"Indeed, so eager is the White House to play down the implications of a nuclear North Korea--and to keep the focus on Iraq--that Powell went on to make a still more irrational case for inaction. "Yes, [the North Koreans] have a large army, and, yes, they have had these couple of nuclear weapons for many years," he said. "And, if they have a few more, they have a few more, and they can have them for many years. But Iraq is a regime that has stood in defiance of sixteen U.N. resolutions, and we're waiting to see whether they're going to be in defiance of this new one." Who has time to worry about a rogue state illegally acquiring a nuclear arsenal when there are U.N. resolutions being broken? "

TNR wonders what the Bushies are thinking.