Audio Clinton calls on Bush to make deal with North Korea (story audio) Listen to Clinton's speech (Midday, 4/14/03) Photos Former President Bill Clinton Your Voice Join the conversation with other MPR listeners in the News Forum.

	E-mail this page			Print this page

Clinton calls on Bush to make deal with North Korea
by Marisa Helms, Minnesota Public Radio
April 14, 2003

Former President Bill Clinton said it's North Korea, not Iraq, that is the bigger threat in terms of using or selling weapons of mass destruction. (MPR Photo/Marisa Helms)

Former President Bill Clinton says he agrees with the Bush administration's fight against terrorism. But, he said it's North Korea, not Iraq, that poses the biggest threat with its weapons of mass destruction. Clinton spoke Sunday night to a sold-out crowd of 1,500 people at the Beth El Synagogue in St. Louis Park. During his speech, Clinton also assailed the Bush administration's tax cut proposal.

St. Louis Park, Minn. — The 42nd U.S. president told the crowd that he would "commit candor," in the discussion that followed. He covered a wide range of topics including Iraq, terrorism, and domestic policy. His discussion placed the United States at the center of a broad but hopeful theme.

"The most important mission of the United States in the earlier 21st century should be to move the world from interdependence to an integrated global community. To do it, you have to have shared values, shared benefits, and shared responsibilities," Clinton said.

Clinton says in order to achieve these goals, the U.S. must first have a security strategy focused on breaking up and containing terrorist networks, and containing the production and spread of weapons of mass destruction.

If you're rich, what you got asked to do was to expend the energy necessary to open the envelope containing your tax cut, while we're going to kick a half a million poor kids out of their after-school programs. - Former President Bill Clinton

He called for an expansion of the Nunn-Lugar Bill, the 1991 law that put 20,000 nuclear, biological and chemical Russian scientists on the U.S. payroll. Clinton thinks that kind of strategy in other countries could keep bright but poor people from using their talents to support terrorism.

"I believe very strongly that this bill, the Nunn-Lugar Bill, should be expanded to explicitly include biological and chemical weapons, and all countries, other than Russia, who are willing to cooperate with us in destroying the material, safeguarding it, and putting otherwise idle and vulnerable scientific personnel to work doing peaceful things.

Clinton said it's North Korea, not Iraq, that is the bigger threat in terms of using or selling weapons of mass destruction.

He called North Korea the only country in the world that can't grow food but can do a very good job of growing missiles and bombs.

Clinton says the United States must pay attention to North Korea's desperation to feed its people and be noticed by the rest of the world. He called for the U.S. to set up an an agreement where North Korea ends all its nuclear and missile programs.

"In return for which they get food and energy, we teach them how to grow food and produce things to earn their own income. They continue to reconcile with South Korea and their neighbors and we should give them a non-aggression pact, I think that's what they want, because we'll never be aggressive against them unless they do something that first violates the pact anyway. So we're not giving up anything. But we have to have a comprehensive agreement and this is very dangerous, if untended. But the good news is, they don't really want to drop a bomb on you or anybody else. But they do want to eat, stay warm, and feel important," he said.

Clinton also turned his attention to domestic issues. He appealed to the audience to give deep thought to what kind of world they want to live in 50 years from now, and to not give in to the fear of terrorism.

He called Bush's proposed tax cut "insane" and heading in the wrong direction. He said the timing is wrong - he said military families are making sacrifices, the economy is struggling, and that the tax cut would lead to huge deficits.

"We've asked poor people to give up job training funds. We've asked something of just about everybody. But if you're rich, what you got asked to do, was to expend the energy necessary to open the envelope containing your tax cut while we're going to kick a half a million poor kids out of their after-school programs. I think it's bad ethics, I think it's bad economics, I think it sends a terrible signal to the rest of the world. What kind of country is this anyway? And I think you need to make decisions about it."

Clinton got several standing rounds of applause from the enthusiastic audience, which included former Vice President Walter Mondale, state Supreme Court Justice Alan Page, and U.S. Representative Martin Sabo.

News Headlines

Related Subjects