You wrote, ?€œThis is fine. The key is to let the weaker side know they have support from the U.S.?€?

I don?€™t mean to slam you down. I?€™m sorry if I have been too harsh. But that statement you made, is a very very very bad idea. You mean we should let the NK rebels know that we will stand by them just like we stood next to the Hungarians? The Poles? The Kurds? The Shiite Iraqis? Back in 1950 we stood by the South Koreans honarably. Then in vietnam we stood by the South Vietnamese?€“a war we could have avoided if we were smart enough to have realized that Ho Chi Min was no Soviet/PRC stooge. But I digress. My point is that there are tons of anti-americans in the world, and whereas some of that is due to their own blind stupidity, a lot has to do with our very own american stupidity. We cannot say anythings and not back them up. At least without consequences.

And frankly, I doubt American people are willing to ?€œback-up?€? NK people when they start to rebel and KJI decides to use chemical weapons on his own people. If Saddam got away with it, what makes you think KJI won?€™t?

Look, if a regime change in NK costed the same number of lives as Iraq is currently suffering, I would eagerly support war. I would be the biggest war hawk on the comment section. But, unfortunately, there is no Holy Spirit whispering in my ear telling me that that would be the case.

You say you are worried about millions of lives in Tel Aviv or New York. What I?€™m about to say might disturb you greatly.

For the past 50 years South Korean people have been living under the thought of chemical and biological armageddon from North Korea. In fact, they had a first hand knowledge about destructive effects of war. Americans had lived for almost same duration of time worried about a nuclear holocaust with the Russians.

But life goes on. We were lucky in that the ?€œRuskies?€? didn?€™t nuke us to the stone age, and the South Koreans are lucky in that KJI didn?€™t fire any anthrax artillery.

Tel Aviv? I?€™m sorry to say this to the Israelis, but there is zero we can do for them. In fact, we have become terrorist targets by being their ally. Now we have been more than honorable with the Israelis, but we cannot change the fact that two group of people want to live on the SAME EXACT plot of land WITHOUT the presence of the other group. It’s completely true that the Palestinians want every Israelis to simply “disappear”, but that fact doesn’t change the fact that Israel is not a democracy when it comes to Palestinians. We invaded Iraq to the utter delight of Likud, but I highly doubt Israel is any safer as a result. In fact, I would venture that Israel is a LOT worse off. Besides, Pakistan already has the ?€œIslamic?€? bomb. Nuclear technology is over 50 years old. It?€™s simply a matter of time before even the Syrians get it. The key is the between now till then, can we make the world more safer, stable, and happy-go-lucky place.

With this in mind, Bill Clinton made that deal with NK back in 1994 to SLOW down, NK nuke research. Today, I don?€™t doubt that Bush/Wolfowitz invaded Iraq with the same goal?€“to make Iraq a democratic, rich, stable country. (Hard to believe, but I actually believe that was his original intention, despite lack of success)

My point is that a REAL regime change will definitely cost millions of lives. But a scary NK bomb may or may not kill hundreds of millions.

Back in the Cold War, US military planners could have done the same math and launched nukes thinking, ?€œGee, if they fire first, only American cockroches live, but the Ruskies will still have some semblance of primitive civilization. If we attack first, the reverse is true. Therefore, we should launch.?€?

We can knock out North Korea at great cost. But then, should we knock out Iran? And if Musharaf loses control, should we knock out Pakistan too? And also the Syrians? Where does this stop? Pretty soon some “bright” and “noble” spirit will realize that just simply nuking the crap out of them will also get the job done much better. I hope on that day, we can all feel that nuclear winter was a small price to pay to ensure our security.

Paul

Mr. Webb, please admit “Seoul will be rebuilt” is an offhand callous statement. Those of us who will live here and will be reduced to trace calcium can hardly share your flippant comments on our lives.

You and I are in agreement on most things, actually. I just have to disagree with bloodthirsty (yes, that is the word I choose) flippant statements consigning me and 10 million others to death.

Funny about that.

This is fine. The key is to let the weaker side know they have support from the U.S.

Zdunk, “Safe in his US home, Paul confidently says the above. It will not be him, or his parents, or family dying?€?.. only Zdunk and the Marmot and 10 million others.”

I’m also thinking of the 400,000 in Tele Viv, the 8,000,000 in New York, and the 2,000,000 in Toronto. Iran already has a missile capable of hitting Israel thanks to the Norks. Nukes are coming up next. Anyway, we go with option 3 if the first two don’t work.

I understand that Seoul is in a precarious position. I also realize that the U.S. should have told Stalin not to cross the Yalu back in 1945, but you can’t go back in time and change that. The U.S. was also unprepared to fight the Soviets after a long and difficult fight against the Germans and Japanese.

Zdunk, “You have to look deeper into the world chessboard and recognize the human lives and potential suffering on a mass scale of statements like that.”

This is what I’m doing. If you have input to end the North Korea nuke/missile export business, I’m happy to hear your suggestions. closing your eyes and hoping for the best isn’t a good option, and the “magic wand” solution is not available.

Safe in his US home, Paul confidently says the above. It will not be him, or his parents, or family dying….. only Zdunk and the Marmot and 10 million others.

Paul. You have to look deeper into the world chessboard and recognize the human lives and potential suffering on a mass scale of statements like that.

Why don’t we just air radio programming more suited to NK taste? Something like, “Kim Jong Il has betrayed the Revolution!”