I think most reasonable people would agree that Bush' foreign policy has been or is tithering on the brink of disaster. It has to be embarrassing that the N. Korean UN diplomat would only speak to Bill Richardson, former Clinton administration Energy secretary and UN Ambassador.

Clinton's Korean policy was widely attacked by the Bush administration but now they're right back were Clinton was, only a few years too late. The situation was not difficult to read: a war with N. Korea is a last and lousy option. It is almost like going to war with Russia or China, we'll win but the cost will be too high. 35 miles from the DMZ is Seoul and at the border is a million man army and hundreds of attilery shells pointed at the city to reduce it to rubble within days. No one wants that. The situation is also compounded because targetting the nuclear sites will no doubt endanger S. Korea and Japan with the radiation pollution and China and Russia would balk with the US in their back yards creating another tense situation. Thus it has always been clear that the only reasonable recourse is to deal diplomatically with N. Korea first before threatening war.

The Bush administration came in running its mouth with an axes of evil speech that included N. Korea on a whim just so it would not seem that they were solely targetting middle eastern and islamic states. Now they have to retrace their steps and hope that the situation can de-escalate.

We cannot beat everyone into submission. We need friends, but we have very few these days. These days we have to threaten countries to assist us and only the UK is willing to give us unconditional support and even that is wanning. The Israeli-Palestinian situation has gone down hill since Bush's arrival and Afghanistan is falling apart again.

The problem is not that the administratio doesn't have the diplomatic brain thrust to have dealt with these issues, it is the fact that Bush intentionally surrounded himself with hawkish men trapped in a cold war mentality. Bush himself, though not dumb, is short sighted and so dogmatic that he seems unwilling to acknowledge the nuances of international diplomacy.

There's still time to right wrongs but time is running out. I think Bush needs to realize that it would take a little more than having Jesus Christ as your favorite philosopher to get things right.