North Korean Missle Test: What would *you* do?

Kim Jung Nutjob is bound and determined to show how tall .... er ... tough he is.



He has this missle, see, and he wants to test it. Probably by lobbing it over Japan and then seeing how far it flies. He's hoping to get enough distance to prove he can hit Disneyland in Anaheim, or maybe Starbucks' world HQ in Seattle.

Removing my tongue from my cheek - which is hard where this nutjob is concerned - what do you think we should do, if anything? Some of Clinton's old defense department guys say we should hit it on the pad before he launches it, thereby taking out the missle and the whole damned missle base in the process. Some have speculated we could try to hit it in midflight, after it gets safely out over open ocean. Still others say to ignore it and let it just happen, and then ignore it afterwards, too.

Who knows what our own Il Dunce has planned. You *know* they have something planned. And you would be right to think that whatever it is, you won't like it.

So ... what would *you* do if you were in charge of the decision?

(I know damned well this is a serious matter, but I just can NOT take a dick wagging contest between Kim Jung Dumb and Il Dunce seriously. I guess I'm just genetically predisposed to being a stupid clown.)

and start talking to him back in 2002 when he wanted to.

hell TALKING TO HIM TODAY would help.

the missle and then open direct talks with N. Korea.

Of course we both know the talking should have started *years* ago.

Unless it's aimed at So. Korea, let the miserable midget have his moment in the sun, and then capitulate and start the talks with the No. Koreans that should have started years ago to prevent this in the first place.

TC

Is Kim Jong Il crazy...maybe...is he suicidal? Probably not. So what if he wants to shoot off another inert missile? He's not gonna put an actual warhead on the damned thing, aim it at a piece of actual land, and commit a real act of war. Rummy would have ICBM's on his azz in minutes.

If Kim aims their way and Japan has inherited any of our Star Wars tech since '98, then maybe they get free target practice, otherwise "Space Command" gets to try out Star Wars missile defense on a real missile instead of a preplanned target.

I'm not sure what he'll do, but I'm sure it will be the wrong thing.

"I'm not sure what he'll do, but I'm sure it will be the wrong thing."

The other option would be to take it down in flight and then recover the guidance section so we would know what level of precision NK is capable of, if we do not alread know by other means

Does it matter?

I really don't know the right answer to this conundrum, but at the moment I'm in the 'shoot it in flight' camp.

Its a lot easier to nail it when its standing still...

hitting the launching pad would indeed be an act of war.

and not pay him any attention for a while. I certainly wouldn't want to tip
our hand that our missle defense doesn't work worth squat unless the enemy
is kind enough to give you all their coordinates, and then only 50% of
the time. I'd want that kept amongst us.

...... knowing its about to be launched, we could just as easily launch a curtain of fighters and shoot it down that way.

Then, of course, we could claim whateverthefuck we wanted.

We could have fighters on the ready in case it gets too close.
I'd want to recover it and analyze where they are.

I gotta agree. We'd lose big time here if we fired and missed.

As nutty as that bastard is, I don't think he's doing anything other than showing us his nuts. Ignore it until he launches and then see where he fires it. He aint gonna aim his one and only toy at anybody... he'd get his ass nuked by somebody over there and I think he knows it.

especially since I have worked for several days straight now.

I'm not sure why, but it always seems like a good alternative.

i'll divide my response into the very likely and the not likely ...

the very likely is more or less what my family did when the Russkies launched Sputnik ... Mom baked her world famous chocolate cake ... we got to lick the leftover icing out of the bowl ... then, just after the sun went down, we took a bunch of folding chairs, and some paper plates and plastic forks, and of course the cake, and went out to the front yard for a picnic while we waited for Sputnik to fly right over our little street ... it didn't of course ... the cake and the memories were great though ... this to me, would probably be about the best we can hope for ...

on the less likely side, the US really has no adequate process to address the emerging military capabilities of the rest of the world ... we attack Iraq; we're attacking Iran; we invade Afghanistan ... as i recently posted, we can't fight the whole world ...

