So North Korea went ahead and defied the United States by shooting off not one, not two, not three, but seven missiles -- on of all days, our July 4th (by design I imagine...?). Yes, the entire exercise was a complete failure, an embarrassment to Kim; it's all good.

However, I wonder: how is it that seven missiles were launched despite all of the blustering and threats by Bush? They even talked of using our extremely expensive Star Wars anti-missile defense system -- what happened? It was decided better not to use it to avoid an embarrassment of our own? And what will Bush do now, given that Kim has brazenly defied the mighty U.S.? Do we escalate rhetoric against North Korea? Or do we go further and use the military to deliver a message, ASAP? Will Bush be consistent and apply to North Korea the same standards applied to Iraq? After all, North Korea clearly has more menacing WMD than Iraq ever did.

If this quote is any example, it appears as if our bully-boys in high office are backing off their cock-sure swagger (not wanting another Iraq on their hands pre-November?):

"The Taepodong obviously was a failure - that tells you something about capabilities," Stephen Hadley, President Bush's national security adviser, told reporters in a phone call on Tuesday evening in Washington.

I don't believe Iraq was ever granted such a conciliatory, benefit-of-the-doubt summation. So because the missile tests (multiple!) failed, that's what truly matters? I thought the very act of testing was the problem, that it defied international protocols and set the stage for further problems down the road?

Nope, instead from these guys you get a pathetic, weak-kneed, dismissive response. Can you imagine if Saddam had done this in Iraq a few years ago?! Bush/Cheney would've LOVED it -- no need for cooked up intel, bogus Iraq sources, blatant lying, etc. We would've been bombs-away the next day.

But so much for consistency, and needless to say it sheds that much more light on why we invaded Iraq in the first place, and why we haven't and won't do so regarding other more threatening nations. (It has to do with little things called oil and actual WMD....).