Posted on 08/17/2006 2:28:46 PM PDT by finnman69
There is new evidence that North Korea may be preparing to for an underground test of nuclear bomb, U.S. officials tell ABC News.
"It is the view of the intelligence community that a test is real possibility," says a senior State Department official.
A senior military official tells ABC News that a U.S. intelligence agency has recently observed "suspicious vehicle movement" at a suspected North Korean test site.
The activity includes the unloading of large reels of cable outside an underground facility called Pungyee-yok in northeast North Korea. Cables can be used in nuclear testing to connect an underground test site to outside observation equipment. The intelligence was brought to the attention of the White House last week.
Even before this most recent intelligence, there has been growing concern within the U.S. government that North Korea is moving toward a nuclear test. North Korea is believed to have enough nuclear material to build as many as a dozen nuclear bombs, but it has never tested one. A successful test would remove any doubt that North Korea is a nuclear power.
"What does he have to lose?" asked one senior military official, referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
The problem is that MAD applied equally to the Soviet client states. Castro wasn't going to do jack without Moscow's OK. MAD is based at heart on the theory that "the Russians love their children, too."
Iran and NK have demonstrated that they do not. If they get the weapons, they will use them at a time and place of their choosing. The old theories don't carry as much weight - and if we don't act fast, we will be very, very sorry.
Blair took lots of heat for continuing his vacation during the recent airplane bomb plots and arrests.
I expect we don't know the number of threats, etc these guys hear about daily.
I agree, and view the threat level as a high plateau between now and mid September, with smaller spikes on critical days in between.
The Libs are almost humorous, gleefully celebrating "victory" over the wiretap ruling, completely ignoring that with every move Iran and NK make, the chances of an election determined on security issues grows.
Well, I got my order of potassium iodide yesterday.
I'm not guilty of what happens in Israel...not after their performance with Hezbollah.
Iran has told the world explicitly what they want to do. Signs are pointing in the direction of them backing up that talk.
When are we going to do something about it?
We took down Iraq with a lot less provocation. We had to "build a case" against Iraq with pictures of mobile labs, etc.
In contrast, Iran has copped to the crime and has said they'll do it again...
Its funny how when GWB put Iran and North Korea into the Axis of Evil, all the know-it-alls either laughed or cringed.
What choice with 80% of Americans not seeing the danger? If Washington moves to eliminate the danger without being hit hard first, Congress won't fund the effort, not even a dollar. If Washington waits until the Pearl Harbor scenario, then 80% will move past anxiety and into fear and then it is time for action.
Oddly, I think the answer to the question, "What does he have to lose?", the ability to blackmail Japan.
Paradoxically an NK decision to test might be just the thing to push Japan to go nuclear--a process that would take about 5 day according to the Japanese Defense Minister. And if Japan went nuclear, it would have full modern thermonuclear devices about the same time it had its first plutonium device: the Japanese atomic energy agency owns 20 of the world's 100 most powerful supercomputers. You don't need supercomputers for reactor designs, you need them to test weapon design w/o actually detonating one.
Millions shouldn't die because 80% of Americans are morons.
This is the proverbial "perp in a dark alley going for his waistband..." Shoot first, ask questions later.
Not a policy for general application, but it applies here quite well.
Two other problems with waiting for Pearl Harbor:
1) The weapons involved are more powerful - a nuke in a civilian area means tens of thousands dead in a blink of an eye. FDR could, in a sense, afford to trade Pearl Harbor, a military target, for entry into the war - assuming he knew what was coming; and
2) The modern media would have the President impeached and convicted within 30 minutes or so if it came out that the government had evidence of a possible nuclear attack and chose to do nothing about it. And, it's not like Iran and NK are hiding their intentions.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't. I'd rather do...
Thanks for the link....looked at it last night , then went to bed ....slept fitfully!
If NK lights one off in even a "test," it'll sober up each and everyone of these stupid leftist politicians and judges, to say nothing of the MSM types!!!
Everyone will snap to "attention" and salute our POTUS!!! (I know, I know... it's just wishful thinking!!!)
ping for later
Damn right I remember....I was just a kid a few years out of HS....and taking some math and science classes at the regional college....
Unlike Ernest, I don't remember. I was a little kid. My first recollection of world-changing events was when I pedaled home froms school as fast as I could on my bike to tell my mother that President Kennedy had been "assassecuted."
She already knew, darn it.
Bump
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