption.

My erudite blogging colleague, Sean-Paul Kelley, at the Agonist, who called this episode "a massive, unmitigated Bush Administration foreign policy failure," sums it up quite well in his piece today:

"North Korea would not have gone nuclear had the Bush Administration not arrogantly brushed aside the previous agreement with North Korea and embraced a hardline against them upon assuming office in 2001. All of this was preventable. Since 2001 They have done nothing but ignore the North Koreans, ignored their nuclear program and ignored our interests in the region. That's all that needs to be said about this event. It could have been prevented and was not."

That about says it all. While it may turn out that some secondary reports saying that the test was a dud are true, that's not really the point, is it? North Korea is knocking on the nuclear door and it's another brick in the wall of shame that is the Bush administration.

And, again, while this has been allowed to develop, we are closing in on 2,800 brave men and women lost in a war about nothing.

You can read more from Bob at BobGeiger.com.

[Tom Rinaldo]

1. Trust Republicans with any National Security Mole Hill...

...and watch it grow to a mountain. We can no longer afford to let the Republican Party masquerade as the Party that knows how to keep America safe. They have gotten away with that for too long and it has contributed to them staying in power. Republicans have to be challenged on this point directly and repeatedly. Republican blunders, Republican bluster, and Republican blindness has done more to put Americans at risk than the acts of all of our enemies combined. There is nothing more effective at sending a potential crisis totally out of control than repeated mismanagement of it by those who are entrusted to keep us safe. Under Bush, it's as if we had fire fighters blowing gasoline out of their hoses at any burning ember they can find.

[GusConsultore]

15. North korea failure in Bush foreign policy

The whole world sees the North Korean issue as a failure in Bush's policy. Only American MSM doesn't make the connection. Surveys opinions from press around the world

http://www.miserywatch.com/2006/10/north_korea_fal.html

[newyawker99]

16. Hi GusConsultore!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[civildisoBDence]

2. If we can't defeat the remnants of a crippled and divided Iraq,

what makes anyone think we could defeat a million man army of brainwashed North Koreans?

2800 dead in an unjust, unnecessary, unwinnable war.

Just damn.

Newsprism

[twaddler01]

3. I think about this everyday.

Sad this administration focused on a hopeless war in Iraq "to spread freedom" when all of this other stuff was going on in North Korea the whole time. What else has this administration missed?

[MGD]

10. What else has this administration missed?

Iran. The axis of evil is kicking the shit out of the axis of incompetence.

[TheBaldyMan]

4. Just saw Bush condemn N Korea for ignoring international opinion!

This from the man that lambasted Mugabe over corrupt elections in Zimbabwe and unilaterally went to war in Iraq in the face of international condemnation.

Anyone think this means that the latest outbound carrier group will get diverted to SE Asia? Will it still be steaming for Iran?

The Chimperor should maybe think before he speaks, he makes the US into a laughing stock.

[The Wizard]

14. The Iraq occupation has

exposed our weak underbelly, a comparatively small standing army and no political will to institute conscription. Our military is compromised in the quagmire known as Iraq-nam. Our standing in the civilized world has been reduced to idiots at a professional wrestling chanting USA USA USA.
If Rove thinks launching an attack before the elections will help the GOP, there will be an attack followed by Bushigula going on TV with his stern face persona saying the United States had no other choice. If he attacks Iran expect to see half a million Iranian armed forces march into Iraq and aggressively hunt American military units that are burned out and disgusted with the never ending deployments without good cause.
The neocons have forgotten rule number one: When in a hole, stop digging.
Wars are easy to start and hard to stop. We now have a president from Texas who took office under unusual circumstances and started a war predicated on lies. Everything changes once the lying starts and bullets fly.
Bush may be trying some saber rattling, but everyone knows we are short of the ultimate weapon, the combat infantryman, 11-B.
The entire Administration belongs in the Graybar Hotel and License Plate Factory. They have looted the treasury and left us defenseless with lower living standards than when they seized power.
Me thinks Bushigula's real approval ratings are around 15%, as within any group there are 15% assholes.
We are the victims of the biggest hoax and robbery in history. Now how do we recover our stolen money? Restoring our good name will take longer.

[Castleman]

5. I bet if North Korea had shitloads of oil we'd have resolved it

already.
Haliburton couldn't make jack in profits off of a Korean war, so no point in it...
So they might nuke us all, as long as the ol' bank book is overflowing with cash, who cares?

[newyawker99]

17. Hi Castleman!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[LongTomH]

6. The media ho's are already spinning this as good for Repubs!

Wolf Blitzer, on CNN's Situation Room, sounded like he was about to have an orgasm over North Korea. Wolfie, that little shit, was glowing over the possibility that this would distract voters from the Foley scandal, and turn their attention toward "security matters." Security, at least in the media's alternate reality, is always a good Republican issue.

God, I hate these people! :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

[MGD]

11. There's no way this NK deal is better for Repubs than the Foley mess

This is the coup de grace to the "Republicans keep us safer" meme.

[pinto]

7. "reign of error" ...Great tag, right on point. Thanks.

[calimary]

9. I'd vote for that meme myself! Reign of Error. Sounds like a MOST

excellent bumper sticker!

Here's what I wrote about it...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2873896

[bigtree]

8. another festering failure erupting in the face of Bush's negligence

k&r

[IWantAChange]

12. I can't agree more BG - but the DNC has to 'Step Up' and

take the fight to the Repugs right now. They are back on their heels and some heavy duty ads hammering away at how this happened on the Repugs watch will put them on the defensive and counteract the sleaze that Rove has waiting in the wings.



I can only hope that the nation comes to its senses and gets rid of these incompetents before the unthinkable happens.........

:nuke:

[truedelphi]

13. Uh What am I missing here?

I thought that it was accepted as fact that not a single seismologist anywhere reported any errant
data - that is, no scientific proof that there was an explosion of the type that would indicate that
north Korea had actually exploded the nuke...

All they have done, to my understanding, is to say that they have done it.