There’s more to say about Korea’s nuclear exports and the war in Iraq. The other day, a story about North Korea’s tottering regime was linked on the Corner and at Instapundit. That story noted that Kim Jong Il was in trouble because he had bet everything on a Kerry victory. That’s why Kim had strung out the nuclear talks without negotiating seriously. With the president re-elected, Kim is now in danger from frightened elements within his own ruling clique. Does anyone think Kim would be in this kind of trouble had we not gone into Iraq? (It scared the daylights out of Kim at the time.) The war in Iraq was critically important, not just because it stopped Hussein from being able to purchase North Korean nukes, and not just because it is spreading democracy to the Arab world, but because it established a fear of American military action in the minds of the Iranians and North Koreans. For all our internal dissension, the Iranians and Koreans know that president Bush is prepared to act militarily when necessary. They also know that president Bush ran on that promise and was reelected because of it. It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of the message the presidents’ willingness to use force sends to our enemies. We have very few good options with Korea or Iran. The one thing we do have is the threat of force. That threat is already reaping benefits in North Korea. Had president Bush not been reelected, and had he not gone to war in Iraq to begin with, our threat to take out potential nuclear foes would not be remotely credible. If this country manages to dodge the bullet of nuclear terror and over time, if new regimes come to power in North Korea and Iran, Iraq will have been the crucial move. But again, the real problem is that the Democrats’ false hopes for “grand bargains” with North Korea and Iran are futile. And even the threat of force is far from guaranteed to bring the axis of evil to heel. We are still in grave danger from the spread of nuclear weapons to rogue states.