It'll be Ground Zero in N Korea soon: US

The Press Trust of India ^ | FRIDAY, MAY 06, 2005 08:49:08 PM | PTI

[Camel Joe]

I never meant to intone that they were trying to hide anything, I simply meant that you can detonate a fission bomb below ground and keep the radioactivity to safe levels above ground. The test itself will be easily detected through seismic measuring devices and satellite surveillance of the ensuing crater or sink hole. The NPRK has no intention of hiding the test nor the preparations. Publicity is one of the things that makes Kim the kook tick.

[Camel Joe]

You seem to be overlooking the technological threat posed by Saddam's scientific community and apparatus. While the former dictator probably was not a direct threat he certainly posed by proxy more than an acceptable level. Do not for even one minute separate the war on terror with Iraq, as it is far more comprehensive than you might imagine. You would do well to note that logistically we are now in a position to closely monitor and intercede in either Iran or Saudi Arabia should the situation warrant such action.

[ILurkedIRegisteredIPosted]

Umm, yes. I'd like to see how you propose that we invade Iran and Saudi Arabia while holding Iraq without sending literally almost our entire army to the region. The U.S. doesn't have the resources in the Iraq to simultaneously hold it and fight a ground war with Iran. One estimate I have seen is that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard has about 100,000 troops. They may be not as good as ours, but last I checked we have only 140,000 people in Iraq and we are still responsible for security over there.

I have been convinced for a while that it'll take either a North Korean or an Iranian nuclear bomb frying either part of the U.S. or a bunch of our troops to get Bush's supporters to admit that Iraq was a mistake. The U.S. has barely been able to keep the peace in Iraq today, just imagine what would happen if our troops were committed to two or three conflicts at once. I bet you Syria and Iran would attack us on both fronts and thousands of fresh insurgents from Saudi Arabia would arrive in Iraq to pick our guys off in the streets.

We should have hit North Korea first and then Iran. With Iran taken care of, Afghanistan's Western border would have been secured and Iraq would have been vulnerable to a very large land invasion.

[SevenofNine]

Pinging North Korea news list

[NJ_gent]

"My opinion? The North Koreans already filled this tunnel with High Explosives from a side tunnel and will detonate a few thousand tons of conventional explosive underground then claim they have a nuke."

Unlikely this would be possible. We can measure the size of the blast via seismic analysis, and it's not easy to fake a nuclear detonation. They'de need to ship in an unimaginable amount of explosive materials unnoticed and pack them into an enormous area inside a mountain.

[NJ_gent]

"You don't have to be a lefty to legitimately oppose the [timing of the] invasion of Iraq. It's common sense that Iran and North Korea were and are more dire threats today than Iraq was."

More accurate now, yes?

I supported the invasion of Iraq to remove Saddam; just not its timing. North Korea always was the bigger threat and anyone with more than 5 minutes reading about North Korea's military and nuclear capabilities ought to know that.

[NJ_gent]

"While the former dictator probably was not a direct threat he certainly posed by proxy more than an acceptable level."

North Korea has nuclear weapons, is building more, and is developing missiles that could carry them to Washington, DC (the Tae-po Dong III). The missiles they have now(Tae-po Dong II) may, possibly, be capable of hitting the west coast of the United States, as per Senate testimony by one Dick Cheney prior to his becoming Vice President. North Korea is also the world's largest black market weapons supplier. They sell weapons to anyone with cash. This suggests that once they have sufficient nuclear devices to attend to their own needs, they'll begin selling them to whomever will finance their dying regime.

Now, which one's the larger threat?

[ILurkedIRegisteredIPosted]

Yes, quite reasonable. The beauty of it is that with a free Iran and an Afghanistan pincered between a free Iranian Republic, semi-allied former Soviet states and occupied by U.S. troops to the East, and Turkey to the North, that Saddam would have probably been in even worse shape.