Jim Austin

His previous columns are archived HERE.

JIM AUSTIN

Haywire

According to NPR, North Korea has announced that they no longer feel bound by the agreement to freeze nuclear arms development that they signed with the Clinton administration.

Isn't it just like those little weasels to abrogate a sacred treaty with Uncle Sam?

Well. when Uncle Sam's hired hand announces during the State of the Union address that North Korea is part of an "Axis of Evil" what do we expect? Do you think they might have gotten the idea from our own cavalier abrogation of the non-nuclear proliferation treaty that we had with the former Soviet Union?

The previous administration made some small steps forward in gaining their trust and now Hopalong George has screwed that up entirely.

He has done the same thing with Iran. A more secular government was getting more and more powerful in Iran. The psychotic fundamentalists were on the ropes and people were listening to reason.

Then came the ill-advised axis of evil crack and the fundamentalists had a field day. Clearly, George Bush wants to go down as one of the great Republican Presidents. Reagan is remembered for his "Evil Empire" comment just before the fall of the Soviet Union. Maybe George is expecting to go after Iran and North Korea after he finishes with Iraq.

I notice that he didn't include China in his remarks. China after all was an ally of North Korea and responsible for many American deaths during our undeclared war on the Korean peninsula in the 50s. The Chinese government oppresses their own people like Iraq and export weapons to unstable enemy countries like North Korea.

Why didn't Bush include them?

Maybe it's because China has a population that would make any self-respecting capitalist do the happy dance. China could ship ballistic missiles to Cuba as long as they allowed Nike to build their sneakers in Shanghai and keep buying refrigerators.

More importantly, China is armed to the teeth and wouldn't hesitate to fight back if Bush were so stupid as to threaten them. Apparently we have turned into a bully that seeks to provoke only third world countries.

Especially if there is a big pot of oil after the smoke clears.

Colin Powell has recently mentioned that our forces might use tactical nukes in Iraq. He must be so sick of being the point man for this confederacy of idiots. It can only be his military background and loyalty that is forcing him to continue at his post.

The last time our government contemplated tactical nuclear weapons was in Vietnam. Nixon wanted to use them but was dissuaded because of the horror it would unleash on the citizens of Vietnam. Now our empty-headed hawk in Washington is considering nukes to rid himself of one man, Saddam Hussein.

Hussein's armies have already proved themselves helpless in the face of U.S. war power but in order to rid himself of the "man who wanted to kill my dad" he is willing to be the second man in history to use a nuclear weapon in anger.

If they do this, then thousands of acres of Iraqi land will be a smoldering radioactive wasteland for the next century or so. If he drops the bomb on Baghdad he'll kill thousands.

If you don't believe that the bombing of the nightclub in Bali is a backlash against Bush policies, then think again. These Muslim fanatics in Indonesia struck the only place in their own country where Allies of the USA were gathered. As a result 180 Australians died.

The club in Bali was a known Aussie hangout on an island that was to Aussies what Cancun is to Americans. These murdering criminals couldn't figure out how to export their terror so they struck where they could.

Will there be anywhere safe for America or her allies when Bush is through with his pre-emptive strike foreign policy?

Our foreign policy is without foresight, hindsight, or current sight. There is a common expression denoting the complete and utter screw up of a situation. It involves the wire commonly used to bale hay.

If this wire is treated carelessly it explodes in wiry maze of out of control knots and kinks. It is pretty must useless afterwards. "Haywire" -- like our foreign policy.