Six Scuds and a Dud - Why Should We Care?

High Frontier ^ | July 14, 2006 | Henry F. Cooper

[thoughtomator]

So why take great comfort in the fact that North Korea still has work to do in successfully developing and demonstrating its ability to attack U.S. with its long-range missiles?

We can take some comfort in that they can't do it right now. That gives us some breathing room to clean up the mess in aisle ME before we bring our assets to bear on this little problem.

[msnimje]

I take comfort in the fact that this little stunt pissed off the Chinese.

[Paul Ross]

I take comfort in the fact that this little stunt pissed off the Chinese.

How do we know that for a fact? North Korea's rocket technology along with most of thei nuclear technology were all a gift from China...and China keeps North Korea from collapsing economically and militarily.

North Korea, with its mad-dog bellicosity is demonstrably Red China's Sock Puppet, and they are playing us for saps with a rather unconvincing portrayal of "Bad Cop, Good Cop".

[msnimje]

How do we know that for a fact?

Christopher Hill.

The Chinese have been the biggest benefactor of the North Koreans and they asked NK NOT to fire those missiles.When they did it angered the Chinese.

[Paul Ross]

Christopher Hill.
The Chinese have been the biggest benefactor of the North Koreans and they asked NK NOT to fire those missiles.When they did it angered the Chinese.

I know he said that. These Foggy Bottom button-downs have been lied to, fooled, flummoxed, gulled, hood-winked, baffled, bullied, misled, deceived, etc. by China since Mao took over...and smiled through it all and would have accepted it as Gospel Writ.

Time for some spine to call the bluff of this little dramatic play for duping our diplomats again.

An Ultimatum and a Litmus Test: Either they and Russia stop running interference at the Security Council for their favorite Rogue States...or they can kiss their "Free Trade" with the West good bye.

And then let's just start shooting down their toys.

[Paul Ross]

We can take some comfort in that they can't do it right now. That gives us some breathing room to clean up the mess in aisle ME before we bring our assets to bear on this little problem.

Agreed, but only if we actually start cleaning up that mess. We need to fulfill the Gipper's great hope:

[Paul Ross]

It shouldn’t take Tom Clancy to imagine scenarios in which terrorists buy several such missiles, arm them with weapons of mass destruction, put them to sea, and launch them at several cities, making September 11, 2001 look like ants at a picnic by comparison. So, clearly we should care about “Six Scuds and a Dud!” And clearly we should have doubts about the prospects of diplomacy doing much more than delaying this threat.

Utter truth.

[glorgau]

they would involve increasing the current Navy missile defense effort from about $1 billion a year to less than $2 billion a year.

About the one-time cost of building a barrier on the southern border.

[johnny7]

It didn't ANGER the Chinee... or the Russians for that matter. It AMUSED them.

[Paul Ross]

Didn't Tommy Franks or was it General Pace estimate that the U.S. spends more money on Pizza than it does on national defense?

[PghBaldy]

Link to 9/16/2002 Rumsfeld Press Conf: http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2002/t09162002_t0916sd.html "Rumsfeld: Furthermore, the -- September 11th suggested lots of ways to deliver lethal damage to the United States. In addition, countries have placed ballistic missiles in ships -- cargo ships, commercial ships, dime a dozen -- all over the world. Any given time, there's any number off our coast, coming, going, on transporter-erector-launchers, and they simply erect it, fire off a ballistic missile, put it down, cover it up. Their radar signature's not any different than other 50 others in close proximity. So your comment that they don't have the ability to deliver a ballistic missile to this country is flat wrong."

[SJackson]

Link to 9/16/2002 Rumsfeld Press Conf: http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2002/t09162002_t0916sd.html "Rumsfeld: Furthermore, the -- September 11th suggested lots of ways to deliver lethal damage to the United States. In addition, countries have placed ballistic missiles in ships -- cargo ships, commercial ships, dime a dozen -- all over the world. Any given time, there's any number off our coast, coming, going, on transporter-erector-launchers, and they simply erect it, fire off a ballistic missile, put it down, cover it up. Their radar signature's not any different than other 50 others in close proximity. So your comment that they don't have the ability to deliver a ballistic missile to this country is flat wrong."

Can't happen

Were you the poster warning us that Arabs might us airplanes as bombs five years ago?

Got to stop with this conspiracy nonsense :>)

[unionblue83]

Eventually, IMHO, Kim-Jong Ill-in-the-Head will get too big for his britches, so to speak, and piss off the Chicoms just enough that he will have outlived his usefullness. NK gives the Chicoms a thorn in our side that allows them to hold some useful purpose in theater thereby keeping us from really damaging their economy with sanctions. We should have sanctioned them after the missle tests near Taiwan but we "needed" their pressure on NK in the negotiations (which I don't think work anyway). One good sign is Japan. There is now the desire within the government as well as the general population to begin building their defense capabilities again. India is another chip in our favor but I don't know enough about the India scene to comment on the details. China, to their credit, learned from the Japanese how to hogtie us economically--look at the debt ratio. They will posture, as they always do, but we have troops to their south, a friend in India, whose nuclear and Japan who is beginning to be more of a potential military ally. Not to mention all of the assets we still have in the So. Pacific.

[msnimje]

It didn't ANGER the Chinee... or the Russians for that matter. It AMUSED them.

You need to get your all knowing self over there and straighten this mess out.

[Paul Ross]

Thanks for the link for the Rumsfeld Press Conference of Sept. 16, 2002 at http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2002/t09162002_t0916sd.html .

The Claremont Institute takes this vulnerability very seriously at its Missle Threat study group, and has a nice set of illustrations to emphasize this hazard:

..

The Independent Work Group on Missile Defense also takes it quite seriously.

What was interesting to me is that we still, almost six years later don't seem to be taking that most easily-implemented of all threats very seriously. I know Rumsfeld has only just authorized the initiation of program studies to protect the mainland from seaborne threats...by the year 2012 or so...

Ironically, the standard of being actively prepared, rather than waiting for surprise, was enunciated in a speech made by President Bush pertaining to the general subject, without getting terribly specific:

“And, as a matter of common sense and self-defense, America will act against such emerging threats before they are fully formed. We cannot defend America and our friends by hoping for the best. So we must be prepared to defeat our enemies’ plans, using the best intelligence and proceeding with deliberation. History will judge harshly those who saw this coming danger but failed to act. In the new world we have entered, the only path to peace and security is the path of action.”

- President George W. Bush The National Security Strategy of the United States of America September 17, 2002

[johnny7]

I know...

[Paul Ross]

Rumsfeld's Warning:

"In addition, countries have placed ballistic missiles in ships -- cargo ships, commercial ships, dime a dozen -- all over the world. Any given time, there's any number off our coast, coming, going, on transporter-erector-launchers, and they simply erect it, fire off a ballistic missile, put it down, cover it up. Their radar signature's not any different than other 50 others in close proximity. So your comment that they don't have the ability to deliver a ballistic missile to this country is flat wrong."

Here is the animation of that scenario with an attack on Hollywood...note AirForce One is also wiped out in the attack the video depicts...Click here

[PghBaldy]

I would hope Rumsfeld etc get on this quicker than 2012. Seems a bit long, but then I'm no expert. Thanks for posting this. Important thread.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Sometimes one learns more from failure than success.

Exactly, and with a bit more practice, I'm afraid North Korea will have it right. I agree with the author that we need effective defenses to protect America, and we need them now.