War with Iraq is inevitable. I think we can all say that. But should we back off a bit, militarily, and take a good look at North Korea. Iraq is a regime where the dictator still has power and things are still going his way(when compared to N. Korea). Saddam won't be stupid enough to put himself out of power by doing something rash, like sending a missile full of chemicals into Israel. NK on the other hand is a regime that's falling apart. They keep eluding to having a missile but will deny actually having one. They shoot off missiles as a test every so often, so we know they're trying to develop one if they don't have one already. We suspect them being able to shoot a nuke as far as out west coast. So if they're falling apart and become extremely unstable, they could pull off one shot at S. Korea, Japan, or even our west coast. Should we be taking this as more of a threat? Do we back off Iraq and look at North Korea or do we go to war with Iraq, get it done with quickly, then turn to North Korea and ask them what they think they're doing?
If you can only do one of two things, of course you back off of Iraq and solve NK. But you don't have to only do 1 of 2 things.
NK needs to be regional concern. china and russia should step up to the plate. US troops should move down farther south until NK chills out. -irish.
Wow, I hate this idea. Look, just because Bush is using "regional concern" as a cover story for his failed policy, doesn't make it true. The LAST thing we want is more ChiCom influence in Asia. Frankly, I'm not that sure about Russia. Asking Moscow, even democratic Moscow, to take an interest in the Far East is a big red flag historically. As if they'd work well with Beijing. And there's really no reason to sell out Japan like that. South Korea seems to trust the North more than us, fine, but if we're trying to scare the criminy out of Japan, shrugging off North Korea is a good way to do it. Guarantee you Japan is more concerned with NK than Turkey or Saudi Arabia are with Iraq.
Give Iraq more time, maintain the no-fly zones, scale back sanctions which are destroying the youth of that country, arm the Kurds and any other anti-Saddam group to the teeth. Provide aid to Turkey based soley on their committment to maintain their borders and increased human rights awareness. While continuing anti-terrorists military action, engage in increased real and rhetorical support for human rights awareness in Muslin countries. Announce renewed committment to UN, send fleet to near North Korea, engage NK in more dialogues and if NK does not so engage, use any force necessary to stop stop North Korean nuclear threat. I'd also scale back tax relief to pay for this stuff.
NK is different. North Korea is different than Iraq. NK if they decided to could destroy Seoul within 6 hours of the beginnig of the war with potenially 1 million casualties. They have most of thier artilley 30 miles north of Seoul, and could send 500,000 rounds per hour (140 per second). In the long run South Korea with American reinforcements would win, but it would be at great cost. See the analysis here. China is the country that most supports NK, and I think they are actually helping the NK nuclear and missle program, just like they helped Pakistan. * China provides 70% of North Korea's fuel. * China provides 40% of NK food. * The bottom stage of the latest NK missle TD-2 looks EXACLTLY like the Chinese CSS-2, which China used as an intermediate range missle to carry nuclear warheads. The bottom stage by itself could reach Japan with a nuclear warhead. * China resently sold NK the chemicals need to reprocess its plutonium into weapons grade material. If we want NK to stop making nuclear weapons it is China we should be talking to and not NK. If China tells NK we are going to stop trading with you unless you stop your WMD programs, then NK will have no choice. But instead China's trade with NK significantly increased in 2002. Here is a second source. The fate of NK is in China's hands. In my opinion the fate of the US-China relationship should hinge on if China choses to be helpful with NK or not. We more than anyone else are fueling the economic boom in China, and if they are going to play a dual game with us, by supporting a country building nuclear weapons and the missles to deliver them, then we should not be trading with that country.
The threat we are trying to stop here is not Iraq invading Turkey or Saudi Arabia. It is a state covertly slipping a terrort-for-hire, some chemical or biological agent for a terrorist attack like WTC#1 or the Tokyo subway. This is much harder to contain. The type of threat North Korea creates is more as a supplier to terrorist supporting countries that seek nuclear weapon and missle technology. Iran is a prime example. Remeber WTC#1 occured on the second anniversary of the Gulf War, and they had cyanide in that truck, but it luckily was chemically altered by the heat of the explosion so did not have the intended effect. Was Ramzi Yousef acting on his own, or did he have a sponsor? I don't think we know for sure.
Re: NK is different. Here's the stick we show to China... "Look, you really need to get North Korea in line. Otherwise, we'll have to provide Japan and South Korea with nuclear weapons. You don't want that, we don't want that. So tell Pyongyang to take a chill pill...now."
The scenario portrayed by Tom Clancy in his book Executive Orders just becomes more likely everyday. I just hope the ending is how it works in reality. (If you haven't read the book, I highly recommend it). Where is the UN to step in and talk with North Korea. It's so Catch 22 for the USA. If these situations were reversed we would have all those whinning about Iraq crying about not going to war with North Korea and how we need to focus on Iraq. Leave North Korea alone. This way we don't get involved in the Saddam type rhetoric with Kim. As a registered Democrat I find it sad that the Democrats call for talks about this issue so often. They need to stop playing politics with this crap and get it right. They should step up the talk on the economy. This is where the Republicans policies continually fail. But the Bush administration is correct in dealing with North Korea. I wish the international community would be up in arms about North Korea and holding rallys against nuclear proliferation. All these people have their priorities completely screwed up. If we give in to the demands of North Korea aren't we having them dictate to us how things should be done? Maybe it's time they fall in line. And no Dan Loney, I guarantee you that the Saudi's are just as concerned about Iraq as Japan is about North Korea. And the United States is concerned about both. And France doesn't give a rats ass about nobody but France.
What exactly are Russia, China and the UN doing about this? Are the US the only ones who can solve everyone's problems? Oh, and I'm sure this is the USA's fault too.
Well, since that al-Qaeda dude they just caught was the mastermind behind WTC #1, then yeah, we do know for sure.
I have to agree with those who are saying NK are a bigger threat to us. I mean, they all but threatened us this weekend with nuclear attacks on our cities if we try to knock out their weapons program. The whole thing is almost eerie of how we entered World War II in 1941. We are pursuing a war with one country (Germany then, Iraq now) while the country we are trying to punish with sanctions (Japan then, NK now) prepares to go to war because they are painted into a corner. It shows how dumb this administration is and one of the reasons why they will be out on the street on 1/20/05.
The fact that NK has repeatedly said that it would not talk to anyone unless the US was involved in bilateral talks means that Russia, China, UN, SK and Japan can't do anything unless the US is involved. The US should work with countries in the region, but this isn't a regional problem and can't be handled without active US involvement.
Agreed, Mike. However, the USSR was never in the control of a nut job like Kim Jong Il (although you could make an argument for Stalin but I don't want to get into that fight). Bill Q.
Re: Re: Back off of Iraq and look at North Korea Yep. Altho Stalin was the worst of the bunch, and never had control of enough nukes to start a nuke holocaust (which is a very, very good thing). I agree with telling the ChiComs that if North Korea gets nukes, so does Japan. Alex
Are you sure? I thought he planned the 9/11 attacks but not the first WTC attack. I could be wrong tho. There was a very interesting book published a few years ago detailing Saddam's connections with the first WTC attack. Can't remember the name of it, maybe someone else can. Alex