Hypocrisy watch: Fight the wars you know you can win. It's better to be wrong but victorious than to be wrong and lose.

Diplomacy is the tack most likely to work with North Korea, said Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), who has pushed for such an approach toward Iraq. "It's the same approach you need to take on North Korea," he said. "You can't bluster on it alone."

The different approaches to Iraq and North Korea also forced the administration to explain why it was using dramatically different responses to two countries accused of developing weapons of mass destruction.