Obama Capitulates to North Korea Over Missile Launch

[Ryan Ruck]

Gates: U.S. Not Prepared to Respond to North Korea Missile Launch

The defense secretary told "FOX News Sunday" that the United States can do nothing to stop North Korea from thumbing its nose at the international community by test-firing a long-range missile.

The United States can do nothing to stop North Korea from breaking international law in the next 10 days by firing a missile that is unlikely to be shot down by the U.S. or its allies, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday.

Appearing on "FOX News Sunday," Gates said North Korea "probably will" fire the missile, prompting host Chris Wallace to ask: "And there's nothing we can do about it?"

"No," Gates answered, adding, "I would say we're not prepared to do anything about it."

Last week, Admiral Timothy Keating, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, said the U.S. is "fully prepared" to shoot down the missile. But Gates said such a response is unlikely.

"I think if we had an aberrant missile, one that was headed for Hawaii, that looked like it was headed for Hawaii or something like that, we might consider it," Gates said. "But I don't think we have any plans to do anything like that at this point."

North Korea has moved a missile onto a launch pad and says it will be fired by April 8. