Why We Must Act Before It Is Too Late (IRAQ AND NORTH KOREA AND PANAMA CANAL)

newsmax ^ | Jan. 28, 2003 | Christopher Ruddy

[TLBSHOW]

Why We Must Act Before It Is Too Late

As drums of war are heard across the globe, the March issue of NewsMax Magazine focuses on the growing threat of North Korea.

Shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, NewsMax.com published an interview with Gen. John Singlaub and Adm. Thomas Moorer. Both of these former senior American military commanders issued important warnings for the future of the U.S.

Their first advice was that President Bush should move quickly to military secure the Panama Canal, over which China had been given operational control. Second, Singlaub and Moorer warned that conflict with North Korea was likely in the near future.

As Gen. Singlaub explained to NewsMax in late 2001, he had little doubt that North Korea, headed by madman Kim Jong Il, would seize the opportunity and threaten war if the U.S. got mired down in a Middle Eastern war.

Singlaub’s prediction about North Korea was not a shot in the blue. He had served as chief of staff of U.S. forces in Korea during the 1970s and has carefully monitored Korea since.

Soon after NewsMax’s interview with Moorer and Singlaub appeared, the Pentagon did indeed bolster the United States' naval presence in the Panama Canal, signing a new treaty with the Panamanians.

Now Korea has moved to center stage, just as Singlaub and Moorer predicted.

The Korean threat to the United States today underscores President Bush’s warning that unless we deal with rogue nations now while they are comparatively weak, we will have to deal with them tomorrow when they are much stronger.

However, Bush has also kept talk of a Korean crisis muted. This is smart considering we are about to go to war against Iraq, stretching our military resources.

The last thing we need is a two-front war. After Bill Clinton’s draconian military cuts during the 1990s, a two-front war could prove disastrous.

The Koreans are well aware of our military weakness, and that is why they are now saber-rattling, trying to extort billions of dollars in aid, threatening war on the Korean peninsula, and even suggesting that they may use nuclear weapons.

By all accounts, they already have several nuclear weapons and could have more soon. But if that makes them difficult to deal with now, just imagine how difficult it would be to deal with them once they have dozens of nuclear weapons and advanced missiles. They could even have nuclear-armed missiles capable of hitting the continental United States in the next five years.

Picture the current Korean crisis with San Francisco and Los Angeles in the cross hairs. Now you understand why missile defense is vital.

The bottom line: We must deal with Iraq, North Korea and other countries that threaten the United States before it is too late.

Does that mean the U.S. should go to war with these nations?

Only as a last resort. Instead, the U.S. should use its enormous economic and political power to stop, hinder and change rogue nations.

In addition, well-funded and determined U.S. intelligence services, something that was severely corroded during the Clinton years, could help to make the world a safer by taking the proactive steps that make war unnecessary.

But we must move quickly, even when it is difficult for the public to understand why.

Most people don’t appreciate that time is a precious commodity, disappearing before our eyes. But if we do not act while we can from a position of strength in a world where dozens of hostile nations now seek weapons of mass destruction, there may be no second chance for us.

This theme is reinforced by several distinguished writers in the March issue of NewsMax Magazine:

Max Freedman offers a penetrating review of a new book that interestingly illustrates my point about not waiting to act.

In his penetrating biography of the famous educator and psychologist, “Rising to the Light: A Portrait of Bruno Bettelheim,” Theron Raines details Bettelheim’s years in Austria, as the Nazis took power and Jews were systematically plundered and sent to the concentration camps.

Bettelheim ended up in Buchenwald and Dachau, like millions of other Jews. Later he admitted that he saw all the warning signs about the Nazis and their imminent danger, yet he and most people did not take decisive action.

Fortunately, Bettelheim was released from Buchenwald shortly before the outbreak of World War II and was able to immigrate to the United States, where he became a leading child educator in Chicago.

Raines writes of Bettelheim “in his usual way he wrote to teach, to warn his readers once more that carrying on a normal life ‘can be fatal in extreme circumstances.’ In the world he know, those who glorified a passive response to oppression were dangerously out of touch with reality; he also believed that cultural attitudes in part led to the inertia that kept ghetto Jews from trying to defend themselves against the Nazis ...”

Bettelheim’s biography makes it clear that we cannot live in the past when our society is under siege. We cannot afford the fantasy believing there is any guarantee the future will be as pleasant as the past, if we simply close our eyes to reality.

Indeed, after Sept. 11, we all live in a new world that demands from each of us greater responsibility, greater awareness, and more forceful action to stop the new evils which threaten us all.

[WatchNKorea]

"The Chinese use American dollars to build up their military..."

Vicious circle. bttt

[goldilucky]

It's vicious alright.

[j_accuse]

That's nice. When you see him, ask him about all the containers stacked up on the Chinese bases and have him detail to you ALL of their contents. Thanks. 50 posted on 02/14/2003 10:21 PM PST by WatchNKorea ( http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a37a7ce78f9.htm)

By bases you mean ports just like the ones the US and Taiwanese already have down there in Panama?

The article fails to mention to the reader that Hutchison is - COMMUNIST Chinese owned. Secondarily, Hutchison did not win the contract. They used bribery to steal the contract from a U. S. firm. Bttt 53 posted on 02/14/2003 10:31 PM PST by WatchNKorea ( http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a37a7ce78f9.htm)

Not only that, the article failed to mention that Manzanillo International Terminal Panama (MIT) formed by Stevedoring Services of America is US-owned and the largest container port of the Caribbean.
It also failed to mention that Colon Container Terminal (CCT) is run Evergreen Shipping, a company from ANTI-COMMUNIST Taiwan
Or that the Hathaway report of 1998 commissioned by Senator Jesse Helms found that although the bidding process was "unorthodox", Hutchison did make a higher proposal and Bechtel refused to match it.

[WatchNKorea]

"Senator Jesse Helms found that although the bidding process was "unorthodox"..."

Yes, unorthodox meaning - blatantly rigged. Thank you for pointing this out to the readers j_accuse.

"Hutchison did make a higher proposal..."

Why of course the Hutchison proposal was higher. But it was called in via telephone on the very day, at the very hour...that the bid had already been won by Bechtel. The Communist Chinese offered and paid $1 million dollars in gold wafer bars to steal the contract from Bechtel! Of course our U. S. company could not make a higher proposal.

[WatchNKorea]

bttt

[WatchNKorea]

bttt

[WatchNKorea]

bttt

[WatchNKorea]

bttt

[jlogajan]

Or maybe you are a Communist infiltrator?

Kook.

If China could invade Taiwan they would have. It takes more than missiles to project an invasion threat across the seas. It takes a navy.

[HighRoadToChina]

Well, I should have looked at your "resume" for FR first.

Arden Hills, MN?

"If China could invade Taiwan they would have. It takes more than missiles to project an invasion threat across the seas. It takes a navy."

These are very lame lines. What's holding your Communist friends back is not an navy but the US 7th Fleet. Once they think they can neutralize the US 7th Fleet, they will move in united their "Motherland".

How? Junkers, 747s, COSCO ships, anything. It's only 100 miles between the infested mainland and free Taiwan. Those 500-600 missiles (and growing at least 50-60 per year) are meant to take out the key military and governmental structures in Taiwan in a blitzkrieg. Once Taiwan airfields are made of cheese, it becomes much easier for the Reds to gain air superiority over the Straits. Once they have that, what is going to prevent them from arriving on junkers?

What will neutralize the US 7th fleet? A conflict in Korea. Sunburn cruise missiles. Skuval rocket torpedoes.

No, you are the kook or well-uninformed or willfully-ignorant which is about the same as a Communist infiltrator in purpose.

[HighRoadToChina]

"I live in the Republic of Panama (Panama City), as I have all my life, and know what is going on which is more than I can say about you and newsmax."

So, because you are a citizen of Panama means that you are privy to that is going on at Hutchison-Whampoa at both ends of the canal?

Maybe with your expert connections, you can explain away the following interesting facts:

1. China's interest in Panama is not limited to shipping ports. Panama's Maritime Handbook for 2002/3 lists China as the third greatest user of the Canal and another Chinese shipping firm, COSCO, as the largest single client on Panama's ship registry. The Washington Times reported, "In recent years, Chinese companies have invested $200 million in Panama, with millions more pledged."

