Posted on 07/10/2006 12:18:09 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Japan mulls preemptive stike on N Korea missile bases
Associated Press
Tokyo, July 10, 2006
Japan is considering whether a preemptive strike on North Korean missile bases would be an acceptable form of self-defence under the pacifist Japanese constitution, the government spokesman said on Monday.
"If we accept that there is no other option to prevent an attack ... there is the view that attacking the launch base of the guided missiles is within the constitutional right of self-defence.
We need to deepen discussion," Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said. Abe added that the ruling party might take up the matter internally.
Japan's Constitution currently bars the use of military force in settling international disputes and prohibits Japan from maintaining a military for warfare.
Tokyo, however, has interpreted that to mean it can have armed troops to protect itself.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Monday that the international community must be united in saying that North Korea's missiles launches last Wednesday were wrong, a news report said.
Koizumi told an internal Liberal Democratic Party committee that Japan was working at the UN Security Council to produced a unified global response, Kyodo News agency reported.
"We are responding (to the launches) at the UN Security Council in a way that will enable the international community to unite and say that 'it's wrong for you do such a thing," Koizumi told members of his Liberal Democratic Party, Kyodo News agency reported.
Japan is pushing a UN resolution condemning North Korea for the launches and imposing sanctions on the communist nation.
On Sunday, Defense Agency Chief Fukushiro Nukaga told reporters that Japan needs to move forward on debate over whether having first-strike capabilities would still be within the bounds of the constitution, a news report said.
"It's only natural as an independent country that people should think we ought to have some minimal capability within a fixed framework," Nukaga said, according to Kyodo News agency.
Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party has long pushed for a constitutional revision to make it easier for its military to fight if the country came under attack.
Tokyo currently interprets the constitution in a way that allows the existence of its 240,000-strong Self-Defence Forces.
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto said that after hearing the news that the attack on Pearl Harbor was successful. Previously Admiral Yamamoto was Japan's naval attache in Washington DC. Became quite familiar with American culture.
hildebeast can thank billy j. for her fate LOL
I don't think they have a strike capability at present..
That may change rather quickly.
The Beginning of the End....
We need to take action on several fronts before Jan 20th, 2009 when President Bush leaves office. No one on the horizon has the guts and courage to face down al queda, the taliban, Iran and North Korea.
The actual WW count is disputed, but it would be a world war. But let us be honest, there will be a clash between China (with maybe Russia as an ally) and the west sooner or later. My personal feeling is China is holding off till after the 2008 Olympics, but we shall see.
Hillary is a woman!? Well I'll be damned.
The question is simple.
Does China want a militaried Japan?
Everything I know about Chinese fears, says "No".
Thank you to Tiger for the ping.
It has to be a war of annihilation, not liberation.
The US will stand firmly behind Japan, of course, I'm sure that China realizes that Japan is a far worse enemy than the US would ever be because they will not stop with half measures in order to prevent world condemnation. Once armed, Japan will remain armed.
Fit some cheap missles with rudders, tie on a soft cushion for the pilot and ~~~~
I'm not big on wars of annihilation. Our objectives are achieved if North Korea is freed from Communism and reunited with South Korea. (Serves them both right).
< /sarc >
They've got a very impressive "defensive" assets, including aerial refueling capability, which will be upgraded later this year using a modified 767.
Missile-wise, the Japanese have a full-blown space program, which says they've got the technical know-how for accurate missiles; and they've got "defensive" concerns that reach all the way to Beijing and Pyongyang -- so their missiles would have commensurate range.
And they've pretty much said -- through the use of very strong hints -- that they've got nukes.
BUMP
"The facilities need to be not "taken down" but destroyed beyond any salvage or repair."
I believe that in such a decision, simultaneous first strikes should be made on NK troop garrisons with daisy-cutter class armaments, at least on installations near the DMZ so as to preclude immediate conventional invasion of the South. Flattening Pyongyang should also be high on the list of priorities, while doing our best to avoid massive collateral damage to the masses of the general populace.
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