clearly what is needed is a global process that encourages disarmament ... absent US leadership, of course, it's impossible right now ... and there will be no US leadership while the MIC continues to rake in the big bucks ... their profits are our policies ... period ... it's pure madness and it puts the US and the entire world at risk ... military madness is killing our country ...

with a real UN empowered to take action against countries that violate the global armaments treaty, a union of nations could perhaps provide an answer to the problem ... but it will never succeed if certain countries, like the US, are exempt ... while our government might like to suggest "but we're the good guys", our hawkish history suggests otherwise ...

we cannot threaten Iran with nuclear weapons and then expect to be the messengers of peace ... so, our task is to "out the MIC" and out those who profit from war ... when there's no money in it for those with power, they'll soon lose interest in "protecting America" ... at that point, we can undertake the path to genuine protection by advocating the development of global institutions of peace ...

if this sounds good to you, let me give you the bad news: you better just sit down here on my lawn and have a piece of mom's chocolate cake ...

I'll bring the plastic forks.

When Poppy Bush invaded Iraq in Desert Storm, I distracted the kids by making Hershey's Deep Dark Chocolate Cake (from scratch). Then I fixed a nice roast beef dinner, rented a bunch of videos and we spent the next few days watching movies and playing games.

A similar fix will work for N Korea - give them the food and humanitarian aid that they really need; that's why the inbred dictator-tot is rattling his nuclear saber. He's too insane to admit to his countrymen that he doesn't know how to govern and that's why they're starving.

Abraham Lincoln. I'd sit down for bilateral talks with North Korea aimed at ending our presence on the Korean peninsula and aiding in reconciliation\reunification of the Korean peninsula, along with massive war reparations for all the peasant families killed and wounded thanks to our SAC bombing campaign against the dams and dikes of North Korea intended to starve the people . . . one month before the armistice.

and returns to some semblance of a balanced society.

Both of them are prime examples of the need to psychologically vet anyone aspiring for a position of political power.

If all else fails and they launch the missle, so be it, so long as that missle does NOT ENTER THE SOVEREIGN TERRITORY OF ANY OTHER NATION. Should that missle enter the SOVEREIGN territory of Japan or South Korea, we must shoot it down. If the missle enters China's territory, China will shoot it down.

With that said, military action must BE THE VERY LAST RESORT.

We cannot defeat them at this time - conventionally. It would have to go nuclear, which would bring China into the conflict. Bush has taken all but one infantry brigade from the 2nd ID out of South Korea. He actually sent one brigade to Iraq. When President Carter proposed pulling our troops out of South Korea, the republicans howled. Now that Mr. War President Bush has pulled all but one brigade from South Korea, the always hypocritical GOP is silent..........

cut off from china's patronage, i don't think they could sustain much of a fight. they're certainly militarized, but how long could they keep it up with no resources (fuel, food)?

the people are basically starving, but Kim would propbably get all jonestown & nuke his own populace on his way out.

if china won't take him out (which they could do in an eyeblink), then he's going to be around, torturing those poor people, for 20-30 more years. what a nightmare.

Past that, I'd just observe what's in all likelihood a benign test launch and respond based on how benign it was. If it looks like it's heading towards anywhere it shouldn't, try and down it; if it looks like it's heading anywhere it shouldn't and that can't be done, Kim would be secure in his awareness that he probably had between hours and weeks to live anyway. I definately wouldn't try taking out what's in all likelihood a sounding rocket on the pad, especially with geopolitics as tense as they currently are.

As long as they stay within their borders and don't invade or attack their neighbors, it is none of our business what they do with their scarce resources.

Just because in my mind I think that he might use them on me someday. Jesus...does anyone REALLY think NK would send a nuke to the US?

Not many here, but yes, lots of people do. There's plenty of folks who believe that the moment North Korea or Iran get a nuclear weapon, they'll drop it on the largest orphanage in the United States, rationality about their continued existence be damned. It's silly, yes, but enough people believe it that it can't be dismissed out of hand.

