Delusional Deal Making

by Christopher G. Adamo

In 1994, peace and serenity were promises of the future for America and the world. At least according to then President Bill Clinton. Clinton, employing the talents of former President Jimmy Carter as a diplomatic liaison, had brokered a deal whereby North Korea would be handsomely paid off in return for its promise not to engage in the development of nuclear weapons. Now it has been learned that North Koreans possess nukes that they built utilizing the very technology and equipment given to them as part of the deal. What astounds most is not that the North Koreans had pressed forward with their nuclear weapons program with no consideration for the agreement. Rather, it is that those who supported the Clinton/Carter pact with North Korea seem truly surprised by the recent revelations that its leaders would actually negotiate so deceptively.

Clinton, in particular, has been scrambling to blame the present crisis on President Bush, claiming that Bush's aggressive pursuit of the war on terror has spooked the North Koreans into renewing their efforts to acquire a nuclear arsenal. However, a single inconvenient fact completely refutes his claim. These advancements in nuclear technology haven't occurred just since 9-11, but have obviously been proceeding unabated, before, during, and immediately after Carter supposedly fixed everything with his brilliant negotiating abilities. The only logical conclusion to be drawn from this sequence of events is that Carter was completely duped into believing in the good intentions of a brutish dictatorship. Now East Asia, and maybe even the rest of the world, will pay an enormous price for his bungling. And this is the sort of deed that earned him a Nobel Peace Prize?

At the other end of the Asian Continent, Yassir Arafat (another highly esteemed Nobel Peace Prize recipient) continues his program of mindless slaughter of innocent Israeli citizens through the regular deployment of suicide bombers. Just this past weekend, another dutiful adherent to the “religion of peace” heinously murdered two dozen more Israelis. But though the number of dead is double that of the Columbine massacre (and this figure doesn't include the injured), people in this country were barely talking about the event only a few days later. And reaction is much the same anywhere outside of Israel. So commonplace have these atrocities become that they are hardly considered newsworthy anymore.

However, the incessant bloodshed in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv is highly significant to Americans. This country bears significant responsibility, in many respects, for the horrendous nature of the present situation. From the Oslo accords to the Wye River agreement, Israel has been coerced into accepting the terms of its current predicament under fierce pressure from the U.S. And during much of that process, those dictating U.S. policy have been of the same mindset, when dealing with terrorist thugs the likes of Arafat, as they were when seeking agreements with the barbaric dictatorship of North Korea's Kim Jong Il. Even former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, an appeaser on a par with Jimmy Carter, was vaulted into office largely with the assistance of the Clinton Administration. And his many capitulations, at the prodding of the Clinton White House, only served to directly compromise Israel's security, while emboldening its Palestinian adversaries.

Unfortunately, on the issue of mid-east relations, the track record of the Bush Administration isn't much better. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is not nearly so ready to criticize Arafat for treachery and murder as he is to condemn Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson for their honest critique of Islam, regularly warns Israel to consider the consequences of decisive action against the Palestinian terrorists. One has to wonder what it will take for Powell to comprehend the consequences of Israel's inaction. Furthermore, advancing the notion of Palestinian "statehood" at the highest levels of the U.S. government, as Powell has done, and especially in the immediate aftermath of 9-11, can only be construed as a reward for terrorism.

They could all take a lesson from the one American who, in the quagmire of international relations, stood taller than any other... Ronald Reagan. Facing down enormous media criticism and public protests both in America and abroad, he "heightened mistrust" and "inflamed tensions" by proceeding with the development of ballistic missile defenses and the deployment of Pershing III missiles in Europe. But his resolve ultimately convinced the Soviet Union to abandon a fight it could never win. Only steadfastness and courage could have brokered that deal.

Growing up during the turbulent decades of the ‘60's and ‘70's, Christopher  Adamo saw, to his dismay, the nation's moral foundations being destroyed  before his very eyes. But even then he was a staunch Conservative at heart,  and rejected outright the tenets of America's counterculture revolution.

 After a hitch in the Air Force, where he specialized in airborne  electro- optical systems, he pursued a career in the field of aerospace,  working for major defense contractors in California, Florida, and Colorado. But his career plans abruptly changed during the industry-wide downsizing that followed the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Presently he is working in the field of industrial instrumentation in the state of Wyoming. Concurrently, he has become involved in that state's political process, attending state GOP conventions as a delegate, and serving as a member of the Wyoming Republican Central Committee. He has also aided in the candidacies of local legislators and state senators, as well as a U.S. Senator and Congresswoman.

From 1993 to 1996, he edited and wrote for “The Wyoming Christian”, the state newsletter for Christian Coalition of Wyoming. During that period, he developed an acute awareness of the harm being done to Conservatism by liberal activists within the Republican Party as well as the Democrats. This remains a favorite theme of his articles, which now appear as a regular feature on GOPUSA.