Nuclear Offense (2006 budget calls new 'bunker busting' nukes)

Newsweek ^ | 2/13/05 | By Michael Hirsh and John Barry

[Brian Mosely]

What does Kim Jong Il really want? No one knows, of course—even the best intelligence on North Korea is sketchy—but it's a fair bet that the diminutive dictator wants to stay alive. Kim is said to be desperately worried. He is believed to move around a lot, traveling from palace to palace as Saddam Hussein once did. He disappears entirely from view for weeks. Kim even occasionally removes his pictures from buildings in Pyongyang, the capital city, in order to promote the idea that collective leadership is displacing his "Great Leader" cult. (He may be hoping to avoid a U.S. smart bomb with his name on it.) The one thing Kim has going for him is that most of the world fears that he has doomsday weapons. According to a visitor who met the dictator in Pyongyang recently, Kim said he could not give up his nuclear bombs because his million-man Army is hopelessly outmoded—leaving him at the mercy of the American military.

George W. Bush has given Kim ample reason to worry. The president has long insisted that North Korea scrap its nukes before Washington makes concrete offers of aid or other inducements. In his Inaugural speech on Jan. 20, Bush only seemed to harden his position, declaring that his No. 1 foreign-policy goal is "ending tyranny in our world" (presumably easier to do in North Korea if Kim surrenders his nuclear weapons). So it's no surprise, perhaps, that late last week the North Korean leadership sounded a bit spooked. Its Foreign Ministry announced for the first time that the North had obtained nuclear arms "for self-defense" and said it was pulling out of disarmament talks. The North's statement accused Washington of attempting to "topple [our] political system at any cost, threatening it with a nuclear stick."

[b4its2late]

Super and N K is a perfect place to test them sooner rather than later..... I'm afraid the little rat may have already let the cat out of its' nuclear bag.

[sanchez810]

Relations with both the remaining pair of nations in Bush's "Axis of Evil," Iran and North Korea, seemed worse than ever last week. (Iran's president warned that any U.S. attack would be met by "scorching hell.")

This is clearly a disingenuous statement. The ayatollahs have rallying the Iranian masses with "Death To America" since they first came to power.

[b4its2late]

The ayatollahs have rallying the Iranian masses with "Death To America" since they first came to power.

Yep. But it ain't working.

[Paloma_55]

I think we need more of our national security strategy played in the news. We just don't get enough of it.

Need to know?? Who cares? Publish the details!

/sarcasm off

[kizzdogg]

Does anybody think that if a nuke is actually used, it will lead to more nukes being used around the globe. I just have this theory in the back of my mind that everybody wants to use them, but just doesn't want to be the first. (Since WW II of course.) I have a bad feeling any nuke used will just set off a chain reaction of madness.

[samtheman]

fantastic

[Brian Mosely]

It should have been put in a black budget...that way, it wouldn't have been public knowledge.

[AmericaUnited]

Iran's president warned that any U.S. attack would be met by "scorching hell."

YAWN!!! Is anyone else tired of these little Muslim girly boys always letting out hysterical shrieking statements like this one? When we do open a can of WHOOP-ASS on them they go crying for their mommies like little girls. The ones that don't need are drugged out of their minds with 'needle courage', ala Faluja.

[ichabod1]

I don't want to use them. I fear these countries think they are just getting them for leverage, but the day may come when (Ooops!) one of these little tin-pot pissants get backed into a corner and away we go.

Do you think we would incinerate any country that used one? I'm not so sure.

[Yasotay]

It seems the German bunker builders beat the American bunker busters in Iraq. If we couldn't kill Saddam, it's hard to believe that we could do any better in NK, even with nuke bunker busters.

[expat_panama]

"Death To America" ... it ain't working.

And not for Kim Jong Il either.  Dictators start playing  "musical palaces" toward the end of their reign--  Noriega had palaces and bunkers all over Panama and nobody ever knew where he was from one moment to the next.   

Another symptom was his changing around his top staff all the time; the boss couldn't have any two top people near each other for more than a couple of days or else they'd be plotting something.

This kind of nonsense may prolong the agony, but any way you look at it, it's still an "end game" strategy.

[samtheman]

Does anybody think that if a nuke is actually used, it will lead to more nukes being used around the globe.

First of all, they don't have to be used to be effective. The possibility of their use will persuade many other-wise adventurous dictators to straighten up and fly right.

Secondly, what if there were a cave in which a nuke was stored, somewhere deep in the mountains of some tyrant-contolled land, wouldn't it be preferable to take it out? In fact, couldn't we even deny responsibility. Whoops, we told you storing nukes in caves could be dangerous.

[GladesGuru]

Consider the kinder, gentler option. NEUTRON BOMB 'EM!

No infra-structure damage, and the enemy is dead.

And all the jihadiis are happy 'cause they are on their way to their 72 virgins. ;-)

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Iran is borrowing NK's news copy writer...

[AmericaUnited]

And also using Baghdad Bob as a media consultant.

[festus]

He probably just wants a real woman..........

[kizzdogg]

I totally agree that we should work to get nukes out of hands of crazy people. But if it came down to it, I just have this bad feeling that somebody, somewhere has a nuke we don't know about that is actually willing to use it.

[mamelukesabre]

Elections in iraq have a HUGE HUGE, I repeat HUGE positive PR effect in every neighborhood in every nation everywhere in the mid-east.

Actions speak louder than words, and those scumbags in power in africa and the mideast can't say or do anything to make people forget that iraqis are now voting. I seriously believe that it is the beginning of the end for all tyrants in the mideast and they'd have to be really stupid not to suspect it themselves.

Bush scored some huge prestige points for the US of A on that one. both for the military, and for the government. Now all we need to do is take the UN/kofi down a notch or two really soon and the snowball will really get rollin good...and the stronger our military looks, the better. I believe there is real potential for some huge gains in the struggle against communism, oppression, and tyranny.

[b4its2late]

Yep.