Here’s a tidbit. In October 2002, U.S. officials went to North Korea in order to confront Kim Jong-il about his active pursuit of enriched uranium and nuclear weapon components. The U.S. even brought evidence with them.

To the amazement of the U.S., Kim openly admitted that he had obtained centrifuges required for processing highly enriched uranium needed for nuclear weapons. Here is where the U.S. dropped the ball. The U.S. assumed that they had at least several more years before North Korea would be capable of making even a rudimentary nuclear weapon.

So, Kim admits to having an active program for the processing of uranium. He agrees to stop all attempts at producing enriched uranium. Oh, but by the way, North Korea also had radioactive fuel rods previously used in a nuclear power plant. These fuel rods were capable of being processed into plutonium. Plutonium can also be used for making nuclear weapons - and it can be done faster and cheaper than using uranium.

The Clinton administration managed to get the North Koreans to agree to international inspectors monitoring those rods and nuclear research. Of course, this agreement didn’t last very long before Kim eventually pulled out of the agreement, kicked the weapons inspectors out of North Korea, and regained control of the fuel rods. I must admit that I don’t know what happened to those fuel rods, but I sure hope the Bush administration does.

Here is the kicker -These activities took place just prior to “Operation Iraqi Freedom”, aka the Second Gulf war. So there we were - knowing that Kim Jong-il had access to weapons grade plutonium, and apparently isn’t afraid to use them. On the other hand, we begin a new war against Iraq, on the premise that Saddam Hussein could be researching weapons of mass destruction. Iraq wasn’t even a real danger at that time.

To recap - We have evidence and a confession from Kim Jong-il that they are working on nuclear weapons. Then we have vague reports but no evidence that Hussein is also working on the development of weapons of mass destruction.

The Bush Administration seems to have a history of misjudging the military situations we get into. They underestimated the Iraqis. I just hope they don’t continue to underestimate North Korea. Because as things stand now, we simply can’t be effective fighting simultaneous wars.

This nonsense with North Korea is just getting too crazy, and I need to get this off my chest.

Let me see if I get this straight. We went to war on the incorrect assumption that Iraq was - or already had - developed “weapons of mass destruction”, i.e. nuclear weapons. There has recently been talk about going to war with Iran over their nuclear ambitions. Now North Korea, who has been threatening to do so for quite some time, has apparently detonated their first nuclear weapon experiment. Our response is to shake our finger at them, give China a hug for agreeing with us for once, and now we sit back and see what happens.

Now, I never have been an advocate of the 2nd war with Iraq, and am not advocating war with Iran or North Korea. But I am trying to figure this out. Our primary response to both Iran and North Korea appears to be financial sanctions. In other words, we try to use economic clout to spank them for being bad.

Iran has one primary commodity. Oil - oil that we want desperately. North Korea has no commodity that I am aware of, except for weapons that they sell to countries like Iran. Weapons like those they sell presumably to groups like al-Qaeda and Hamas. So for North Korea, we are threatening to cut them off from our money. Which, logic tells me, means they have to look elsewhere. Let’s see - they need money, they have lots of weapons, and they will soon have THE weapon. Iran, al-Qaeda, and Hamas have lots of money, and they want to buy weapons.

Is it me, or does it seem like we are pushing all the “bad guys” into a corner and forcing them to play nice with each other? North Korea has already been “condemned” for their actions - what else do they have to lose? We can’t very well go to war with them. Our military is already stretched to the breaking point, the North Korean army would make the Iraqis look like infants in war. China won’t support military action - they are too paranoid about the U.S. as it is. And folks, even a small nuclear war isn’t going to win anything. Radioactivity doesn’t stop at the borders.

I’m no genius, or I would offer up a solution to this mess. But the track we are currently following just doesn’t make any sense to me.