Even if the next president finally readies the country for a long-range, comprehensive program, it will take another decade to implement.

FORBES: Black Gold Vs.Yellow Gold

The U.S. and other countries, most notably Korea's close neighbor Japan, are deeply worried by the North's long-range ballistic-missile program, which Pyongyang has put on hold but not abandoned.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Korea: Korea's Big Show

Bush administration officials -- Powell among them -- argued that Iraq had harbored stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, a hidden nuclear weapons program and long-range missiles in violation of the cease-fire that ended the Persian Gulf War in 1991.

CNN: Powell:?Troops could begin leaving?Iraq this year