Op/Ed: Nat'l Debt Now Affecting Nat'l Security. US returns $20Million in North Korean drug/gun money

Under the Radar: National Debt Now Affecting National Security.
U.S. returns $20Million in North Korean drug/gun money.

In a story that likely slipped under everyone’s radar, the federal government transfered $20 million (U.S.) in illicit North Korean drug and weapons money Thursday from a Chinese bank to the Federal Reserve here in the U.S. where it was then wire transfered back to North Korea. The funds, described as “proceeds of crime” by the U.S. government, had been frozen in a Macao, China bank at the behest of the U.S. government in 2005. The Bush Administration promised to release of the much needed funds in negotiations last February, and in exchange, North Korea’s Kim Jong Il agreed to suspend his nuclear weapons program and allow inspectors back in (hailed by the WH and Republicans as a *triumph* of Bush’s tough foreign policy.)

(...) To get North Korea to table their nuclear ambitions, the Bush Administration promised to release the $20 Million in desperately needed funds that were frozen in a Macao bank on the grounds that it was the proceeds of various crimes including drug trafficking and illegal arms dealing. The Bush Administration had China release the funds to the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, which in turn the U.S. then gave back to North Korea. In return, NK agreed to suspend its nuclear program and allow inspectors back in.

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So is this where we’re at? The U.S. is giving back money made selling drugs to our kids and weapons to our enemies, in exchange for them to stop developing a weapons program that was bankrupting their country and starving its people? It’s a “win/win”… if you’re North Korean.

But if you focus on the money, you’re missing THE BIG PICTURE: China just dictated our policy towards NK and forced us to do something we otherwise would never have done because they own so much of our National Debt… $650 Billion at last count. We have no leverage to force nations that we are deep in debt to, like China, to put pressure on rogue nations like North Korea, even if doing so is in their own best interests. Instead, we must “buy off” North Korea by making sure they get their drug/gun money back. Is Iran next? What will we give Iran because we can’t convince their ally China to put pressure on them?

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