Defense Secretary Bob Gates said Sunday the U.S. isn’t prepared to interfere with North Korea’s planned missile firing, and right-wing bloggers predictably went into overdrive claiming that’s evidence of Obama administration weakness in countering national security threats.
Example 1: Instapundit Glenn Reynolds’ sarcastic post: “THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: U.S. Not Prepared to Respond to North Korea Missile Launch.”
Example 2: drama queen Dan Riehl agonized (emphasis ours):
Is the Left upset that America is left looking weak and ineffective because our Sec Def was forced to concede we are powerless when it comes to preventing North Korea from launching a long range missile test in violation of International Law?
Example 3: Little Green Footballs asked:
Telegraphing weakness to an enemy on the brink of testing a ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead; what could possibly go wrong with a strategy like that?
You better be really, really scared, right? Wrong, because the right wingers’ charges are nothing but politically self-serving nonsense.
First, if the U.S. intends to shoot down the North Korean missile or use some technology to make it go haywire, the last thing a defense secretary with a grain of sense would do is announce that to the world on TV.
Second, however awful its regime, North Korea is a sovereign nation. Interfering militarily with its missile test would be an act of war. With our military already stretched thin and a couple generations of U.S. taxpayers indebted for President George W. Bush’s botched Afghanistan war and unnecessary Iraq war, does any sane American really want to start another war right now?
Third, we can gain valuable information about North Korea’s missile-building and firing capabilities by seeing how their test goes.
Fourth, the U.S. is trying to shed the playground bully reputation Bush and his neocon crackpot crusaders spent eight years earning for us. A pre-emptive air strike against North Korea’s launch site might boost right wingers’ testosterone levels, but it would convince the rest of the world the U.S. is a rogue superpower that believes might makes right.
Sorry, right wingers, but we have more to fear from your paranoia and idiocy than from North Korea’s missile tests.
The uncomfortable truth is that over time many more nations will acquire nuclear weapons and missiles. Using military force to try to stop them all isn’t feasible.
The first step toward a sensible, workable response is to ask ourselves why so many nations feel a need to develop dangerous, expensive advanced weapons systems. And no, it’s not because they all plan to conquer the world.
Here’s a hint for our fearmongering friends on the right: Korea, Iran and some other countries might not want to wind up being invaded and occupied the way Afghanistan and Iraq were.
Excellent post – the right-wingers scare me more with their stupidity than any N. K. missile test ever could.
And who was in charge when the DPRK set off its first nuke? And who was in charge before that, when the DPRK SUSPENDED its nuke program?
The Rushpublicans are beyond discredited-they’re a joke.
Oh my God… if they fire one missile and it falls in the ocean, we have to immediately declare all-out total war on them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks, Bee, your fear is well aimed.
JR, if only these jokers were just laughable and not dangerous.
JM, right, and with 650,000-plus Americans a month losing their jobs, we need a country full of near-starving poor people to feed at taxpayers’ expense.
Again, I come in peace as the quasi-dissent lol. Unless the missile threatens the US (interests), there is little chance of us shooting it down (as Gates implied). I wouldn’t mind if Japan shot the missile out of the sky as it clearly affects their own security. Of course, that drags us into the “war” (our jets are constantly patrolling the skies here in Japan lately ready for anything since we are in the line of fire with a huge bullseye on our island!) which brings up all your points about us not being able to fight. Thank you Bush.
On the human rights side of this conflict, I just wish Bush hadn’t completely blown our “moral upper-hand” on fighting this battle and tied our hands elsewhere in the world otherwise we may actually have our allies to help us fight to liberate the people of the DPRK. Instead, our military is spread thin, we are unprepared to defend ourselves outside of the middle east, and we can no longer claim to have the intersts of the people in mind. This shouldn’t be the case, but sadly, it is.
…with 650,000-plus Americans a month losing their jobs, we need a country full of near-starving poor people to feed at taxpayers’ expense.
I understand the point you make, especially in such times as these, but that is a burden I would be more than willingly to bear regardless of the cost. Yes, I am an idealist sometimes lol.
DB, I don’t mind at all helping North Korea with food aid. Like most Americans, I think, I don’t want to have to do it because of blackmail or because of war.
Actually, because North Korea is on China’s border, war followed by occupation isn’t feasible. China wouldn’t stand for it. So, any war with North Korea has to be seen as a war with China as well. Unthinkable? You betcha.
REAL MEN GO TO PYONGYANG!
So does this mean that the rightwing pundits you quoted are gearing up to enlist and take part in this bloody fight they’re clamoring for?
Oh.
Didn’t think so.
RG, huh?
Tom, I’m sure they’ve got other priorities.
What WOULD be a viable solution to the DRPK situation? I don’t advocate gunboat diplomacy at all…but I am curious what other supporters or non-supporters of the current administration see as a viable option. I think one thing is clear – something should be done to deal with DPRK, even if they aren’t an immediate threat to us. Sanctions don’t fix their starving population or ailing economy, and the U.S. bears the brunt of the cost of enforcing these sanctions. C’mon gang, let’s solve this North Korea situation once and for all…
PNad, China is North Korea’s neighbor and the closest thing it’s got to a friend and ally. China doesn’t want a pre-emptive war on its border, not even pre-emptive attacks. China also doesn’t want N. Korea to collapse, creating a tidal wave of hungry, desperate immigrants crossing its border. Thus, encouraging China to exert its power and influence on N. Korea, beyond making statements of disapproval, is surely the best approach for now.
America should launch a pre-emptive strike against this country in a hurry! We simply cannot stand to continue allowing the North to release these radioactive materials; which in themselves, will cause great damage to many plant, animals, and sea creatures. Not to mention the cancers and other mutations caused by these isotopes. God forbid they strike us first. Then it will be 2late. Honor, courage, and commitment! Hoorah!!! Live free or die hard.