Hello, Who's Calling? This is REALITY, Calling!

© 2006

Reality Check is in order! Here's some interesting speeches from Howard Dean in February '03 and John Kerry during his September '04 Presidential Debate.

First up Howard Dean:
We must remember, though, that Iraq is not the greatest danger we face today. Consider, to begin with, North Korea.

The Administration says it is wrong to draw a parallel between the situations in Iraq and North Korea, because those situations are quite different. I agree.

Iraq has let UN inspectors back in. North Korea has kicked them out.

Saddam Hussein does not have a clear path to acquiring nuclear weapons. North Korea may already have them - and is on a clear path to acquiring more.

Saddam Hussein has missiles that can go 40 miles farther than the 90-mile range allowed by the UN. North Korea has tested a three-stage intercontinental ballistic missile that might be able to reach California, Oregon, and Washington.

I marvel at the discipline of this Administration in sticking to its message - that Saddam is the greatest danger - regardless of world developments.

We have the most dangerous situation in East Asia in a decade - perhaps in five decades, and the Administration is treating it as a sideshow. The reason is that North Korea doesn't fit into any of the Administration's preconceived little boxes.

John Kerry's comments are in the comic.... But here is what he had to say yesterday about North Korea's testing of a nuclear weapon:
"First of all it represents a threat to the region and the potential for an arms race that involved Japan and South Korea and it is destabilizing, and it is dangerous," Kerry says. "But the second thing and perhaps equally important -- is that it represents a gigantic failure, a complete lapse of focus and of effort by this administration."

"There's been a deal that's been possible with North Korea for a number of years. I talked about it during the presidential campaign," Kerry says. "...The Administration has consistently refused to engage in bilateral talks. They've consistently failed to send the kind of negotiating team that Ronald Reagan sent to Gorbachev in Russia and the Soviet Union or Nixon to China. This is a disgraceful failure of leadership and of focus by the (Bush) Administration."

"Once again, while they're bogged down in Iraq, they've allowed other dangerous things to evolve," Kerry says. "The incompetence is really beyond description and America is paying for it in our security."
"This administration runs around the country beating its chest about security and how Democrats won't keep the country secure. They haven't kept it secure," Kerry says.

Glen Greenwald
Radio Iowa