If Necessary, Strike and Destroy

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/21/AR2006062101518.html

If Necessary, Strike and Destroy
North Korea Cannot Be Allowed to Test This Missile

By Ashton B. Carter and William J. Perry
Thursday, June 22, 2006; Page A29

North Korean technicians are reportedly in the final stages of fueling a long-range ballistic missile that some experts estimate can deliver a deadly payload to the United States. The last time North Korea tested such a missile, in 1998, it sent a shock wave around the world, but especially to the United States and Japan, both of which North Korea regards as archenemies. They recognized immediately that a missile of this type makes no sense as a weapon unless it is intended for delivery of a nuclear warhead.

A year later North Korea agreed to a moratorium on further launches, which it upheld -- until now. But there is a critical difference between now and 1998. Today North Korea openly boasts of its nuclear deterrent, has obtained six to eight bombs' worth of plutonium since 2003 and is plunging ahead to make more in its Yongbyon reactor. The six-party talks aimed at containing North Korea's weapons of mass destruction have collapsed.

/snip


How do DU'ers feel about a pre-emptive strike on North Korea?

And secondly, how could we ever be sure that we had struck all of the existing sites?

Sounds like a fuckup of apocalyptic proportions in the making.

Edit -- This is my favorite part of the article:



They're joking, right? THERE WAS NO ACTUAL THREAT, you pinheads. And the result has been a disaster. Now we have an actual threat, and you want to create an even bigger disaster?

capability in other countries.

Think about it: we regime-change countries who do not YET have the capability. What message does that send?

preemption is the worst, most depraved policy ever contemplated.

they can't rebuild it. Also, to capture their plutonium. If we just simply blow up a rocket, what good is that. Take out their production and you really hit them where it hurts. Make no mistake about it, this is a serious threat to us and Bush needs to start taking it seriously. It was under his watch that Kim Jong Ill obtained plutonium, which I'm sure he'll blame on Clinton.

to neautralize the threat without a full scale attack. Save your smart-ass remarks for someone that cares moron.

North Korea can test missiles just like other nations test their missiles. Doing so is not an act of war. If we would like to make sure that North Korea is a responsible member of the nuclear club, perhaps we ought to normalize relationships with North Korea and treat it like a responsible member of the nuclear club.

a "responsible member of the nuclear club". Kim Jong-Il is a serious pyscho, make no mistake about it.

They need to take him out, set him up somewhere as the head of a casino or something and let North Korea join the Corpo-Fascist New World Order. What good is the CFNWO if they allow rogue CEOs like Kim to ruin the bottom line?

It is not China's right nor our right to 'take out' any leader of any nation. The Korean people will have to settle their own affairs. North Korea has nuclear weapons, as do a long list of other nations, many of which are far more beliigerant in their foreign policy past and present than the North Koreans. What we should do is normalize relations with North Korea and stop treating them like a vile pariah that we might attack at any moment. I wonder why they feel the need to develop nuclear weapons and a credible delivery system?

so it was up to the Jews, the Polish and the French to defeat Hitler just prior to WWII? You support doing nothing about Darfur? I'm not saying we need to storm into Pyongyang or anything, but this country should be well positioned to support the oppressed if necessary. I agree with the authors that unilaterally invading Iraq has seriously undermined our ability to engage in morally just military engagements.

Before you blast me for being pro-war, I am aware of American history. I know how this government has invaded innocent countries for solely strategic and selfish reasons (see Cuba, Phillipines). But at the same time I believe we can still call evil for what it is. Kim Jong-Il is no Hugo Chavez, if you know what I mean. He's not someone villified by Fox News. He's a seriously messed up dude, Hitler-esque in many ways (ex. his cult of personality).

The Chinese and the South Koreans are in a better position to deal with the North than we are.

A pre-emptive strike on North Korea is lunacy pure and simple. The policy makers in our government rejected it out of hand.

I'm disgusted so many Americans take killing and warfare so lightly.

Or any medium to small country that gets their hands on some nukes?

Even Russia and China fear to nuke us because we have enough to strike back and wipe them off the map no matter how hard they hit us with a first strike.

Iran, North Korea, or Goatfuckistan would be even more inhibited for the same reason, except in the comic book logic of the neocons.

Amazon in possession blow guns, spears, and bows and arrows.

If we do not attack now, we may wake up one day forced to wear loinclothes and eat monkey meat.