Dumbya confirms he's a "major league asshole" with our foreign policy

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February 20, 2002

North Korea Safe From U.S. Attack, Bush Says in Seoul

By ELISABETH BUMILLER

ANMUNJOM, South Korea, Wednesday, Feb. 20 — President Bush said today in Seoul that the United States had no intentions of invading or attacking North Korea and that his goal in the Korean peninsula was peace.

In remarks meant to soothe the fears and anger of South Koreans about what the president has called an "axis of evil" made up of Iraq, Iran and North Korea, Mr. Bush said he fully supported the so-called sunshine policy of negotiations with the North embraced by the South Korean president, Kim Dae Jung.

Mr. Bush said dialogue with North Korea was not inconsistent with the tough "axis of evil" talk he first used in the State of the Union address three weeks ago.

Although the United States has never given any indication that it would attack North Korea, an action that American defense officials have said they considered inconceivable, Mr. Bush's remarks showed the extent to which he has had to reassure American allies at a time when his harsh words are still rebounding around the world.

"Let me explain why I made the comments I did," Mr. Bush said in a joint news conference with Mr. Kim. The president said he spoke out because he believed in freedom and was "troubled by a regime that tolerated starvation.

"I worry about a regime that is closed and not transparent," he added. "I'm deeply concerned about the people of North Korea."

Mr. Bush said several times during the news conference that an offer the United States made for talks with North Korea last June had not been answered and that contact between the two nations was now up to Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader.

"We're more than willing to speak out publicly and speak out in private with the North Korean leadership," he said. "And again I wonder why they haven't taken up our offer."

Mr. Bush explained his intentions toward North Korea, saying: "We're a peaceful people. We have no intention of invading North Korea. South Korea has no intention of attacking North Korea. Nor does America. We're purely defensive, and the reason we have to be defensive is because there is a threatening position of the DMZ, so we long for peace. It's in our nation's interest that we achieve peace on the peninsula."

Mr. Bush said it was not counterproductive to lash out at a country and its leader and then expect the leader to sit down agreeably for talks. As evidence, he cited President Ronald Reagan's success in dealing with the Soviet Union and said the South Korean president had reminded him of that this morning in Seoul.

"During our discussion, President Kim reminded me a little bit about American history when he said President Reagan referred to Russia as the Evil Empire and then was able to have constructive dialogue with Mr. Gorbachev," he said, referring to Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader.

Similarly, said Mr. Bush, "I will not change my opinion on Kim Jong Il until he frees his people and accepts genuine proposals from countries like South Korea and the United States for dialogue, until he proves to the world that he has a good heart."

In his remarks, Kim Dea Jung reiterated that there was disagreement between the United States and South Korea over North Korea, although he did not express any opinion about the "axis of evil," which has undermined his position with South Koreans terrified of war with the North. "There was some indication there might be some difference of opinion,' Mr. Kim said. "We were able to reconfirm that there was no difference of opinion between Korea and the United States."

Mr. Kim said he and Mr. Bush had agreed to work together to stop the North from developing weapons of mass destruction and to push for removal of missiles on its border that were within easy striking distance of Seoul, the South's capital.

After meeting with Mr. Kim, Mr. Bush traveled to the edge of the demilitarized zone to deliver a speech there.

The word "evil" resurfaced again before the speech on a tour of the DMZ, where Mr. Bush reacted in disgust when he learned that axes used to kill two American servicemen were in a museum across the border to the north. "No wonder I think they're evil," he said.

In his formal remarks, he said people on both sides of the border wanted to live without the threat of violence, famine and war. "I see a peninsula that is one day united in commerce and cooperation instead of divided by barbed wire and fear," said Mr. Bush, with Mr. Kim at his side. "Korean grandparents should be free to spend their final years with those they love. Korean children should never starve while a massive army is fed. No nation should be a prison for its own people."

The White House arranged for the speech to be delivered for maximum photographic effect from the Dorasan Station, a sleek new facility near a new rail line and a new road that are to connect the North and South for the first time since the Korean War. South Korea finished its stretch of the road and rail line up to the demilitarized zone this month, just in time for Mr. Bush's visit, but North Korea has yet to start construction. Mr. Bush called on the North to finish the road and the rail line.

