North Korea Is It for Bush’s Foreign Policy (Rep. Brad Sherman)

This is a foreign policy administration — that is how historians will view it. Iraq is probably not going to be regarded as an overwhelming positive. The centrifuges are probably going to be turning in Iran come the end of this administration, and so the administration is somewhat desperate for a foreign policy success.

Secretary Rice has thrown a Hail Mary pass in the direction of Jerusalem.   I am not so sure that is going to work out, so when it comes to a shining foreign policy success for the Bush years, Korea is it.  There is of course pressure to get a deal done, and often the easiest deal to make is one that is vague, illusory, or lacks adequate enforcement.   That is especially true with the North Koreans who have a history of violating agreements.

When we look at what North Korea gets out of this deal it is a million tons of fuel oil, 150,000 of those tons to be delivered by the end of October.  They are also supposed to get normalization in relations and removal from the State Department’s Terrorist list.  It will be interesting to see whether they get that removal.