24 U.S. Bombers Are Added to North Korea Alert (NY Times)

New York Times (through Contra Costa link) ^ | 4 February 2003 | David Sanger, New York Times

[AmericanInTokyo]

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has put 24 long-range bombers on alert for possible deployment within range of North Korea to deter "opportunism" while Washington is focused on Iraq, and to give President Bush military options if diplomacy fails to halt North Korea's effort to produce nuclear weapons, officials said Monday.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Armitage confirmed it a little while ago in Congressional hearings. It is already hitting hard all over Asia in news outlets on the Web in Asian languages (early Wednesday 2/5/03 Asia Time).

[RightWhale]

Bombers, it it? What kind of bombers? The kind that drop leaflets with crude cartoons? Or the kind that instantly bring a total end to a nation?

[AmericanInTokyo]

F-16 photo [above] courtesy Sky News (UK), which is carrying this development prominently right now.

[ladtx]

What kind of bombers? The kind that drop leaflets with crude cartoons?

B-52's and B-1's don't drop leaflets.

[AmericanInTokyo]

both. name your poison.

[TLBSHOW]

BUMP

[freepersup]

Both White House and Pentagon officials insisted there are no current plans to attack the Yongbyon nuclear facility, the center of North Korea's plutonium project.

No current plans- he he he, but...

We sure as hell have lots of noncurrent plans.

[Semper Paratus]

I know that NK is forward deployed and armed but how much warning will we have before an offensive is launched so we can soak the DMZ north with a a nuke fest?

[The Turbanator]

This type I hope.

[ken5050]

Why would they use manned bombers as opposed to cruise missiles?....sea launched from subs...it doesn't make sense....NK has a huge air defense capability...you'd have to expect some losses..then we have the whole charade and media circus of a captured pilot...a trial.....this could be disinformation.....

[Psalm 73]

24 bombers?
Let's see, we have about 120 B-52's, 90 B-1's (who knows how many of those can actually fly), and 21 B-2's.
So 24 is a significant percentage of strategic bombers, considering we're on the verge of war in the mid-east.
Gotta' assume they be talkin' nuclear armed.
And it's not like we haven't used 'em before...

[Constitution Day]

How many Americans (especially John Lennon Give Peace a Chance Types) have seen those DPRK posters?)

Love your tagline.
Is there an FR thread with those on it? I've only seen a couple, but imagine they have more.

[RightWhale]

how much warning

The first American bomber will arrive within 8 minutes of the instant NK forces begin their 30,000 tube bombardment. If NK forces make any noticeable advance in the initial onslaught, the region north of the 38th parallel will be saturated with craters edge to edge. Some of the craters will be larger than normal and deep enough to excavate tunnels.

[cynicom]

We did the exact same program 50 years ago from the forward base on Guam. At that time the targets were in Russia and China.

[AmericanInTokyo]

Yes, there is a thread several days ago that I started with about seven new DPRK anti-USA posters that they generated in the Pyongyang Peoples Propaganda Bureau a few weeks ago. Hilarious and alarming.

By the way, here is a neat URL to go to that will show, in streaming video, the news tonight from Seoul on YTN TV highlighting the US effort to fortify its position in Asia with respect to Communist North Korea. A lot of neat military file footage, satellite photos, Pyongyang city scenes, etc. You can choose a stream of 56K or 200K. (It is Korean, but you will understand the visuals):

http://kr.dailynews.yahoo.com/tv/yt/20030204/200302041602.html

[Semper Paratus]

Both White House and Pentagon officials insisted there are no current plans to attack the Yongbyon nuclear facility

And last fall there were no plans to attack Iraq.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Cruise missiles would get there first, that's all.

[DoctorMichael]

Another take on this story: Why is the news media trying to inflame the situation while we are concentrated on Iraq? I'm sure the NK commies will use this to gin up their rhetoric.

[AmericanInTokyo]

The main thing people over here lose sleep over is, with respect to contingency plans, how to pull an emergency evac of thousands of US civilians in South Korea, without alerting and panicking the whole of South Korean society (i.e. pulling another "Saigon" and US Embassy rooftop scene). How to evac because damned if you do and damned if you don't. If I were on the peninsula, civilian or otherwise, I would carry a cell phone at all times now, and have the bug-out kit ready, and keep AFKN Radio/TV on 24 hours a day.

Once we starting getting the non-essentials out, both panicky S. Koreans and rabid, suicidal North Koreans will know 'the jigs up.'

[r9etb]

Once Kim Jong Il is removed from power, this problem probably goes away.