....I suggest: move to the East Coast of the United states....you should be safe there for a few months....

....remember, they're either with us, or against us....

This could turn into a horrific situation. "Shooting it down over the ocean" is highly unlikely as an option. Since so far no technology exist that is likely to successfully accomplish this.

This article actually concerns a preemptive strike on North Korea's nuclear facilities. Now this current issue is slightly different. But, I suspect the consequences are pretty much the same since any attack on North Korean territory would be an act of war.

but lets not underestimate what could or would likely follow:

Military Options for Dealing with North Korea's Nuclear Program
Phillip C. Saunders<1>

http://cns.miis.edu/research/korea/dprkmil.htm

"The biggest military concern in striking North Korean nuclear facilities is the threat of North Korean counter-attacks. Seoul, the South Korean capitol, lies within range of North Korean long-range artillery. Five hundred 170mm Koksan guns and 200 multiple-launch rocket systems could hit Seoul with artillery shells and chemical weapons, causing panic and massive civilian casualties. North Korea has between 500 and 600 Scud missiles that could strike targets throughout South Korea with conventional warheads or chemical weapons. North Korea could hit Japan with its 100 No-dong missiles.<7> Seventy percent of North Korean army ground units are located within 100 miles of the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea, positioned to undertake offensive ground operations. These units could fire up to 500,000 artillery rounds per hour against South Korean defenses for several hours.<8> Finally, if North Korea does have one or two deliverable nuclear weapons, nuclear retaliation (or nuclear threats) would also be available to North Korea leaders.

Even if U.S. strikes on North Korea nuclear facilities are successful, North Korea would still have the capability to inflict massive damage against South Korea and the 37,000 U.S. troops based there. Retaliation might be gradual, or North Korea might resort to large-scale strikes quickly. Efforts to invade the South are less likely, but cannot be ruled out entirely (especially if U.S. military forces are preoccupied in the Persian Gulf). The decision about how to respond would be up to North Korean leaders, who would have a range of military options and the ability to escalate the conflict over time. Although the United States would likely win an all-out war, the damage to South Korea would be tremendous and U.S. forces would sustain large casualties. One U.S. military estimate suggested that U.S. and South Korean military forces might suffer 300,000-500,000 casualties within the first 90 days of fighting, in addition to hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties.<9>

Given these possible military responses, attacks against North Korean nuclear facilities would need to be accompanied by measures to prevent or limit retaliation, such as efforts to degrade North Korean military capabilities, defend against counter-attacks, and deter military responses.

Because North Korea has a wide range of military means (including artillery, missiles, and ground-force operations) that can inflict significant damage on the South, pre-emptive strikes could not destroy all of North Korea's weapons before they could be used. Pre-emptive strikes against North Korean artillery and missiles would require South Korean cooperation and the deployment of additional U.S. aircraft, reconnaissance assets, and artillery. Counter-battery artillery fire and air strikes could be used to target North Korea artillery, but would be unable to prevent North Korea from doing considerable damage to Seoul. The number and mobility of North Korea artillery pieces and ballistic missile forces make them particularly tough targets. Many North Korean artillery pieces are protected in caves and would be difficult to destroy; North Korean missiles are mounted on mobile launchers that are hard to locate and strike. As mentioned previously, any North Korean nuclear weapons would likely be hidden in hardened underground facilities. Because pre-emptive strikes against North Korean artillery and missiles would require striking targets throughout the country, they would quickly escalate the conflict into a wider war. For this reason, pre-emptive strikes would be unlikely to accompany surgical strikes against North Korean nuclear facilities, but would be held in reserve in case North Korea began to retaliate with missile and artillery attacks."

full article:

http://cns.miis.edu/research/korea/dprkmil.htm

n/t

Perhaps you should consider working for a think tank.

It would be one hell of a psy-ops operation, that's for sure.

and you may have something there...the PRK is starving to death, external help is being refused. Feed them and you might just start a revolution.

absent china's patronage, Kim's regime collapses.