No honor among thieves

Over the past year, it’s been an axiom of the Bush administration that Saddam Hussein could not be trusted, could not be contained, and would stop at nothing to build up Iraq’s arsenal of weapons. Another oft-stated axiom is that it is useless to negotiate with North Korea’s resident nutcase Kim Jong Il. Today’s NY Times carries a story that certainly helps to bolster those positions: “For the Iraqis, a Missile Deal that went sour.” Here’s a nice summary from Slate’s Today’s Papers section:

The NYT says inside that Saddam had been trying to buy a complete missile production system from North Korea, rather than just some preassembled missiles as previously reported. After a $10 million down payment, Kim Jong Il stiffed him, arguing that the U.S. was watching too closely. The story, which relies on "computer files discovered by international inspectors and the accounts of Bush administration officials," says Saddam and the Dear Leader used Syria as a middleman. (Syrian President Assad told the Times, "This is the first time I have heard this story.") The article says the failed missile deal is the "most serious violation" weapons searchers have come across. After the long search for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs, one unnamed official said, "We've learned this much: Kim Jong Il took Saddam to the cleaners."

This story is self-written for a SNL skit: Saddam on the phone to North Korea asking where’s his missile factory, Kim blaming it on the UPS guy, a big fold-out instruction sheet. Bashar Assad’s quote up there is comedy itself.