Published on Tuesday, February 22, 2005 by the Baltimore Sun

Doomed to Fail

If America Keeps Marching, It Could Very Well Be in the Direction of a
Nuclear Apocalypse

by Scott Ritter
 
North Korea's dramatic public revelation that it possesses nuclear
weapons represents a stark challenge for the Bush administration.

The North Korean claim, if true, underscores the failure of President
Bush's nonproliferation policies that since the beginning of his first
term had been subordinated to a grander vision of regime change. That
policy was intended to transform strategically vital regions of the
world into Western-style democracies supportive of the United States
and the Bush administration's vision of American global dominance.

The intermingling of nonproliferation and regime change policies was
doomed to fail. One requires skillful multilateral diplomacy based on
the principles of uniform application of international law, the other
bold application of a unilateral doctrine of aggressive liberation
rhetoric backed by the real threat of military power. When blended, 
as the Bush administration did, unilateralism trumps multilateralism
every time. North Korea's announced accession to the nuclear club
represents the inevitable result.

The end of America's meaningful role as a promoter of global
nonproliferation can be traced to decisions made in the 1990s
regarding regime change in Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The United Nations
had embarked on a bold effort to roll back the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction through disarmament and, despite some
initial difficulties, scored a dramatic success.

It is now clear that Iraq, under pressure from U.N. weapons
inspectors, was disarmed of its WMD by 1991 and had dismantled and
destroyed the last vestiges of its weapons programs by 1996. But the
United States had, since 1991, committed to a policy of regime change
in Iraq, which required economic sanctions-based containment linked to
a continued finding of Iraqi noncompliance with its disarmament
obligation. 

(snip)

North Korea and Iran concluded from events leading to the U.S.
invasion of Iraq that the Bush administration did not regard
nonproliferation as an endgame but a tool designed to weaken 
a target state to the point that it could succumb to the grander 
U.S. policy objective of regime change.

Mr. Bush had stated that the world would be a better place with the
regimes in Pyongyang and Tehran removed. Therefore, all diplomatic
efforts - whether the six-party framework with North Korea or the
European Union-brokered negotiations with Iran - were regarded as
disingenuous fronts intended not to facilitate nonproliferation and
stability but rather instability and regime change.

With Iraq a model of the reality of America's unilateral militaristic
approach toward bringing about regime change, North Korea and Iran
have embarked on the only path available to either of them -
acquisition of an independent nuclear deterrent intended to forestall
what they perceive as irresponsible U.S. aggression.

The Bush administration has come face to face with the reality of the
failure of its policies. Rather than curtailing the proliferation of
nuclear weapons, the administration's crusade against global tyranny
has served as an accelerant in placing the most dangerous weapons
known to man in the hands of xenophobic regimes that have been backed
into a corner. 

(snip)

"Freedom is on the march," Mr. Bush has said. Unfortunately for the
United States, North Korea and Iran don't see it that way. And if
America keeps marching, it could very well be in the direction of 
a nuclear apocalypse.

Scott Ritter, a former intelligence officer and U.N. weapons inspector
in Iraq, is author of the forthcoming Iraq Confidential: The Untold
Story of America's Intelligence Conspiracy.

(c) 2005 Baltimore Sun

Full article at Common Dreams...
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0222-28.htm


Cheers, Steve..

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