& why aren't we threatening N. Korea instead of Iran?

[Philosoraptor]

Kim Jung Il is ACTUALLY testing nukes openly and publicly, and actually is crazy as hell, but bush has a hard on for Iran. Is it because bush is a chickenshit war profiteer?

Too chickenshit to confront N. Korea because they actually have nuke weapons of mass destruction, or because their ain't no black gold, Iranian crude, in them there N. Korean hills?

Maybe its because they're not Muslims, I'm just grasping the air for ideas and answers.

[Virginia Dare]

1. The Chimp spoke yesterday...

we are now fighting an "idealogy". I guess we don't have a problem with crazy-ass brutal dictators who actually HAVE nuclear weapons and threaten to use them, unless they are an "islamo-fascist".

[maine_raptor]

2. One reason I can think of

There are some ungodly number of artillery tubes in the North within easy range of Seoul, many hidden with mountain caves (and thereby not easy targets). In addition, the North Korean Army is at a million plus with a huge number pile of armor sitting just inside of their side of the border.

Taking on N.Korea would NOT be a cakewalk.

That and China, where all the chips needed for all our smart weapons are made, wouldn't be too please be such a move.

[Yupster]

9. It's not our business

If North Korea wants to nuke anyone it won't be us.

They can nuke South Korea, Japan, China or Russia each of which is fully capable of kicking North Korea's ass. Every problem in the world does not have to be ours to handle.

Bush has been very clear (as clear as Bush can be anyway) that the US is not going to give Korea stuff or even meet alone with Korea. Bush is telling the other countries of the region that this is their problem, not his.

[Kutjara]

3. Pure cowardice.

Shrub won't risk pissing-off NK, because of the risk that Kim will lob a nuke at Japan, S. Korea or maybe Hawaii. It doesn't take much to stick a bomb on a boat and putter off to Honolulu.

Iran doesn't have any nukes, so it's a much safer country to threaten. We wouldn't want to actually take on anyone we couldn't easily handle, now, would we? Although, if the Iraq debacle is anything to go by, the countries we CAN actually handle are probably only those smaller than Andorra or San Marino.

[ThomWV]

4. Because N. Korea Does Not Threaten Israel

And god help us if anyone should threaten Israel.

What if our dear blessed savior was to return and Israel wasn't there. Talk about a bridge to nowhere.

[tuvor]

5. He is soft on defense.

He hasn't defended America against anything except for his favourite impotent bogeymen.

[Brewman_Jax]

6. The big bully mentality

bullies don't threaten anyone they think can hurt them back.

[mmonk]

7. N. Korea has nuclear weapons and the current

policy doesn't regard them as a threat to American hegemony which is partly tied to the currency tied to oil component. They are more of a nuisance and another thing to blame the democrats such as Clinton on.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

8. Several possible reasons.

The most obvious is that it's too late to stop N. Korea aquiring nuclear weapons, so it makes sense to cut losses, but with Iran it may still be possible to prevent.

Iran is an Islamic country, and an enemy of Israel, and of the US. This makes Americans - especially the American right - extra paranoid about it.

N. Korea is basically isolationist - Kim Jung Il just wants to be left alone to oppress his own people in peace - whereas Iran has a habit of using proxy groups to attack its neighbours.

Iran is in the Middle East, a region that gets disproportionately much attention from the US electorate. As such, it's in the interests of the US government to be seen to be dealing with it.

Iran is not in the backyard of China, a power the US doesn't want to offend.