2. Panamanian educator and journalist, Dr. Tomas Cabal, in testimony before the U.S. Congress said, "COSCO is the merchant marine for the Chinese military and has shipped weapons of mass destruction technology and delivery systems to other countries." Little wonder why many worry about the contents of cargo on Chinese ships transiting the Canal and being unloaded by the Chinese gatekeepers.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Keep an eye on relations between Mexico and China. There should even be a special place on Free Republic to centralize and monitor any such interaction.

[jlogajan]

Look you nut case, of course if there were no US Navy in the area they could take Taiwan. But there is the US Navy -- highlighting exactly what I said. You have to have a credible navy to project force over seas. Now the Panama Canal is half a world away. It is laughable and kooky to presume that China has a credible force threat to the canal when they can't even project a credible force against Taiwan.

So back to your paranoia induced stupor. There are real military threats in the world, and that isn't one of them.

[HighRoadToChina]

Again, you are ignorant or willy-ignorant of asymetric warfare which is what these Reds conduct.

PRC and PLA don't need to send a navy to Panama Canal to be effective. All the they to do is shut the canal down through some "accident(s)" and America won't be able to move military ships through the canal. I.e. to reinforce the US 7th Fleet with ships from the Atlantic.

BTW, if they shipped their IRBMs via cargo containers, who is going to inspect them? Your above friend who resides in Panama? And if they fire their IRBMS from cargo containers or offloaded from land, are you going to stop them from landing? 'Cause no US ABM technology now or in the future is able to do so.

No credible threat. The only thing not credible here are your arguments.

[jlogajan]

Right, China is going to destroy the canal in an act of "oops."

We do have pacific and atlantic fleets, you know, and the canal only cuts about 2 weeks off the travel time between oceans. So rather than crippling us it would just p*ss us off. The point of doing it then?

Come on, there are real threats out there. This isn't one of them.

[j_accuse]

2. Panamanian educator and journalist, Dr. Tomas Cabal, in testimony before the U.S. Congress said, "COSCO is the merchant marine for the Chinese military and has shipped weapons of mass destruction technology and delivery systems to other countries." 72 posted on 02/16/2003 7:58 AM PST by HighRoadToChina (Never Again!)

Tomas Cabal is known to have received $10,000 to speak favorably about tax cheat Marc Harris (another Marc Rich).

---

http://www.offshorebusiness.com/hall_of_shame.asp
In March, 1998, OffshoreAlert published an article accusing The Harris Organization of being insolvent, stealing clients' funds, operating a Ponzi scheme and money laundering. The Harris Organization sued for libel at Federal Court in Miami and lost after a bench trial in July, 1999, then appealed and lost that too.
...
In an effort to bolster his flagging image, Harris paid $10,000 to buy himself himself a Panamanian 'journalist', Tomas Cabal, in 2001.

[Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy]

Why We Must Act Before It Is Too Late (IRAQ AND NORTH KOREA AND PANAMA CANAL)

...and China and Iran and Saudi Arabia and Syria and Egypt and Jordan and Lebanon and Lybia and Pakistan and Algeria and Turkey and Austria and Germany and France and Belgium and...and...and...

Someone needs to get these neo-cons and their crazy tools out of power and away from any and all sources of influence. They are a positive danger to the USA and to world peace, not to mention a danger to the truth and to simple sanity. They won't be happy until they have dragged down the whole world into war and chaos.

[HighRoadToChina]

"We do have pacific and atlantic fleets, you know, and the canal only cuts about 2 weeks off the travel time between oceans. So rather than crippling us it would just p*ss us off. The point of doing it then?"

Two weeks in the invasion of Taiwan allows your Communist friends to present a fait du complet to the US and the world. That't the bloody point, my friend.

[HighRoadToChina]

A bit of a smear campaigan, ah? I do believe that Marc Harris is the one who did donate to the Clintons, but is now wanting to testify against them but is being prevented to do so. Judicial Watch is working on his case, I believe.

So, are you really trying to insinuate that COSCO is NOT the merchant marine for the PRC military or that it has never shipped weapons of mass destruction technology or delivered systems to other countries.

Is that what you are really trying to say?