Posted on 05/01/2005 12:22:02 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Yeah, but! Korea wasn't 'declared'; Viet Nam wasn't 'declared'; Panama wasn't 'declared'; Grenada wasn't; Balkan bombing wasn't... ad infinitum.
Congress' only real say is control of military purse-strings. Without congressional approval the president can indeed act militarily, it's simply that the costs of such action will have to be taken from some other program within the defense department.
That was then....this is now!
Would the United States have the will to respond with nuclear weapons to an attack on Japan or South Korea?
I believe this is true, however the U.S. still maintains a fleet of Trident SSBN's with missiles that are nuclear tipped.
At any given time (24 x 7 x 365) there are more than enough warheads at sea available for targeting anything N.K. or Iran might wish to loose.
Physically, but not legally.
He could be impeached for improper use, but he he pushes button, and a second person in the command authority chain verifies it, we split atoms.
True, but by no means optimal. I just don't buy this story. The Pentagon brass may be saying that they might need this authority, and surely they should be armed to execute such a plan, but allowing field commanders to act on their own doesn't seem to me to be this Administration's MO. I think it more likely that the Kyodo people are taking the facts to an illogical conclusion for propaganda purposes.
Going back to Tripoli and the Barbary Pirates, an awful precedent.
During his social Security press conference. Odds are not a reporter in the room understood a word of what he said. His prime time comments were addressed directly to foreign leaders, praise for China and Russia, scorn for N Kor.
You Becha Sweet Ass!
"Iran is a state sponsor of Islamic fundamentalism."
However, that nation is already liberalizing..its a great chance to try the free-market capitalism alternative.
"North Korea exists for the benefit of one nutcase and his family."
You may be correct about North Korea...but I feel diplomacy and trade should be the first alternative. Let us see how ambitious Jong-Il is....and if that doesn't work...he certainly wouldnt want to nuke the place where most of his favorite pop culture comes from!
Politics is the continuation of war by other means.
Look y'all earlier this week it came out that North Korea was planning a nuclear test. Bush told the Chinese to put a cork in it. This is just a continuation of that. Putting NK on notice that if you dare put a nuke on a missile we will take out that missile and take out all of your ability to do anything that remotely resembles making a nuke bomb of any kind.
This is just one step towards shutting NK ability to do anything but play with themselves down.
Sure we could bomb Yongbyon , but that would not destroy Pyongyang's entire capacity for producing nuclear weapons .
They might retaliate with a smuggled nuke against American facilities , Japan , or maybe even against the U.S. mainland ! And we must not forget that N.K. has a million man army just waiting to pounce on the South . These are deterrents to be sure . We've got to arm Japan , and soon . Then they have to begin arming themselves with our help .
I like this move!
I hope the fat little bastard with the tall hair -- is close to a toilet when he learns of this....
On second thought --- I don't
Semper Fi
BTTT!
I think the key word there was strategic compared to tactical.
I'm not concerned about the nutcase nuking anyone. I'm concerned about him selling a nuclear device for the hard cash to pay for the pop culture. I don't think he's going to be picky about who he sells the nuke.
I understood that, and spoke of it as a politically stupid thing to allow it to become a public matter and is thus unlikely to have happened as the reporter intimates. Such saber-rattling is at odds with the "speak softly and carry a big stick" model and creates sufficient noise that it might hamper the President from taking necessary action. I just can't envision that it happened this way. More likely is that the commanders stated that they would be unable to guarantee CONUS safety without that latitude and the Kyodo reporter spun it to effect.
Regional commanders, in fact any commander, in reality any Spec-4 on guard duty at the PX could request the Prez to launch.
And after being disregarded would get a reprimand from their CO for not following the chain of command. As such, the comment bears little similarity to this situation.
The story here is that the regional commanders do not have to go through the JCS to get presidential launch authority.
I still would be more comfortable with more eyes upon such a decision. There is excellent reason for the principle of Congressional declaration: too often we have entered conflict without the full support of the people. Vietnam proved that costly. Kosovo should have.
In reality, this is nothing new. SSBN captains always has independent launch authority under certain circumstances. Those were well regulated, but under some VERY special circumstances, an 0-6 and his officers could launch.
I was aware of that as well, given the standing orders. I would prefer a Congressional pre-authorization should the situation warrant issuance. There was ample time for such discussion as the potential conflict with the Soviet Union developed. Although we are not in the same situation with Korea, there is enough time for such if Congress gets to it soon.
The only thing free trade with enemy nations does is strengthen them and their opression. Look at China, our greatest enemy right now.
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