Sensing Shift in Bush Policy, Another Hawk Leaves

[RamboLiberal]

Source: New York Times

Among the hawks in the Bush administration, Robert Joseph long occupied a special perch.

As the architect of much of the administration’s strategy for countering nuclear proliferation, he helped engineer the decision to exit the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, worked secretly to squeeze Libya to give up its nuclear weapons program, and created a loose consortium of nations, now numbering more than 80, committed to intercepting illicit weapons at sea, in the air or on land.

But last month Mr. Joseph quietly left the State Department, where he was under secretary for arms control and international security, telling colleagues that, as a matter of principle, he simply could not abide the new agreement with North Korea that the Bush administration struck in February.

Mr. Joseph has declined to talk publicly about why he left, but he told colleagues that he thought the deal would prolong the survival of a North Korean government he has publicly called “criminal” and “morally abhorrent” while failing to require it to give up the weapons it has already produced. In an interview, Mr. Joseph made clear that he “does not support the policy” that President Bush has now embraced.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/washington/21hawks.html?hp

[MadMaddie]

1. Sooo ....he wanted the stalemate to continue with North Korea..

I get it no negotiations, more starving North Koreans maybe even a war...good riddance.

[UpInArms]

2. don't let the door hit ya, a**hole

December 24, 2001

Also, in December, the United States officially withdrew from the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty (ABM), gutting the landmark agreement. This is the first time in the nuclear era that the United States has renounced a major arms control accord. Cold Wars are no longer in vogue, it would appear that we like ours hot.

...more...

[napi21]

3. Well GOOD! I wonder if there are a lot of other disenchanted

Bushies who'd like to join him?

I'LL HOLD THE DOOR!!!!!!!!!!!

[Fridays Child]

4. Bush and Long are both ideological zealots. The only difference is that...

...Bush's god is oil. That's why his stand against North Korea is "a tale full of sound and fury, sugnifyinh nothing."

[Ian David]

5. Robert Joseph has resigned to spend more time playing brinkmanship with his family. n/t

[Supersedeas]

6. Condi is not instilling much confidence in anyone...not even her own.

[Quantess]

7. A cockroach scurries away.

There's still more fumigation to be done.