North Korea – Our greatest threat is east of Middle East
Posted: October 28, 2002
1:00 am Eastern
By Resa LaRu Kirkland
© 2010 WorldNetDaily.com
© 2010 WorldNetDaily.com
Editor's note: This is the first of three commentaries on North Korea and its ties to the Middle East. Be sure to also read Part 2 and Part 3.
"Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages are not sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason."
– from "Common Sense," by Thomas Paine
– from "Common Sense," by Thomas Paine
What would old Mr. Paine have to say today, I wonder, if instead of facing King George, he was dealing with North Korea? As all wise men know, to foretell the future, look at two things: the weak nature of man and the track record of those with whom you deal.
So it was in Paine's writing of "Common Sense." His dealings with the wretchedness that was monarchial oppression turned him into one of our most treasured and vigorous revolutionary forefathers. But if Paine had been occupied instead in the political issues of present-day America, involved in such things as Desert Storm and the noisy awakening of the Starving Giant and Looming Lies of North Korea, would his words of wisdom be any different? I doubt it … some things just don't change.
But for those who doubt, let's look at a few things. The desire for freedom is innate within every one of us. When America was at its genesis, barely breathing but burning with a passion for freedom, Great Britain was the most powerful country on earth. The king was undeniably "above" the common man, unimpeachable, his word law, his rule all-encompassing, his thirst for power unquenchable. He could not be reasoned with, he lied and fought at every turn, and tried to squelch our freedom fire with the greatest army that walked the land. He assumed that a king could never be defeated by peasants. His underestimation of the remarkable optimism and self-sacrifice that has come to define the United States of America was fatal. He lost; we won.
Jump forward a couple of centuries, and what has really changed? We have Kim Jong Il, son of the brutal Stalinist Kim Il Sung. Both men have a mystical make-believe background that puts them on the same level as deity, and when his father, the "Great Leader," died in 1994, Kim Jong Il – known as "Dear One" to the beaten, brain-washed and broken people of North Korea – inherited a decimated land and a desperate populace.
But in true communist fashion, Kim cared nothing for the people, keeping himself fat and indulging every pleasure while the average Korean actually shrank statistically in size. Like King George, Kim cannot be reasoned with, he lies and fights the very people who feed him at every turn, and has tried to squelch the freedom of his own people and the rest of the world with the greatest threat to touch the land: nuclear weapons. He knows he cannot be defeated by mere peasants (especially when he lives in a land with an unarmed constituency). Unlike King George, however, he doesn't underestimate the United States of America – he simply despises us.
And now we have a more terrifying prospect. King George allied himself with people (through quid pro quo and the old lure of filthy lucre … remember the Hessians?) who turned their wrath on the mutual enemy that is America. For more than two decades, there has been an unholy alliance back and forth between many of the Middle Eastern countries – including Iran and Iraq – and North Korea.
Just last year, when India and Pakistan were on the verge of war, there was a flurry of visits from high-ranking Pakistani leaders to North Korea, touted loudly and praised ad nauseam in the Korean Central News Agency, North Korea's one and only newspaper. This year, there was the sale of 24 missiles to Egypt, whose purpose the State Department could only deduce was to use against Israel, fast friend and ally of America, but enemy to the Arab Nations and North Korea.
Then there was the naval battle this past June between North and South Korea in which people died, and the North's recent admission to kidnapping Japanese citizens (after 30 years of vehement denials – denials which still go on and ring just as hollow when they are confronted on the issue of kidnapped South Koreans). While North Korea paid lip service last year to condemning the terrorist attack on America, it was painfully short-lived. They have continued a close kinship with many of the countries that are the sworn enemies of America, and their state-run newspaper can't go a day without condemning America and threatening to bring it down if it does not "behave."
North Korea does not have the advantage that King George had in having the greatest army to walk the earth, but it has something far more deadly: nothing to lose. Its people are starving, it has suffered almost as many mass defections in the past decade than in the 30 previous years combined, it continuously breaks every treaty, promise and pact it makes in exchange for aid, it is woefully backward and technologically retarded. And to add insult to injury, just beyond the 38th parallel, its brother under a free republic is thriving like no other.
