mainstream Republicans, who argued that it left North Korea with
nuclear weapons and rewarded Pyongyang's intransigence.
The deal received surprisingly harsh comment from the leading
Republicans on two key committees in the House of Representatives,
this according to the telegraph, a british newspaper.
"Lifting sanctions and removing North Korea from the list of state
sponsors of terrorism flies in the face of history and rewards its
brutal dictator for shallow gestures," said Pete Hoekstra, the top
Republican on the House Intelligence Committee.
Telegraph did not say what the other committee it had in mind was, so
I do not know.
"Usually the word 'meltdown' applies to a nuclear reactor. In this
case it applies to Bush administration diplomacy which once aimed to
halt the North Korean programme and has now become an abject failure,"
said Richard Perle, chairman of the Pentagon defense policy board in
the run-up to the 2003 Iraq invasion. -- xon
Conservative Republicans — once President George W. Bush's closest
allies in efforts to confront North Korea's nuclear aspirations — came
out Thursday in strong opposition to Bush's decision to remove the
North from a U.S. terrorism blacklist.
But with only 45 days until the change takes effect, there appears to
be little that frustrated lawmakers can do. To block the North's
removal, opponents would have to push legislation through a Congress
controlled by Democrats who have largely favored the administration's
efforts at engaging the North.
"It's shameful," John Bolton, Bush's former U.S. ambassador at the
United Nations, said of Bush's actions. "This represents the final
collapse of Bush's foreign policy."
"Profound disappointment" was Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's reaction.
Republican Rep. Ed Royce said the only thing likely to derail the
North's removal from the terror list in the next 45 days was a
disclosure of additional "North Korean skullduggery."
Bush's announcement on the terror list came after North Korea handed
over Thursday a declaration of its nuclear work — nearly six months
after it missed a promised deadline to present a "full and complete"
nuclear list.
On Thursday, Democrats cautiously praised Bush's Republican
administration for making progress — a reflection of how Bush changed
foreign policy tactics, in his final term in office, as he dealt with
plummeting popularity and the war in Iraq. Democrats had previously
criticized Bush for not directly talking with North Korea about its
nuclear program.
Democratic Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, called the North's submission of a declaration
"encouraging." "Now the crucial work of verifying the declaration can
begin," he said.
Another California Democrat, Rep. Brad Sherman, chairman of the House
Foreign Affairs terrorism and nonproliferation subcommittee, had a
directly opposite response. He issued a statement late Thursday that
alleged the North Korean declaration was incomplete in that it lacked
full accounting for North Korea's uranium enrichment, its existing
nuclear weapons and its nuclear proliferation activities. Sherman said
he would introduce a resolution to keep North Korea on the terror list
until it produced those missing elements.
The terror list removal and the U.S. erasing trade sanctions under the
Trading With the Enemy Act are seen as crucial to making progress in
negotiations meant to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons. Failure
to follow through would infuriate Pyongyang, which views the terrorist
designation as evidence of hostile U.S. intentions.
Bush said the North's declaration was a positive first step, and the
White House said it would be closely watching the North during the
45-day period.
But, for critics, damage has already been done. The North, Bolton
said, has gained "political and economic legitimacy" by the
concessions. He said there was "clear evidence" that North Korea has
aided Syria in a nuclear program and helped Iran's missile program —
both those countries are also on the U.S. terror blacklist.
"To take North Korea off that list makes a mockery of the president's
notion that cooperating with terrorism means you'll be treated as if
you're part of the terrorist network," Bolton said.
The North is expected in the declaration to say how much plutonium it
has produced at its main reactor facility at Yongbyon. But critics
pointed out that the declaration will not illuminate North Korea's
suspected program of developing weapons fueled by enriched uranium.
Royce said the declaration was late and incomplete, and that it
contained nothing about the number of bombs the North has.
"How do you have a meaningful declaration of your nuclear program
without saying how many bombs you have?" Royce asked. "We've got the
danger that concessions embolden and entrench a hostile and
untrustworthy regime, and we have a signal to other proliferating
regimes that nuclear weapons will be rewarded without ever having to
give them up." -- from the international herald tribune. -- xon
