Pentagon Dismisses as ‘Silliness’ North Korea’s Threat to Wipe Out U.S.

Fox News and AP ^ | Wednesday, June 24, 2009 | Jennifer Griffin and Justin Fishel and The Associated Press

[tricky_k_1972]

The Pentagon shrugged off a threat from North Korea Wednesday to wipe the United States off the map.

"I don't even know how to respond to that. It's silliness," said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell."For what and with what?"

But even as the spokesman discounted the threat from the communist nation, which reportedly may fire a Taepodong-2 toward Hawaii in early July, he defended Defense Secretary Robert Gate's decision to move the THAAD system to Hawaii along with the massive SBX radar system.

"I don't think he would have deployed that THAAD if he didn't think there was a reason to do so," he said.

[tricky_k_1972]

I submit all it would take is one nuke, ONE, launched from a freighter sitting off the coast of the US, beyond the 12 mile limit, into the upper atmosphere using their current technology. You cause a big enough EMP and we are probably done, at least for any foreseeable future.

They had better take this threat seriously and isn't it convenient that they have us concentrating on Hawaii instead of CONUS.

[Rockitz]

As I recall Goliath dismissed the threat posed by David as well.

[bamahead]

Cue the Ice Cream.

[Vaquero]

and Obummer will say it is a horrible tragedy...but we must ask the UN what to do....

[oust the louse]

Any leader who had ballz at this point would have planes in the area dropping bombs on any and all locations that are hot locations PERIOD.
The magic negro is hiding in the White House hoping N.K. says hahaha just goofing.....

[Avoiding_Sulla]

Kimdunghill once saw “The Mouse That Roared” and it gave him ideas.

[TalonDJ]

You cause a big enough EMP and we are probably done, at least for any foreseeable future.

Do you know the range of an EMP? Do you have any idea just how but the United States is? How in any way are we 'probably done'. They could nuke the 5 biggest cities in the country and we would not be anywhere close to 'done'.

[AngelesCrestHighway]

Taepodong-2.....?

Whats that?...A North Korean sex toy?....

[Deo volente]

You cause a big enough EMP and we are probably done, at least for any foreseeable future.

Aww, c'mon! Who needs electricity, anyway?

/sarc

[BubbaJunebug]

the incredible vibrating missile

[RonInNaples]

I know our military is the best in the world and I’m confident they can protect us from almost any credible threat out there. But...I think they just may focus too much on the usual military stuff and the really-cool techy stuff. All it would take is that EMP burst mentioned above to put us back to chipping on stone tablets for quite some time. It also only takes a couple of suitcase nukes carried into the right place using that low-tech human delivery system to mess up some rather large cities.

Under the surface I sure hope they are taking this threat a little more seriously than they appear to be doing. I’m sure they are, but I’m not sure what is gained by seemingly dismissing the threat entirely. Don’t start a panic but at least admit some threat exists.

[ErnBatavia]

Nothing but typical “Mother of all Battles” gibberish.

[TexasCajun]

It’s not silly if the Chinese are baiting the US into displaying its anti-missle technology.

[Integrityrocks]

Interesting disagreement between you guys, but I'm going to consider this. The potential for a large enough nuke, on a freighter or otherwise, getting to US soil is remote; however, remote is not impossible. In the event the remote happened, I tend to think that if strategically placed a nuke could in fact paralyze a huge portion of the country. This country has become extremely intra-state dependent on commerce and food. Many of us, like in Alaska, will be fine, but city dwellers are very dependent on infrastructure that could easily be hurt enough to set us back a long ways.

[tricky_k_1972]

Read One Second After by William R. Forstchen. or Wikipedia:

According to an internet primer published by the Federation of American Scientists

A high-altitude nuclear detonation produces an immediate flux of gamma rays from the nuclear reactions within the device. These photons in turn produce high energy free electrons by Compton scattering at altitudes between (roughly) 20 and 40 km. These electrons are then trapped in the Earth’s magnetic field, giving rise to an oscillating electric current. This current is asymmetric in general and gives rise to a rapidly rising radiated electromagnetic field called an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). Because the electrons are trapped essentially simultaneously, a very large electromagnetic source radiates coherently.
The pulse can easily span continent-sized areas, and this radiation can affect systems on land, sea, and air. The first recorded EMP incident accompanied a high-altitude nuclear test over the South Pacific and resulted in power system failures as far away as Hawaii. A large device detonated at 400–500 km (250 to 312 miles) over Kansas would affect all of the continental U.S. The signal from such an event extends to the visual horizon as seen from the burst point.

[PapaBear3625]

All it would take is that EMP burst mentioned above to put us back to chipping on stone tablets for quite some time.

EMP scenarios that Pentagon people worried about in the Soviet days involved multi-megaton nukes detonated at altitudes of hundreds of miles. It would take a LOT of energy to generate an EMP that would cause problems over the whole US.

[Unlikely Hero]

Yeah, it was a pretty big threat, but I’m afraid they can back it up.

[Carling]

How “arrogant” of us to dismiss such a threat in a mocking tone.

[samadams2000]

They are laying the foundation to say “Look how funny those NKs are, they missed us!!”(Media laughing in the background).

[keats5]

“How “arrogant” of us to dismiss such a threat in a mocking tone.”

LOL- it’s racist too!