Dump the cocktails, rely on coffee instead and set out some ground rules. The issue is not how to start a war but rather what steps may our President take to defend our nation from the actions of a Hitler- or Tojo-like threat. (Which steps, of course, do not cause any damage in the U.S. or require a DOW.)
Your argument would get us there if you proposed to use the same assets to reprogram the guidance system to instead lift the first nuclear-tipped missile to an altitude that would effectively destroy the immediate environment, with little or no damage or fallout to SK.
It would seem prudent to have a backup plan that included assets in place that could destroy the missile at a slightly higher altitude. In this event, we would not be starting a war, we would be defending our country.
Our fingerprints would not be so obvious in the first case; if the backup plan was activated it would certainly send a message to the other major powers.
Out to dinner, thanks for starting the thread!
We have executed much more than this without getting caught.
1: For example, as something we can now talk about, FDRs totally illegal support of the UK before Pearl Harbor. A total violation of the Neutrality Act....but it stopped Operation Sea Lion, and saved the free world.
2: Our very successful overflights of the USSR in the last years of the 40s, well into the 50s, just to pizz off the Sovs. We would launch B-45s from the UK, direct Moscow, direct Kiev, then back to the UK or Italy, just to show the Sovs they could do nothing about it.
BTW, the AF would always arrive over the Kremlin at exactly 12:00 Moscow time, just to twist the Central Committee’s tail even more strongly.
3: Then their was Operation Vestibule....
Time has a way of excusing certain acts when the ends are achieved.
With all respect, what would you all have done to stop Tojo or Hitler in 1938?
Do you take Kim’s threats seriously. I do.
Would you now do the same to stop Kim?