This will get much, much worse

North Korea states publicly that they have nukes, and the sole purpose they have them is to use them against the United States. Condi: "We knew that."

This is the kind of thing that George Tenet might have called "a slam dunk" case -- as contrasted, for example, to Hussein's repeated and insistent denials, saying they had no nukes, and no nuclear weapons program (which was true).

So, if "we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud", and Condi is fond of saying, why do we already not have boots on the ground in North Korea? Why has the issue not even been raised on the UN Security Council? Why do we not have George Bush inveighing against the Sodom of Pyongyang?

Because, Bush lied when he said we were attacking Iraq to protect the US against terrorism, to protect us from a madman dictator baring nukes he would use against us, or give to others to use against us. Here we are, faced with a prima facie case of exactly that, and the administration's response: Condi says "Oh, we've always known they've had nukes" -- and yet they do nothing. Clearly, what Bush says he thinks is important is not actually what he thinks is important.

These are lies we are being fed -- and not lies about who blew who in the White House kitchen, but lies which lead to wars, taking over countries, rejecting historical allies; which lead to policies dressed in the bunting of our constitutional values of democracy and freedom, but have no more to do with democracy and freedom than the manipulation of presidential power within that system.

The fact is, the escapade in Iraq has extended our military such that we cannot pose a credible threat to a nuclear armed North Korea. Something you get when you throw both feet into stupid, short-sighted policies.