...At least that's the headline as trumpeted on page one of the Washington Post (also known as the Pentapost and Mockingbird Central) on 4/25 and from NBC (National Bullshit Club) Nightly News with Tom Brokaw on 4/24.Oh my God, the naive majority of the public is crying - So Korea has issued an official statement?! A national press conference?! Held a preliminary war council?! Well, er...uh....not exactly. Want to have the headlines as they would read if honest and responsible news folk were on the job? On page 26 or so, we'd have, in a small font.

Mid- Level Korean Official Pulls Known Political Intriguer Over In Hallway and Makes Unconfirmed Comments Heard Only by Intriguer

So the whole basis of the lurid story by the Post and the rest of the mainstream megaphones, which is absolutely calculated to foment terror and anxiety and distract from the collapsing domestic situation here in the US - is a report by Assistant Sec. of State James Kelly - an old drunk if ever I saw one - of an interchange that occurred in a hallway. But the Post story is padded out with references to "hints" by "Korean officials" and unattributed statements by "senior" White House officials (see my story on April 23 "The White House Senior Official Doubleblind Ploy"). I guess the Post reporters weren't required to take Journalism 101 in which the use of vague references to unnamed officials, experts, and witnesses is strongly discouraged unless you happen to aspire to work for the "Weekly World News." (In defense of the WW News, it should be noted that at least they come up with names for the housewife in Des Moines who saw the three-headed alien or the elderly man in South Bend whose pet hamster recited the Magna Carta. Which makes them somewhat more convincing than the Post).

The entire lead paragraph in the Post is sheer moonshine: "North Korean "negotiators" (not even "officials") have told U.S. officials in Bejing that the communist nation possesses nuclear weapons and threatened to expoert them or conduct a "physical demonstration," US officials said yesterday."

So in one paragraph, as the source and gist of this story, we have US officials reporting second hand accounts of other "officials" who were given information by "negotiators" that the US has already known for 10 years (the No. Koreans stated that they had nukes in 1993 - claim even the US later discredited!). Yep, that sounds like more than enough to go to war over to me!

Want to know where the "meat" of the story is? Paragraph Six: "U.S. officials said North Korea declared it had nuclear weapons as officials were milling about in corridors on Wednesday....The top No. Korean official at the talks (but a lower level official in the bigger scheme of the No. Korean government) pulled aside the highest-ranking American present, Assistant Secretary of State (and as-yet unindicted embezzler, money launderer and traitor) James A. Kelly and told him that No. Korea has nuclear Weapons. "We can't dismantle them," Li told Kelly, "It's up to you whether we do a physical demonstration or transfer them."

The entire PAGE ONE BANNER HEADLINE is based on this! An unsubstantiatable statement heard by one man whilst "officials" were "milling about." The next paragraph says "US officials are still puzzling over the statement...." As well they might, especially given Kelly's total lack of credibility and proven track record for not only trying to foment trouble, but willingness to commit serious crimes and buy influence. There is quite a lot of evidence that the only reason Kelly has a position in the Bush administration is that he purchased it in the form of generous dontations to the Bush campaign fund using stolen money obtained in the course of what is now called "Taiwangate." Salon, the Nation, and several other magazines did extensive articles on Kelly's involvement. Here's a neat summary from another article at hhttp://www.politicalamazon.com/bush-chinese.html which includes a page with links to several other stories (Salon, BBC, etc) on Kelly and Taiwangate. "In an ever-widening scandal involving a Taiwan government secret "slush fund," the purpose of which was to covertly influence other countries' (including the United States and Japan) politics, leaked Taiwan government documents name two Bush appointees as receiving money from this "slush fund" for services including convincing Bush to agree to $4 billion worth of sophisticated arms sales to Taiwan. (#3: Source) Carl Ford, appointed by GWBush to assistant secretary of defense for intelligence and research, and James Kelly, appointed by GWBush to assistant secretary of state for East Asia, are the American officials named as being "paid off" to covertly influence U.S. politics. Their efforts included accepting millions from this secret slush-fund, and it appears that this money may have been, at least in part, funneled by contributions made by Carl Ford (while working for a Washington PR firm, Cassidy and Associates) to the GWBush presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee. (#3: Source) (#7: Source)

In eye-opening revelations which have shocked Taiwan, and set Washington panicking over the "radioactive" political fall-out from these covert Taiwanese efforts (aided by Bush "administration" officials) to influence American politics (#3: Source)."

More recently, back in October, 2002, Kelly went, unbidden by the No. Koreans to No. Korea, where he proceeded to make belligerent, provocative comments obviously designed to create more fear and anxiety in the minds of the American public, who were at that point seriously doubting the wisdom of war with Iraq. The No. Korean news agency KCNA reported that Kelly "made very arrogant and threatening remarks that if North Korea did not take any action first to solve the concerns about security, there would be neither dialogue nor improved relations."

But back to the "Post's" story. So the real story here - buried long about paragraph 15 or so on page A18, is that the North Koreans told the Americans - and these statements were actually heard by more than one person and whilst said people were sitting down and paying attention rather than milling about in halls - that they would give up their nuclear weapons program if the US could insure them a steady supply of energy. Quite reasonable, and certainly no cause for alarm. But the fact that the Post pulled up the unsubstantiated statement by Kelly in favor of the reasonable statements made to a room full of people is not only irresponsible, it is downright criminal - fomenting war, in fact, with malicious aforethought and total disregard for the safety of both the American and Korean people.

I suspect the real deal is this: No. Korea has claimed up front that it has started up its program for reprocessing spent fuel rods from nuclear reactors into plutonium that COULD be used for weapons (COULD is the key term here). The country badly needs a power source and says it would give up the nuclear program and possible weapons manufacture if the US could replace the power supply. But this doesn't fit with Bush's Evildoer warmongering scheme. What fits is the vague unverifiable reference to ALREADY EXISTING nukes. That way, Bush can claim that No. Korea "refuses to disarm" and thus justify an invasion. Haven't we already been around this barn before...and, correct me if I'm wrong - VERY recently?

But, the Post and NBC are working in perfect synchrony with Bush to set the stage for another war, for more global instability, more needless deaths. Last night, in an interview so perfectly timed to coincide with the NORTH KOREA HAS NUKES headlines that no one with more than four working neurons could fail to notice that the thing was a collusion between the White House and media execs. If this is not a criminal - treasonous in fact - abuse of power, then I would be hard-pressed to come up with something that was.

Meanwhile, Bush propagandists on the radio are already starting to refer to the "Korean Situation" as "A Standoff with North Korea." Remember "Standoff with Saddam," followed by "Showdown with Saddam?", followed by "America at War?"