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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to 1953. And more importantly, welcome back to the Korean War.
Six days ago, the communist regime of North Korea announced it was withdrawing from the 1953 Armistice which “halted” the Korean War, but since there was no official peace treaty ever signed, the war was never officially called to a true end. And now, with Pyongyang saying that they are no longer in agreement with the agreement that created the cease fire, technically, the war is set to resume.
For those of you who haven’t been following because you’re too wrapped up in who was winning American Idol, North Korea has been provoking the rest of the world with numerous short range missile tests, a long range missile test which they claimed was a peaceful operation to launch a satellite, and an underground nuclear explosion test all over the past few weeks. On top of that, they have openly threatened South Korea that there would be action taken if they joined in the U.S. led anti-proliferation activities which include searching what Pyongyang calls “peaceful sea vessels” suspected of transporting weapons of mass destruction.
South Korea has now, in a sense, called their northern counterpart’s bluff by ignoring the threat and joining with the U.S. in the search activities. And with the newest actions by the North Korean government, even countries like China, who has long said they would not tolerate military action against their southern neighbor, are rumored to be willing to accept action against North Korea, including one option that not only seems viable, but extremely possible.
A nuclear first strike by the United States.
Now I want to preface the information that I’m about to lay out by saying I don’t fully trust the article where I read it, as I have been able to find NO other information that backs up the claims that Hal Turner, a known extremist and propaganda monger makes in the article (link to follow so you can read for yourself). But if nothing else, it definitely gives you food for thought on what is a very real possibility.
According to the article, China, who reportedly has given their approval for action against North Korea and has only asked that the U.S. minimize the impact to Chinese citizens, has also been briefed on the potential radiation fallout that a nuclear attack on North Korea would bring. This situation has become extremely serious, as the United States has air delivered more Patriot Missile Defense Systems into the surrounding areas to bolster their current defense systems already present in places such as South Korea and Japan.
The initial launch is said to be planned from a submarine in the Pacific Ocean, and will be unannounced and undetectable by North Korean radar, and is expected to be aimed to take out the North Korean troops closest to the South Korean border to prevent any invasion of South Korea. Following that, it is said that North Korea would be asked if they surrender, which is not expected to happen. Pyongyang will then be struck with a second nuclear warhead delivered by a B-52 bomber, as conventional artillery will then be mass launched at all known military installations in North Korea, with bombers following to wipe out any remaining troops. It is expected that this renewal of the Korean War will last two days at most, and result in the reuniting of North and South Korea in a democratic government.
Sounds pretty damn intense, doesn’t it?
Again, I’m not believing that these “facts” are true at all, but more looking at it as something to chew on as the North Korea situation escalates. This article brings up some interesting ideas (found <a href=”http://turnerradionetwork.blogspot.com/2009/05/north-korea-to-be-attacked-us-nuclear.html”>here</a>, I’ve been thinking on this issue quite a bit. As I mentioned, I haven’t found any other sources to back up the information given in it other than the known fact that Pyongyang HAS indeed officially pulled out of the Armistice that brought the cease fire in the Korean War, and that North Korea has been on the United States’ “Nuclear First Strike” list since 2002.
The way I see it is like this....
There IS no other option but military force against North Korea at this point. They have proven that they are not willing to work with the rest of the worldwide community in any way, shape or form, and it’s obvious that their goal is to produce nuclear weapons. Sanctions and cutting of supply lines have been proven to ineffective in deterring Pyongyang from developing what they want – a nuke. While North Korea DOES have an extremely skilled special forces contingent of about 60,000 troops, as a whole, their military is operating with old and outdated Soviet era weaponry which they lack the proper parts for repairs. That got me thinking of the same question over and over…
Do we really need to NUKE them if that’s truly what’s being planned?
The simple answer that I came up with is “probably not.” Although our military is obviously spread thin, any sort of attack against North Korea will have to have involvement of more than just the American military, and North Korea just doesn’t have the fire power or the allies to stand up to the might of the rest of the world. This isn’t 1950 anymore, and any renewed version of the Korean War will not be anything like its predecessor almost 60 years ago. North Korea would fall fairly quickly, relatively speaking in terms of combat, and the desired result would be accomplished. North Korea would no longer be a threat to build nuclear weaponry, civilian casualties would be kept to a fair minimum, and the communist government there would be overthrown.
That then brought me to this question. WHY nuke them?
In my mind, there are two viable reasons for a nuclear attack against North Korea. The first is the most important one in my mind, and that is to spare the lives of as many Americcan troops as possible. A nuclear attack would do the job of thousands of troops with minimal casualties to our soldiers, and do it in much quicker fashion. American troops would not have to physically go anywhere near North Korea until their military was completely wiped out, allowing as many of our military service men and women to come back home safely.
The other reason is to send a message to other renegade countries, such as Iran, who also have aspirations of building nuclear weaponry. A nuclear first strike against North Korea will show those countries that their lack of cooperation will absolutely not be tolerated by the global community, and perhaps finally dissuade them from continuing on with their plans of building a nuke.
Both are solid reasons in favor of the reportedly planned nuclear attack. However, there’s one thing that keeps nagging me in the back of my mind, which is heavily influenced by the book “Hiroshima,” which I read in grade school but still remember vividly.
Millions of North Korean civilians would die.
I still remember literally being sick to my stomach as a kid as I read about the horrors that Japanese civilians went through in the aftermath of the American nuclear attack against Japan when they dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima to end World War II, and it still makes me a tad bit nauseous to think about it today. There’s simply no surviving a nuclear attack if you’re anywhere near the point of impact. And people all over the surrounding areas will have to deal with the effects of the radiation put off by the nuclear weapons fired upon their country. Unfortunately, it’s not just the North Korean military that will be affected, even though they are the targets.
The other downside would be the potential radiation fall out to the surrounding countries, including South Korea as well as China. It’s more than likely that many non-North Koreans would be severely impacted by the radiation fallout created by the nuclear weapons fired upon the communist nation, again creating ugly situations for innocent people.
When all is said and done, the decision to launch a nuclear first strike obviously can’t be an “easy” one for our government. I’m sure there are many other aspects of this that I haven’t even touched on here. But when it all comes down to it, I took all of the information I’ve gathered about this over the past two days and finally settled on where I stand on the thought of a potential nuclear first strike.
I say nuke the bastards.
Pyongyang, led by the out of control Kim Jong Il, is never going to cooperate, and they are going to continue to move forward with their nuclear proliferation programs until one of two things happens. They either build a nuke, or we go in and take them out. And I just can’t see unnecessarily risking American troops lives when we can, with the toleration of the global community, take them out in one fell swoop. The civilian casualties involved would be very, very sad, and unfair in many ways. However the safety of millions more is at stake when you get right down to it.