So by way of reasoning, it makes sense that they would seek out others to help them defeat the enemy who has proven to the world what a miserable failure they are. Isn't this the same reason that Iraq and Afghanistan and al-Qaida are determined to wipe the United States off the earth – because they are jealous of our success and livid over the vast evidence of their own failure? With the fall of the Soviet Union and the Western leanings of China, there is none other than the Islamic nations for this totalitarian regime to turn to now. And the ominous rumblings that have been weaving their way from the Korean Peninsula to America for the past dozen years indicate just that.
Why did we ignore these signs, these continuous indicators that there was something very wrong – not only over there, but also with our volatile enemies in the Middle East? Why do we continue to hand over billions in not only food and aid, but even the ability to build their very own nuclear reactor when they do nothing but lie, maliciously engage Republic of Korea and American Forces, torture and brutalize their own people, kidnap and abuse peoples of other nations, and create weapons of mass destruction which they share with countries even more evil and deceived and unstable than they are?
Daniel Pipes wrote an article for the Oct. 9 issue of the New York Post entitled "Korean Delusions" about continued American capitulation in which he stated it perfectly:
"What is it about democracies that at critical moments they delude themselves into thinking that they can contain their totalitarian enemies through a policy of niceness? … Key factors would seem to be:
America is not only a great land, but a good land. We are the only nation in history to take the hand of a defeated enemy and help him rebuild stronger and better than ever, thereby turning him into a friend. It is obvious that this land was shaped by men who relied heavily upon God precisely because they had been made painfully aware of the failings of man.
But it would appear that we are following one comment Paine made earlier quoted here: We are seeming to rely on time rather than reason to convert wicked enemies to our way of thinking. The problem with that is it works the other way too. How many have been easily led by our enemies' lies and tear-jerking stories of individual suffering that is somehow laid at the feet of our guilt-ridden nation? What we don't seem to understand is something profound that Paine said next in his famous tome:
As a long and violent abuse of power is generally the means of calling the right of it in question, (and in matters too which might never have been thought of, had not the sufferers been aggravated into the inquiry) and as the [insert tyrant's name here] hath undertaken in his own right, to support the parliament in what he calls theirs, and as the good people of this country are grievously oppressed by the combination, they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the pretensions of both, and equally to reject the usurpations of either.
North Korea has indeed been a long and violent abuser of power. So has Iraq … and Iran … and Afghanistan … and Pakistan, and according to Paine, this gives us the right to call it into question. We have been more than aggravated into inquiry now, and if we are not to wallow in the same evil and hypocrisy as our enemies, it is time to open our eyes and close the door to any continued support of these regimes by American dollars and politicians.
These countries have no rights to make demands of us, or refuse to cooperate when we merely want to rest assured that they are using our help for what it is intended. We support the good people, grievously oppressed, of these miserable nations, and believe they have the undoubted privilege to inquire into the pretensions of these arrogant despots. Yet, so long as we continue to close our eyes to gross evil, believing that if we can't see it, it can't see us, we deserve nothing of the freedoms or privileges of which Paine speaks; such things, after all, oblige us to use a little common sense.
PART 2:
Posted: October 29, 2002
1:00 am Eastern
By Resa LaRu Kirkland
© 2010 WorldNetDaily.com
© 2010 WorldNetDaily.com
Editor's note: This is the second of three commentaries on North Korea and its ties to the Middle East. Be sure to also read Part 1 and Part 3.
"Agent Kim Hyun Hee was carrying a Japanese passport when she boarded a Korean Airlines plane in Iraq in 1987. She disembarked in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, leaving behind a bomb planted in a radio. It exploded in flight, killing all 115 people aboard."
– Washington Post, Oct. 13, 2002, "North Korea's Secret Mission," by Doug Struck
– Washington Post, Oct. 13, 2002, "North Korea's Secret Mission," by Doug Struck
Why would an agent from North Korea board a plane in Iraq, of all places, in order to deliver a bomb that would blow up an airplane? To this seemingly complex question comes a simple answer: Because she could. To those who still don't quite understand the connection, think logically. After doing so, there can be only one conclusion, and it is that North Korea and the Islamic nations are in cahoots to destroy the only country that stands in their way of making every knee bow to their mutual and iron-fisted rule.
