Earlier this week, the Bush administration backed away from claims that North Korea has an active uranium-enrichment program, reversing the stance U.S. intelligence officials have taken since 2002. The LAT thinks the intelligence failure sounds too familiar to the run-up to the Iraq war: For "the second time, serious questions have been raised about the credibility of U.S. assessments of the potential nuclear threat posed by an enemy nation. Are these charges justified?" The NYT hopes that the administration's candor stems from an understanding of "how dangerous and counterproductive it is to hype intelligence," but bets that the admission is coming now because "Pyongyang has agreed to readmit nuclear inspectors -- who probably won't be able to find the active uranium enrichment program the administration has been alleging for more than four years" ... the WaPo admits that American intelligence officials may have overreached in their assessments, but argues that North Korea officials still must account for the 20 centrifuges and other equipment they secretly purchased that would make it possible to construct a large-scale enrichment facility ...the WSJ decries the reversal, calling the move "bizarre" given the "volumes of public evidence that North Korea's uranium-enrichment program is very real."
[thanks Ruth]
North Korea allegedly exploded a small nuke underground last fall. With no enrichment process of their own, you can't help but wonder where they got it, or if it was a large simulated explosion of conventional explosives, or if it even happened at all.
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