N Korea: Lets look at Rumsfeld's role ...

[elehhhhna]

The two faces of Rumsfeld

2000: director of a company which wins $200m contract to sell nuclear reactors to North Korea
2002: declares North Korea a terrorist state, part of the axis of evil and a target for regime change

Randeep Ramesh
Friday May 9, 2003
The Guardian

Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Rumsfeld confused Iraq with Afghanistan yesterday. Photo: Reuters

Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, sat on the board of a company which three years ago sold two light water nuclear reactors to North Korea - a country he now regards as part of the "axis of evil" and which has been targeted for regime change by Washington because of its efforts to build nuclear weapons.

Mr Rumsfeld was a non-executive director of ABB, a European engineering giant based in Zurich, when it won a $200m (£125m) contract to provide the design and key components for the reactors. The current defence secretary sat on the board from 1990 to 2001, earning $190,000 a year. He left to join the Bush administration...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/korea/article/0,2763,952289,00.html

[Buzz Clik]

1. Blah. The NK problem has been evolving for decades.

Rummy is a boob, but only a fraction of the blame rests on his shoulders.

And let's not get excited about those light water reactors -- who actually arranged that compromise? It wasn't a Repub administration.

[Deja Q]

3. I concur.

There is no thing as a singular scapegoat.

If anything, I wish Rummy's Zurich company didn't do business with NK -- but who knew at the time NK would turn this sour? (Just as with China and other countries we do business with... :think: )

[nannah]

2. Good retrieval from the memory box

i too remember mr. rumsfield's stint with ABB; good job connecting these dots.

[NVMojo]

4. how stupid does this country have to be?

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

5. kick

[NVMojo]

6. Kick again!

[RedEarth]

7. Wish some reporter would ask the bush admin about this....

[Buzz Clik]

8. To what end?

Cheney deflects his continued involvement with Halliburton; Rumsfeld would do the same.

The Clinton administration -- through a deal brokered by Jimmy Carter -- created this opportunity for Rummy's business deal.

Were these light water reactors responsible for the weapons grade materials used in the bomb they tested?