Good old Bill is a ’10’

Whew! I almost thought it was competitive figure skating.

It is skating – big time – but it’s not on ice, and it isn’t pretty. It’s about Bill Clinton.

The story is that he is not the story. The headlines are about North Korea’s nuclear capabilities and threats against the United States.

Other headlines concern State Department accusations against two of the largest American aerospace companies for illegally giving rocket and satellite technology to China. That technology made it possible for China to have intercontinental missiles capable of targeting the United States.

But the headlines ignore Bill Clinton.

The news omits what he did (and didn’t do) and, just as with everything legally marginal he did while president, he skates. No reprimand. No blame. No responsibility. No penalty. No price to be paid.

Well, that’s not quite correct. There are high penalties and prices. They’ll be paid by all Americans. Everyone, but Bill Clinton.

Talk about skating.

Americans will pay in terms of living into the foreseeable future in a world hostage to terrorism and a changed country.

Americans will pay in terms of hits to the economy and soaring military dollar costs.

Most importantly, Americans will pay in terms of loved ones whose lives will be disrupted and who will be injured or killed in wars protecting our freedom.

Meanwhile, Bill Clinton rakes in money giving speeches touting his “presidential wisdom” and advising other presidential hopefuls (for example, John Edwards) on policy and how to protect our country. If he is so full of good ideas, why he didn’t put them into action when he was in the Oval Office?

Oh, I forgot. He was handling other affairs in that office.

The headlines make you cringe, if you have any sense of what really happened.

You thought the Korean War (forgive me, “police action”) was a thing of the past? Remember nearly 40,000 American troops still man the DMZ.

But it’s back, heightened by the threat of nuclear weapons aimed at us – to say nothing of South Korea, Japan and who knows whom else. Mounting pressure between South Korea and the U.S., strengthened by anti-American rallies, doesn’t help the situation.

In 1985, North Korea became part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. We kept our part of the deal and removed tactical nukes abroad. The deal between North and South Korea pledged them not to engage in nuclear development.

But over time, questions were raised about nuclear waste as well as weapon development. Treaty be damned, it appears they did exactly what they pleased and suckered two presidents – Carter and Clinton – the latter agreeing to provide two, light-water reactors and shipments of heavy oil. He thought he could buy them off even though there were warnings that would enable the North Koreans to produce fissionable material for scores of bombs every year.

Clinton ignored the warning.

It was a mistake. North Korea did exactly what they promised not to do. And here we are, sitting on the bull’s-eye.

Thanks, Bill.

Remember Loral Space & Communications Ltd? Its name hit the news in the ’90s when the U.S. started using Chinese rockets for satellite launches – they were cheaper. But they kept crashing and insurance pressure led to Loral and Hughes Electronics Corp., working with the Chinese, to work out the kinks. Investigations show Chinese scientists got the detailed rocket technology to enable them to build intercontinental missiles.

Loral was accused of illegal technology transfer, and the resulting deal left them with a $14 million fine and $6 million to set up systems to see it doesn’t happen again. (Whaat?!?)

They admitted no guilt but, somehow, the Chinese came up with advanced technology to leapfrog their missile systems years ahead of schedule. Hmmm.

Now the State Department charges the Hughes parent company and Boeing Satellite Systems with illegal technology transfer. They deny any wrongdoing, claiming they just followed relaxed Commerce Department regulations.

That Commerce Department was run by Clinton appointee Ron Brown, and it was Clinton who put such tech transfers under Commerce regulation. At the time, Lockheed and McDonnell-Douglas were also facing scandals concerning China technology. (What a mess.)

All this was in the midst of a torrent of cash flowing from the Orient into Clinton campaign coffers. Remember James Riady, the billionaire Indonesian who directed millions to Clinton? Johnny Chung was no slouch with hundreds of thousands of dollars either. Remember the Buddhist nuns? It goes on and on.

And so does Bill – skating along in blissful, luxurious freedom while the rest of us deal with the fallout – so far, not literally.