Thomas Daschle: “I think the Senator asks a very good question. This is more than just a semantical issue. Whether one calls it a crisis…”

“I think the Senator asks a very good question. This is more than just a semantical issue. Whether one calls it a crisis, an emergency, whatever volatile term one wishes to apply, clearly this deserves more of a response than this administration has provided. I wonder what would have happened if Iraq had been the country with the evidence now to suggest that weapons of mass destruction, nuclear weapons, would be produced with the degree of certainty that we now see them in North Korea, what would the administration have said to that? If Iraq had fired a test missile within the last 2 weeks, what would the administration have said of that? My hunch, is that they would have used the word 'crisis' and then some. They have already claimed, of course, that North Korea is a member of the so-called axis of evil, an unfortunate term in my opinion. But to avoid using the word 'crisis,' I believe, lends a real serious credibility question to the administration's foreign policy with regard to the region. This is a crisis. Every expert has acknowledged that it is a crisis. Unless we are willing to recognize the reality of the implications of this crisis, I believe the crisis will only worsen.”