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Happy Endings

I know.

The North Koreans are using President Bill Clinton's visit for all their own reasons. Attention world: Here we are, our leader is alive, Bill Clinton is paying his due.

They couldn't be happier if they'd set the whole thing up. Which, of course, they did, by grabbing the journalists in the first instance. Crime pays.

With children, we call this rewarding bad behavior.

With many of the world's bad guys, we call it negotiating with terrorists — something we are absolutely against, except when we aren't.

With kidnappers, we just call it paying ransom.

So yes, we paid ransom. We rewarded bad behavior. We negotiated with very bad guys. A former president touching down with his "delegation" (I did recognize some other old friends as well) is worth more than money to North Korea. Does Bill Clinton count as "preconditions"? Remember that fight? Don't.

Conservative talk show hosts will get a day off health care and taxes to take a midsummer's walk down Memory Lane. Clinton-bashing — what could be sweeter? Bill back in the bull's-eye. Oh, for the carefree '90s, when you could bash a president who actually cared about what you thought.

Bash away.

I don't care if the North Koreans are using him, using us, using sob sisters like me. Two girls are coming home. Two families can breathe again.

North Korea's welcome mat was a well-staged performance by an outlaw nation, but it's also something of a relief. At least they want to look better in the eyes of the world. They want to look like a regular country, the kind of place that presidents and former presidents visit, the kind of place with pretty little girls in fancy dresses carrying beautiful flowers.

Of course North Korea is not a regular country. We don't sit around wondering whether regular countries can bomb Hawaii. Or whether they will. North Korea doesn't play by the rules that we think, generally, make "states" less dangerous, which is why the girls were seized, why the families held their breaths, why it took Bill Clinton to bring them home.

Still. Being used is better than being bombed. Lives are more precious than photo opps. It's still a happy ending, and there aren't so many of those to celebrate that I'm going to give this one up.

To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Comments

9 Comments | Post Comment

Good article Susan, as usual.
Like you, I am happy to see the two ladies free from North Korea; I wouldn't wish imprisonment there on almost anyone.
Nevertheless, I feel a bit of resentment for those, like these ladies and the three U.C. grads. who wandered into Iran, for putting our country over a diplomatic barrel. Were I their parents I would be furious at them for their foolishness at taking such risks and costing our country so much.
I live in a mountainous area where we have to go rescue climbers several times a year. These climbers put themselves and those who have to go rescue them in jeopardy. The ladies who went to North Korea and the three U.C. grads who wandered into Iran have cost us even more as a country.

Comment: #1
Posted by: Bill Perney
Wed Aug 5, 2009 12:42 PM

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Now that they are back and we are all happy about that, WHERE ARE THEIR PUBLIC APOLOGIES?

There won't be any but there should be and you know it. Why didn't you bring that up? They owe us an apology for their recklessness. You could tell the Ling chick is not gonna ever give one though. Both of them are indeed lucky. And maybe one day they will both realize how much.

Comment: #2
Posted by:
Thu Aug 6, 2009 8:03 AM

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I must tell you that I've never agreed with anything that you've written. I must admit that i like the caption "Happy Endings" so much more than "Being used better than being bombed" as the article caption in the Miami Herald. Nonetheless, I agree with almost everything you wrote in reference to the families and must say that I've never seen former-President Bill Clinton look so unhappy. I think the photo and videos of the event make clear our disatisfaction with Kim Jong Il government and his ilk.
Never liked Clinton much either, but somehow I have found a new sense of respect for the man.

Comment: #3
Posted by: Javier E. Boza
Thu Aug 6, 2009 8:17 AM

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Within four minutes of the announcement that these ladies would be freed, John Bolton was on FOX News channel criticizing Bill Clinton and the mission. Using the right-wing standards of dealing with other countries, the hostages in IRAN from a few decades back would still be there. One thing that is great about this is that not one human being was killed to bring about this return. Bill Clinton is the only person with stature enough to have gone over and brought them back. Certainly the prep work by our State department has to be given credit, but Mr. Clinton pulled this off and I love the way he did it. He deserves all the credit that can be heaped on him

Comment: #4
Posted by: robert lipka
Thu Aug 6, 2009 8:29 AM

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One additional comment I would like to make and that is that these situations happen around the world all the time and we as Americans, will always do what we can to help people out of these kind of situations. We are always a better nation for having made the effort. America did not lose face in this situation, we gained stature around the worls as a result of this effort. We didn't kow-tow to anyone. I think North Korea wanted a way out of this matter as well. The right-wing commentators are wrong, this cost us nothing and might have gained us a lot as we try to drag North Korea back into the international community of decent, human rights oriented nations. Peace building does not happen overnight and it certainly does not happen when we isolate nations. That policy of the Bush administration was wrong on so many levels. Cuba is the next nation that we should restore a good working relationship with as we move on from the past. The sonner we open up Cuba to trade and travel, the better for everyone. Good ole Capitalism can come back to Cuba within five years, ,,,,,,if we let it happen.

Comment: #5
Posted by: robert lipka
Thu Aug 6, 2009 9:08 AM

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The lines on negotiating with terrorist nations need to be in Grey when human life is concerned if a country has any moral basis. There are a lot of players in this, and a lot of blame to distribute. There are winners and there are losers. Once again the biggest loser is Hillary Clinton. Obama has once again marginalized her and her authority, and did it with a slap in the face by using her husband this time. Why she ever took the Secretary of State position is still a mystery to me.

Comment: #6
Posted by: red5mutual
Thu Aug 6, 2009 11:40 AM

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however, is it not so that journalists entered Korea illegally without proper documents. This was never mentiioned after the first week. Is this true or false?

Comment: #7
Posted by: anne
Sat Aug 8, 2009 9:04 PM

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I bet if it was Susan's child she would be singing a different tune.

Comment: #8
Posted by: R. Parker
Sun Aug 9, 2009 10:46 AM

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The question that has never been answered is ; Why were they there in the first place ?
Did they file any stories ? Did anybody read those ( if filed ) stories ?
I have not seen any news coming out of North Korea except from official govt sources.
So WHY were they there ?

Comment: #9
Posted by: Carson Emmons
Mon Aug 10, 2009 6:23 AM

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