The Scum at the Top
Commentary on the Rats in Washington
Cheney blocks talks with N. Korea
By Warren P. Strobel
Pioneer Press
© Saturday, December 20, 2003
Page 2A
'We don't negotiate with evil,' he says
Vice President Dick Cheney intervened last week to insist
on an uncompromising approach to nuclear talks with North
Korea, effectively blocking a resumption of negotiations
this year, a senior administration official said.
Efforts are under way to get the diplomacy back on track.
But Cheney's move illustrates the trouble the Bush
administration is having in agreeing on what incentives -
if any - to offer North Korea to give up its nuclear
weapons programs.
It also underscores the unusually powerful foreign policy
role Cheney plays.
The senior official, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity, quoted the vice president as saying in a
pivotal meeting on North Korea: "I have been charged by
the president with making sure that none of the tyrannies
in the world are negotiated with. We don't negotiate with
evil; we defeat it."
A spokesman for Cheney did not return two phone calls
seeking comment.
Administration spokesmen say the failure to hold six-nation
talks that had been planned for this week lies with North
Korea, not Washington. Pyongyang had not agreed to attend
the talks and instead assailed Washington's refusal to
offer aid and assurances in return for disarming.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Wednesday
that the United States had been willing to negotiate
without "preconditions."
But to start the talks, China, which is acting as
intermediary between North Korea and the United States,
proposed a joint statement that would clear the way.
State Department officials, led by Assistant Secretary
of State James Kelly, worked to negotiate the document,
which was watered down so that all sides could accept
it, administration officials said.
The State Department team thought it had succeeded. But
at a high-level meeting Dec. 12, Cheney rejected the
Chinese-proposed document, which was in its third draft.
He insisted on including language calling for the
"irreversible" dismantling of North Korea's nuclear weapons
programs and international verification of Pyongyang's
disarmament. Both are long-standing positions of President
Bush.
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January 13, 2007