We're facing a potential nuclear crisis with North Korea that's been a dozen years in the making. Kim Jong Il has been building his nuclear capabilities since shortly after signing the 1994 agreement in which he promised to cease doing so, and now has long-range missiles with the potential of carrying nuclear warheads to our own West Coast. The fact that the first one he tested failed after launch is of no relevance. The problem is that the dictator of North Korea feels comfortable lobbing missiles at the United States. Who knows where he will aim the next one... or what payload it will carry?

This is what happens when we allow America's enemies to continue working on ways to kill us instead of standing up to them. Democrats and Liberals, the media and many of our supposed "allies" began pouting and stamping their feet over the decision to stop Saddam Hussein from the moment President Bush mentioned Iraq as a part of an "axis of evil" in 2002. Despite the contributions of over 50 countries to the liberation of Iraq, America's "unilateral" action was universally anathematised.

So the Bush administration decided to deal with Iran and North Korea, the other two countries whose leaders have ambitions that need curing, by making a point of allowing other nations to take charge of the negotiations. Result: Iran continues to build nuclear weapons, and North Korea is now testing long-range missiles by firing them off at Hawaii. Meanwhile, without batting an eye, the Left tells us to give Kim Jong Il "incentives" to get him to talk to us, as though talking is an end in itself. Some on the Left seem to believe that fanatical Islamofascists and terrorist-supporting dictators simply can't build their engines of destruction while sending diplomats to hold meetings. The Dictator's Dictionary, if there were such a book, would surely define "negotiations" as, "the best way to prevent your enemy from acting against you until you are ready to attack."

Kim Jong Il's actions are obviously timed to take some pressure off his partners in Iran, as they approach a deadline of their own. Iran has been given until 12 July 2006 to suspend uranium enrichment, but that country's leaders have already declared they will not even respond to the ultimatum until August. With Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya off his customer list, Kim is running out of major countries willing to buy his missiles. Iran is his last major partner -- much of Iran's arsenal is North Korean in origin. If America succeeds in halting Iran's ambitions, North Korea will have very few sources of revenue left. Kim Jong Il wants to blackmail the US into one-on-one talks while he still thinks he can repeat his 1994 performance. In bilateral talks, Kim gained valuable concessions including two light-water reactors and oil, in return for a promise he found easy to break without discovery.

Even China couldn't stop North Korea's missile test, despite the fact that North Korea is normally a useful pawn in China's chess game against the US. China's premiere, Wen Jiabao, asked Kim Jong Il to "refrain from taking measures that will worsen the situation" on the Korean peninsula, yet the test proceeded as planned. In fact, Kim Jong Il's defiance of his patron nation may be an excuse for them not to act, if we decide to do so.

Japan immediately called an emergency session of the UN, with predictable results. As in the Iranian situation, China and Russia stated that they would veto even the mildest of sanctions against North Korea, squashing any attempt to work through the UN yet again. Apparently, the angry letter a fictional Hans Blix threatened to deliver to Kim Jong Il in the movie "Team America: World Police" is stronger than any action of which the real UN is capable. If the UN (as usual) is unable to act, then we (as usual) may have to.

If our enemies pay attention to the New York Times and other mainstream media outlets, they must believe our military is stretched to the breaking point and our people are on the verge of revolt. In fact, the naval power we have in the Pacific is more than sufficient to wipe out every launch pad, missile facility, military base, weapons depot and (of course) palace in North Korea. Air strikes could do the same in Iran, if need be. We've barely stretched our muscles yet, if the truth were told. But if we continue to pretend that talk is a substitute for action, openly-declared enemies like Iran and North Korea will continue to drag us towards a nuclear war.

And the next time we let an enemy launch a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, we may not be able to build a memorial for several hundred years.