I don't believe the 100 figure, but I definitely believe 2-10. And that's more than enought to make me uneasy.
I posted this a month or so ago, and think much of it is still pretty relevant:
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Those (even some here on this forum) who have been critical of President Bush’s candid remarks about the North Korean leadership (a stretch of the term, for sure) ought to pull their heads out of the sand and take a good look at the big picture. If they truly believe that the President’s axis of evil comments served as the catalyst for the lunacy that is emanating from Pyongyang, they are in need of a good reality check.
Not only did the Clinton administration submit to nuclear blackmail in 1994, appeasing a Stalinist dictatorship and constructing nuclear power plants in exchange for a bogus agreement to halt an ongoing nuclear weapons program, but Mr. Clinton’s aids also turned a blind eye to the fact that North Korea also continued to develop the means of delivering such weapons. The Clinton coterie assured us, as far back as 1998, that North Korea didn’t have an active ballistic missile .... shortly after which they launched a missile over Japan, that came down off the coast of Alaska.
The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (for which he himself lobbied, arrogantly and mercilessly) claimed that his negotiations, which resulted in our providing hundreds of millions in aid, and a nuclear reactor to boot, were successful. Mr. Carter, however, neglected to provide a means of verification (pesky consideration that is, when dealing with scoundrels).
So Kim Jong-Il has enjoyed free reign to withhold American aid from his own people, starve them at will (a million or more, it is said), and complete his efforts to build nuclear bombs, virtually unfettered.
I worked as a fuel element designer at an atomic power laboratory run by Westinghouse in the early seventies. Although the technology at that time was more primitive than it is today, I know enough to be aware that the sale late last year, by China, of a large amount of tributyl phosphate to North Korea was an ominous (gross understatement) development. TBP is an important chemical in the separating of spent fuel rods into depleted uranium, americium, and plutonium. About the same time as receiving the TBP shipment, the North Koreans also disengaged the monitoring equipment at Yongbyon, and forced UN inspectors out of the country.
Now, hardly a month later, they have announced the restart of the reactor, for the expressed purpose of generating electricity (the amount of which it is capable of producing being enough to energize a small village or two. So there is another reason for the startup of Yongbyon, and the reason should be obvious, even to the likes of Jimmy Carter.)
If North Korea already possesses sufficient plutonium for one or more atomic bombs (and that is a distinct possibility), the only part of the equation that may be missing is the ‘trigger’ -- which would explain the recent restart of Yongbyon – a gearing up to produce the needed plutonium trigger. If that is the case (i.e., if that is all they are in need of), time is at a premium. It doesn’t take years (maybe not even weeks) to produce what they need.
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Normal4me, you succeeded in making me smile about the North Korean situation. Not an easy task, so thanks! :)
Here's a little info for you zipperheads, we have satellites over you, we know where everything is. Now go away and starve for awhile, we will get to you shortly....Normal4me