Back in 1993, the Library of Congress listed the Middle East as the major market for North Korean arms, including such radical groups as the PLO and countries like Libya. The Stalinist state has been known to be a sponsor of terrorism for at least two decades, but only officially listed in recent years. As early as 11 years ago, United States policy experts were reluctantly admitting that the secretive country had enough plutonium for one or two nuclear bombs, but outrageously enough, we justified our continued support of them by making them sign phony-baloney, "feel good" treaties.
We then had the unmitigated gall to feel shocked when they recently said, "Nyah, nyah, we had them all alo-ooong!" Their behavior is evil, and evil doesn't care about breaking treaties – in fact, such behavior is why they are evil. It is our behavior which is maddening, as we continue to allow them to get away with … well, murder. Remember the saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me?" We deserve a couple of dozen "Shame on me's!" for we continue to set ourselves up as the fool.
The evidence of North Korean duplicity and deliberate American ignorance is overwhelming. In 1996, William Perry expressed deep concern for the fact that North Korea's ballistic missiles have a 1,000 kilometer range. With these, they could reach Tokyo, and their buddy Libya can access all of the European countries.
Only two years later, the validation of this concern went whizzing over Japan with a return address, which read North Korea. In 2001, 50 Ro-Dong missiles were sent to Libya. And just this year, 24 No-Dongs went to Egypt. Such happenings were cause for such deep concern that just before Perry left office, he made the remarkable statement that he considered North Korea a bigger threat than even the Middle East. It would appear to me that this is because North Korea is a country, not the radical, disorganized insanity of a few Islamic groups. North Korea's evil is instead institutionalized – written in blood throughout their history. But that doesn't make the Middle East any less guilty of wretched brutality.
It is obvious that there is much quid pro quo going on here. Iraq has trained with and in turn been trained by North Korea. Iraq has helped North Korea in its continued disruptions of peace and murder of innocents, most not as obvious as the KAL bombing in 1987, but still as inherently malevolent. In August 2000, the news that Iraq and North Korea were together in the creation of new Scud missiles raised eyebrows but did nothing to quell the continuing, almost frantic desire to live in denial.
In researching the issue of whether Islam and the last bastion of Stalin's legacy actually have a spoken or written agreement that they will work in conjunction to destroy America and her allies, I have found plenty of implications by those in the know. The occasional outright admittance of a relationship can be found, but for the most part, no one wants to own up and say that the two are allied with one focused goal: to wipe America andIsrael off the face of the earth and rule with blood and terror. But if you go and look at the sources themselves, and study them with the knowledge of their shared goal, it is written out in plain speech.
In the North Korean state-run newspaper, any reference to America, and its "puppet" South Korea, sounds as if Boris and Natasha are on the phone with Fearless Leader plotting "beeg" trouble for "Moose and Skverl" (no, I didn't spell squirrel wrong … say it like Natasha would say it!) Read anything written by Islamic papers and it is like reading Satan's take on the Bible. Both sides take rampant advantage of the American "sentimentality" toward the individual human life.
Communism cares nothing for life, and combine that with the Asian belief of instant reincarnation for the killed and fantastic eternal bliss for the martyr, the ease with which they kill and die is understandable, although inexcusable. In Islam, they feel it is their obligation in obedience to Allah to kill the infidel, and don't fear death themselves because of the outrageous promises eternity holds for them. Thusly, how do you deal with a country not afraid to kill or die? How do you stop them when you don't want to kill, but they do? When you don't want to die, but they do? When you keep your promises, but they don't?
They are treacherous, unleashed and unchecked evil, who live only to destroy us and, worst of all, it is becoming horrifyingly apparent that we know this, and seem to be hoping it will just go away. It is the gorilla in the room that everyone mutually agrees to ignore as if by so doing, we render the creature impotent.
If you ask me – and I know you're dying to! – this is America's evil: We know and do nothing with this knowledge. It is unconscionable that we continue diplomacy and outright capitulation in spite of such obvious efforts against us.
