Bill Clinton recently went to North Korea to negotiate for the release of two journalists. Those on the left and the right naturally have differing views about this. The reaction of the right seems to be more based on throwing mud at Bill Clinton before he gets more good press—like there is anything we can ever do to keep the press from fawning over Bubba. Many are saying that this is tantamount to negotiating with terrorists. I would disagree because, though we do not negotiate with terrorists, we have a long standing policy of negotiating with sovereign nations, even terrorist supporting ones. Many on the right are even attacking the two journalists, saying they were foolish and caused their own problems. This also is not a reason to leave them in North Korean custody. One of the things about the US that makes us better than many other countries is that while their government is imprisoning and killing their people we take great strides to protect ours, even at times going to war to protect them.

While the reaction of the right seems churlish, the reaction of the left is naïve. The North very successfully used this and we should admit it. Yes Bill Clinton helped these two women, but that is small in comparison to the world’s condition. The left is using this as a bludgeon against Bush, though he hasn’t been in office for months. They say this shows that diplomacy works, leaving one to assume that diplomacy should have been tried with Iraq and one can only assume with Afghanistan. First of all, we tried diplomacy for years with Iraq. With Afghanistan we acted quickly because they were supporting those who had killed so many of our citizens on 911. Since the Russians had lost to them in the 80’s they assumed we would lose as well. Of course they forgot that we were on their side in the 80’s. Now, while I have always maintained that we should not have entered Iraq when we did, that part of the discussion is over and we have been much more successful in Iraq than the left will ever admit. So let’s look at the scorecard of freed people. Bill Clinton freed two young women who stuck their necks out too far. George Bush freed two nations with populations of millions. While I am no fan of George Bush, you have to give him credit for some things.