In a man-bites-dog editorial, If Necessary, Strike and Destroy, Clinton SecDef William Perry and A-SecDef Ashton Carter argue that the U.S. should prevent North Korea’s missile test by force, before it’s launched. They further advocate for unilateral action.
This is a very interesting piece, with opinions emanating from an unlikely source. There is much to recommend their course of action.
Maj P
…and if Bush took their advice, watch the article go down the memory hole at warp speed. You’d see these same two on the talk shows condemning Bush for following their advice within days or hours- with no reference to their own advice.
I agree with BC Monkey. This argument is a political red herring. Democratic strategists know that the Bush adminsistration cannot afford to act unilaterally and still preserve the solidarity of the six party talks regarding North Korea. In this case, Democratic Strategists have a few mid level wonks float an idea, and then should things grow worse, it can be used to prove how the administration made a wrong move. They are sowing political seeds to be used later this year or in 2008. My advice, If NK wants to launch, then let them have at it. We could probably jam their telemetry and tracking radars. We get to see some of this paper tiger’s operational characteristics while NK wastes their time and money on a test that gives us more information than it does them. I wouldn’t even bother wasting an interceptor on it.
many worries here…
In no way would I trust Perry & Carter on this. A test launch is a provocation, but not an act of war. A military strike on NK is an act of war. The NK regime is irrational. They have thousands of “tubes” (motars, artillary, missles) aimed at Seoul and would not hesitate to fire in retaliation. Essentially, they are holding Seoul hostage.
voice…if you launch a ballistic missile over the Japanese mainland (like the norks did in 98) that’s a clear-cut act of war.
I may well be alone in this opinion…
I think 55 years of conflict on the Korean peninsula is plenty. It’s time we stopped being nice. It’s time we put an end to the stupidity (I define stupidity here as doing the same thing -negotiating- over and over again expecting a different result. Especially after 55 years of consistent failure to produce a good result).
And every time someone complains, remind them in your best command voice that it’s been 55 years and doing nothing gave the North Koreans time to develop their own nuclear weapons.
Not that I care, but you could even dangle the economic carrot in front of China’s nose. Can any of you imagine how much money stands to be made by the companies that get to build 21st century infrastructure in North Korea under a new regime?
North Korea was once a province of China. It should be again, at least until they get back on their feet.
My Dad was 17 when he went to Korea with 2ID –he’s 73.
4EE7,
Somehow I don’t think the 48,846,823 (July 2006 est.) South Korean’s would agree with you about giving North Korea back to the Chinese…
All they have to do is look at the Taiwanese to see what sort of fun it is to have the Dragon breathing down your neck.
SGT Jeff (USAR)
The difference, of course, is that China doesn’t have the same claim on South Korea that it says it does over Taiwan.
I think any disagreement in this case would be over who got which contracts and how they were split.
I’m not trying to be rude or sarcastic with this reply, but I’m just asking because the article kind of raises the point. If NKorea has 6-8 nukes (as the article mentions), and we bomb the missile on the launch pad, how likely is it the Kim Jong Il decides to put one of these things on a ship and sail it someplace to detonante it?
Alternatively, could he launch one of them at Japan or South Korea? I am a firm believer in the law of unintended consequences, so we had better think this through carefully before we take any course of action.
Lastly, now that the missile has been fueled, they have about a month to either launch it or de-fuel it, which is an expensive and complicated process. Apparently, the NKoreans don’t have that much experience with the process, and could result in a major disaster.
Ugly choices all around.
Machiavelli said to never do your enemy a small harm. As someone else said, N. Korea could attack S. Korea, in response to an attack from us. We need to get our troops out of S. Korea. S. Korea should take responsibilty for themselves finally.
This proposal reminds me of the Democrats Iraq “plan”. Let’s withdraw our troops from Iraq. OK, then what? I’ve yet to read or hear anything about what they think will happen with Iraq and the terrorists there. Doesn’t that risk leaving them with a safe haven to replace Afghanistan? Likewise, what might N. Korea do after we destroy a missile test site – if they blast Seoul with artillery, then what?