PhotoDude.com

Tue. May 18, 2004

A Novel Situation?

Gosh, the situation in Iraq offers so much mud to wallow in, we often forget there are issues on the other side of the world. Let’s wallow in another conspiracy, shall we? I’ll help mix it up for you.

Imagine a former official who toiled behind the scenes on the most sensitive national security issues leaving the Bush Administration in frustration and now charging that White House policies have left the United States exposed to a dangerous and growing threat.

I am not referring to Richard Clarke, the former National Security Council aide whose criticism of the Bush Administration’s counterterrorism policies rocked Washington, but to Charles Pritchard, a retired U.S. Army colonel and the former point man on North Korea for the U.S. secretary of state, Colin Powell.

Wary of offering inducements to a totalitarian regime, the Bush Administration has not engaged the North Koreans in the sort of direct negotiations that might lead to a diplomatic breakthrough, he argues.

But fearful of sparking another crisis at a time when American forces are tied down in Iraq, the Bush administration has not put the North Koreans on notice that further nuclear developments will trigger economic sanctions or perhaps even military action.

“This administration has adamantly refused to deal directly with North Korea, and they are not going to make any progress until that happens,” Pritchard said in an interview. “And there have been no red lines. We have never said ‘if you do this here are the consequences.’ Now they may have developed as many as six nuclear weapons to add to the two that they confirmed that they have.”

International Herald Tribune: “Warnings go unheeded over North Korea threat”

Another former administration official warning of a policy that’s off the tracks. Whoodathunkit? And speaking of “off the tracks,” there’s this report:

Syrian technicians accompanying unknown equipment were killed in the train explosion in North Korea on April 22, according to a report in a Japanese newspaper.

A military specialist on Korean affairs revealed that the Syrian technicians were killed in the explosion in Ryongchon in the northwestern part of the country, according to the Sankei Shimbun. The specialist said the Syrians were accompanying “large equipment” and that the damage from the explosion was greatest in the portion of the train they occupied.

The source said North Korean military personnel with protective suits responded to the scene soon after the explosion and removed material only from the Syrians’ section of the train.

The United States and other countries have expressed concern that Syrian and North Korea are developing Scud-D missiles, as well as chemical and biological weapons.

Concerning the cause of the explosion incident, the DPRK has explained that a train carrying fertilizer containing ammonium nitrate and a railroad tank carrying petroleum were being shunted, and, in the process, came into contact with electrical wires, due to carelessness.

Now, call me a silly conspiracy monger, but think back to February of this year.

The confirmed death toll from the horrifying explosion of a runway train and its cargo in Iran has now risen to at least 309, with another 460 people injured.

For miles around, fumes from what had been the cargo of the derailed train — sulfur, oil, fertilizers and cotton — made it almost impossible to breathe.

IRNA reported that “some vibrations” had set the cars in motion.

CBS News: “Iran Train Inferno Toll Over 300”

Then add this to the mix. A few days ago, the White House released an executive order that declares Syria’s actions “constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States and hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat.”

To recap, the two members of the “Axis of Evil” that remain standing both have massive yet mysterious train explosions within a couple of months of each other. Both explosions allegedly involve oil and fertilizer, and result in toxic fumes and a death toll in the hundreds. And in the most recent disaster, the “President for Life” of North Korea had just passed through the location after completing negotiations with China that, in part, allowed the train to enter the country. And that train just so happened to have technicians and equipment on it from a country that, a mere 13 days later, the President declared an “extraordinary threat to the national security.”

There’s a Tom Clancy novel in there somewhere.