A Note to the Bill Richardson Grassroots Folks

by Richardson ~ April 12th, 2007. Filed under: Diplomacy.

I noticed hits from the site, “Americans for [Bill] Richardson” coming to this post on North Korea allowing the IAEA to send inspectors as soon as the BDA funds are received. Their blog-like site has titles like:

“Governor Richardson’s North Korean Breakthrough”

“Breaking News: Richardson Brokers Nuclear Deal With North Koreans”

Reality check:

  • Bill Richardson did not negotiate any breakthrough with the North Koreans, and was not authorized to do so. The North Korean decision was because, “Macau authorities had unblocked about $25 million of North Korean funds that had been frozen at Banco Delta Asia (BDA) for about 18 months.”
  • That inspectors would be required, and that the reactor be shutdown, was agreed to in the 13 February deal (DOC), and had absolutely nothing to do with Bill Richardson being in Pyongyang.
  • Don’t confuse the messenger of news he had nothing to do with, with the actual negotiator, which was and is Christopher Hill. Hill will take a large part of the blame when it fails, so don’t try to steal his thunder unless you want to partake in that as well.
  • What Bill Richardson’s delegation did do was this; “made clear to the North Koreans that Americans are united in seeking a ‘peaceful and final end to North Korea’s nuclear program.’ ” But that’s all.
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5 Responses to A Note to the Bill Richardson Grassroots Folks

  1. kyochan
    April 12th, 2007 at 6:43 pm

    I had those people pass by my site after I wrote a post wondering if everything is tip top shape in New Mexico to merit a trip to North Korea. Unlike your case, the people there just reported that news rather than spin anything towards Richardson.

  2. Richardson
    April 12th, 2007 at 7:47 pm

    I trolled their site and must say, it has the real feel of a cultish propaganda site that could just as easily be extolling Juch’e. Replace “Dear Leader” with “Gov. Bill Richardson,” and it’s complete.

  3. GI Korea
    April 13th, 2007 at 5:30 pm

    They still have your posts up over there and haven’t deleted them yet. That was a pretty thorough destruction of the unimformed over there.

  4. Kim Jong-Bill’s “Breakthrough” at ROK Drop
    April 13th, 2007 at 6:23 pm

    […] Richardson’s announcement of negotiating a North Korean breakthrough that he also has posted in full at his […]

  5. Richardson
    April 13th, 2007 at 7:30 pm

    I still can’t get over Bill Richardson’s claiming credit for what Hill did. It’s amazingly bold… and stupid. Unless his campaign staff is responsible, in which case I’d like to see a public retraction of his claims.

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