The evidence of young men attending flight school, warnings of militant Islamic training schools, North Korean ships and subs kidnapping people, firing upon other countries, selling weapons to terrorist states and their nuclear programs, and now North Korea's blatant "Yeah-we-did-it … whatcha-gonna-do-about-it" attitude are such barefaced indicators that we are fast losing our right to self-pity when as the obvious becomes reality.
Forget past bombings, attacks, hijackings, forget the fact that someday, when my grandchildren read about this time in history books, they will look at me incredulously and remark, "What were you thinking? How could you ignore such obvious signs?"
Forget the fact that had we heeded just one of these indicators in the past, thousands of people would still be alive. Forget it all. And while you're at it, forget the children in North Korea who are starving, whose parents have abandoned them in their own desperate hunt for food.. Forget the Japanese and South Korean citizens who have been forcibly removed from their countries for decades, and the decades of lies and denial by North Korea, and the families separated by the ongoing 50 year war. Forget the Twin Towers, the four evaporated airplanes, the nuclear capability in the hands of reciprocal madmen. Forget the fact that our belief in defense by MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) will never work with fanatics.
In fact, forget the Constitution, forget our moral obligation, forget the torture, the suffering, the misogyny, and Marlon Brando whispering, "the horror!" Forget it all, but remember this: When all is said and done, and we are writing the history of the time that is fast approaching, the words emerging on the computer screens of the future will show that Armageddon had its roots deeply embedded in North Korea, that we knew it all along, and that in spite of our claims of "Never Again!" after Hitler and Pol Pot, we did nothing.
Part 3:
2-front war
Posted: October 30, 2002
1:00 am Eastern
Posted: October 30, 2002
1:00 am Eastern
By Resa LaRu Kirkland
© 2010 WorldNetDaily.com
© 2010 WorldNetDaily.com
Editor's note: This is the third of three commentaries on North Korea and its ties to the Middle East. Be sure to also read Part 1 and Part 2.
"[James] Kelly made it clear that something had gone dreadfully wrong in his trip to the North."
– "A Puzzling Move by Pyongyang," by Don Kirk, MSNBC, Oct. 18, 2002
– "A Puzzling Move by Pyongyang," by Don Kirk, MSNBC, Oct. 18, 2002
Years ago, I was telling friends and associates that if they wanted to watch the birth of Armageddon, look to North Korea. They laughed. And when they dried their eyes, they laughed again. Then they said, "Everyone knows that it's coming out of the Middle East … even the Bible says that, dummy!"
I swallowed, and went on to risk looking even more the fool.
I told them yes, indeed, the Middle East will be involved, and because they are larger, it will seem as if it is all them. But I reminded them to study history, and the way God works. You see, it is always the thing you never expected that gets you. This is how He tests our mettle … sort of "What-will-you-do-if-I-throw-this-at-you" situation. How we respond with foresight and wisdom determines our success. But being a loving Father, He always gives us plenty of indicators – signs, if you will – that we might do our best to be prepared in the face of great evil, for He wants us to succeed. He designed us for success. He achieves nothing on our behalf if we lose.
And beyond that, we have seen in the past – over and over again – that evil seeks out evil, that they create secret combinations and make blood oaths against the good people of the earth. They bond together in their mutual treachery, and no malevolence is too much for them to consider. They will try to distract us from their wickedness by claiming it is all for God – as Islam does. Or it is our fault for being fat, spoiled Americans – as North Korea does daily. Or, even more vile, they will point to American sins and excess and claim that we are merely "reaping what we've sown." And being kind, forgiving and self-evaluating people, we hesitate just long enough for them to strike at us.
Last year, Pakistan was on the verge of war with India – which terrified us – because we well-documented Pakistan's nuclear technology, and know of their intimate relationship with North Korea. The man who is at the head of the nuclear program in Pakistan hates all things Western … he and North Korea were made for each other. That is exactly the problem.
"A barter deal that traded North Korean missile technology for Pakistani nuclear know-how was engineered by A.Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan's bomb and a man whose anti-Western values have been known for years, sources told NBC News on Friday. News of the involvement of Pakistan's top scientist in the secret pact comes on the heels of North Korea's admission that it has been pursuing nuclear weapons in violation of a 1994 agreement with Washington …
"U.S. OFFICIALS who spoke on condition of anonymity told NBC News on Friday that Pakistan, a key ally in the U.S. war on terrorism, was a major technology supplier of North Korea's nuclear weapons program … "Khan visited North Korea in the late 1990s," a reliable source outside the government said, noting that the eminent scientist provided "information and technology" to the North Koreans and also hosted a delegation from Pyongyang in Pakistan."
