Did Rumsfeld help North Korea purchase the nuclear reactors that provided the cover to the nuclear program that detonated its first nuclear bomb on Sunday night? Seems so, given that he sat on the board of directors that won the coveted $200 million dollar contract to provide North Korea with the key nuclear reactor components.
Rumsfeld has never been one to hold his opinion - so how did he sit back, in 1994, and allow ABB to sign that contract? According to
Fortune Magazine, there is nothing on record to show that he said anything, despite the fact that, according to ABB spokesman Bjorn Edlund, he was kept informed of the project.
Of course, Rumsfeld's spokeperson Victoria Clarke claims Rummy does not recall the matter coming before him.
Rumsfeld declined requests by FORTUNE to elaborate on his role. But ABB spokesman Bjorn Edlund has told FORTUNE that "board members were informed about this project." And other ABB officials say there is no way such a large and high-stakes project, involving complex questions of liability, would not have come to the attention of the board. "A written summary would probably have gone to the board before the deal was signed," says Robert Newman, a former president of ABB's U.S. nuclear division who spearheaded the project. "I'm sure they were aware."
Fred Kaplan of Washington Monthly reports that the Bush administration confronted North Korea in 2002 about their acquisition of centrifuges that processed uranium for weapons programs - North Korea boldly admitted doing so - and then the administration stood by and did nothing while the North Koreans expelled international inspectors that had provided assurances that the spent fuel rods from the nuclear reactors remained under lock-and-key, away from weapons programs.
They did nothing, broke off talks, and relied on China to do the foreign policy.
%@#& Rumsfeld. &#% Bush and @$& this administration!