At a meeting in the northern capital, Pyongyang, in June 2000, Mr. Kim and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, agreed to relink the two nations by road and by rail. Kim Dae Jung triumphantly returned from the trip declaring that "a new day is beginning," but he has been frustrated by the North's failure to follow through on this part of the deal.

Today, Mr. Bush's remarks were far more regretful rather than antagonistic, although he did repeat a sentence from his State of the Union address that "We must not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most dangerous weapons."

He literally cast the division between North and South as one between darkness and light. "When satellites take pictures of the Korean peninsula at night the South is awash in light," he said. "The north is almost completely dark."

Mr. Bush said the road connecting the two Koreas was a solution. "Traveling south on that road, the people of the North would see not a threat but a miracle of peaceful development — Asia's third-largest economy, risen from the ruins of war," he said.

Mr. Bush is on the second leg of a six-day visit to Japan, South Korea and China, a trip that was to have taken place last fall but was rescheduled after Sept. 11.

He is to travel to Beijing on Thursday. He said in his news conference that he did not know if he would meet with any political dissidents or Christian activists, but that in his last visit with the Chinese leader, Jiang Zemin, he had put his concerns about religious freedoms in China in the context of his own faith.

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So let's see if we have this straight... Iraq, Iran, and North Korea are all considered part of his "axis of evil". Last week he decided that he wants to invade Iraq and is making plans to do so.

Yet, when it comes to North Korea, we are a "peaceful people". Even though they are still part of the same "axis of evil" as Iraq, we have no intention of invading them, lol!

I don't suppose Dumbya considers Iraq MORE "evil" than North Korea because they happen to have a lot more oil? Naaaah, he'd NEVER do that!

-- (axis @ of. evil), February 21, 2002

Answers

Hey what do you expect? Our friends in the oil biz can make a hell of a lot more profit if we steal oil from Iraq instead of buying it! Besides, after 911 it was easy to convince the people that all ragheads are terrorists. Most Americans are so dumb they are just eating up that "axis of evil" stuff, so they are behind us all the way! *snicker-snicker*

-- Tricky Dick (The Dick, Bush, @ and Colon. Show), February 21, 2002.

Word is that Dubya wanted to include China in his axis of evil speech, since he didn't like the way they captured our spy plane. Rumsfeld said no fucking way, he would quit if the Idiot did that. Instead of a war on terror, it would become World War III.

Little Dubya threw a tantrum as usual, and pouted a lot because he couldn't do it his way, but he finally said okay, he would wait until next year to beat up China. He figured it is probably best to whoop the smaller countries first so that China will see how tough he is and start shaking in their boots.

-- (Dubya @ child. in a man's body), February 22, 2002.


Carter Rips Bush on 'Axis' Label

The Associated Press Thursday, February 21, 2002; 8:53 PM

ATLANTA –– Former President Jimmy Carter on Thursday criticized President Bush's labeling three countries an "axis of evil," saying the statement was "overly simplistic and counterproductive."

Carter said Bush's statement seriously jeopardized progress made with North Korea, Iran and Iraq in recent years.

"I think it will take years before we can repair the damage done by that statement," said Carter, speaking at an Emory University conference on the impact of terrorism.

Carter also said the growing gap between the rich and the poor continues to be the world's greatest challenge, although he noted that many terrorists falsely claim to be among the world's destitute.

"We are very concerned now about terrorism. Osama bin Laden is not poor, he's very rich – and the people who committed those horrible acts on Sept. 11 were not poor," he said.

-- Jimmy Carter (bush @ jerk. off), February 23, 2002.


"I think it will take years before we can repair the damage done by that statement,"

You got THAT right, Jimmy. Not to mention the thousands of other ways that Bush is fucking up life on Planet Earth.

-- (we're@going.backwards), February 23, 2002.


Dumbya wasn't even elected. Repeal the 5 bozos on the Supreme Court, and go ISLAM!

-- enron (we'll@never.forget), February 23, 2002.


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