– "Pakistan Scientist Brokered N. Korean Deal," by Robert Windrem, MSNBC, Oct. 18, 2002
– "Pakistan Scientist Brokered N. Korean Deal," by Robert Windrem, MSNBC, Oct. 18, 2002
What is most remarkable about this is that it comes as no surprise whatsoever to U.S. officials. We have considered Khan an "evil scientist" for decades, with well-documented reasons. Thirty years ago, he was accused of stealing the formula for making bomb-grade plutonium from the Amsterdam Physical Dynamics Research Laboratory where he was working at the time. The greatest irony of this is the fact that FDO is a subsidiary of the European nuclear facility URENCO, which was created by Great Britain, Germany and the Netherlands because they didn't want to be dependent on American nuclear fuel, and wanted to supply their own enriched uranium.
That arrogant and very European justification for creating a potential learning ground for terrorists could be the downfall of the most powerfulcountry in the world – their ally, no less – and the only country on earth who could save them from attack. In other words, if we go down, they aren't far behind us. They may very well be responsible for their own future demise.
Efforts to try Khan as a spy for Pakistan fell through. Back home, he was touted as a national hero. Of course, Khan blamed the charges on the Western influence and, of course, couldn't miss slipping Israel in there when he said: "All Western countries, including Israel, are not only the enemies of Pakistan but in fact of Islam. Had any other Muslim country instead of Pakistan made this progress, they would have conducted the same poisonous propaganda about it. The examples of Iraq and Libya are before you."
We are left to wonder: Pakistan was supposed to be on our side – right? They are our friends, and friends don't abandon one another. That is what the term "allies" means – right? But, wait … in the latest battle with the Middle East, we have seen countries like Saudi Arabia waffle on commitment, and European nations like Germany as well. This is fast shaping up to be Israel and America against the rest of the world, and leading the way against us will be the Middle East, shoved from behind by North Korea. We have trusted Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, and yet he is the one who promoted Khan in 1998 for his great service to Pakistan. We suspect – and facts are beginning to back it – that Khan provided North Korea with the knowledge they would need to produce enriched uranium – the stuff most vital for a Hiroshima-like bomb.
Now comes the why. Why would North Korea be aiding the Middle East, and vice versa? North Korea is not Islamic, and the Middle East is not communist. Islam is doing their deeds in the name of Allah, and North Korea is all about Marxism-Leninism. North Korea despises all things that make their people rely on someone other than the government – such as religion – and the Middle East fought a war 20 years ago to oust communism. So why would they make this unholy alliance? Have they come together in their mutual hatred for America and Israel – two successful countries who epitomize everything they hate – or is it something more?
Yes to both.
A couple of years back while I was watching the news, a political analyst made the statement that America could never sustain a two-front war today as they did in World War II. I felt an ominous shudder. I believe with all my heart that North Korea is aware of this, and is now arrogantly flaunting the fact that it can nuke us, and there is nothing we can do about it.
They know we are busy in the Middle East and that, right now, that is our top priority. What better time for them to finish what they began 50 years ago? This is their chance, and they know it all too well. They've waited decades for such an opportunity, and they aren't about to miss it. The signs are all there – they have been for some time now – and now with North Korea's admittance, it seems that nothing and no one can stop them.
"A top official told NBC News on Thursday night that the United States could not challenge North Korea because there were only so many crises it could handle at the same time."
– "N Korea's Brazen Scam," by Andrea Mitchell, Oct. 18, 2002
– "N Korea's Brazen Scam," by Andrea Mitchell, Oct. 18, 2002
Only so many crises we can handle at one time. None of my friends are laughing anymore.
Am I to believe that some mom in Idaho (at the time, that's where I lived) figured this out, but our leaders didn't? Puhleeeeeze.....if it'd been a snake it'd have bitten everyone. Why oh why do we insist on denying the painfully obvious? 'Cause in so doing, we are left with only "painful."