Buying Them Off

Isn't this where the Clinton administration was going with North Korea?

From the New York Times:

The United States has offered a detailed package of economic and energy assistance in exchange for North Korea’s giving up nuclear weapons and technology, American officials said Tuesday.

But the offer, made last week during two days of intense talks in Beijing, would hinge on North Korea’s agreeing to begin dismantling some of the equipment it is using to expand its nuclear arsenal, even before returning to negotiations.

It is unclear whether North Korea will accept the offer, which is more specific — in both the details and the timing — than a vaguely worded statement of principles that the North signed in September 2005, a year before its first nuclear test.

[...]

The offer is significant because the administration has resisted making clear to North Korea exactly what kind of aid it would receive if it agreed to begin taking apart facilities like the plutonium reprocessing facility that turns spent fuel into weapons, and to provide a list of all its nuclear facilities. Hawks in the administration, particularly in Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, have long opposed what they call “rewarding” North Korea for its nuclear test.

How many iPods does it take to replace a nuclear bomb? Gee, six years ago when Kim Jong Il didn't have a nuclear bomb, we wouldn't have had to think about that kind of caculus, now would we? But no... Bush had to be all butch and tough-guy.

My guess is that Halliburton will get the no-bid contract for making the deliveries. That ought to take the sting out of "rewarding" North Korea, eh, Dick?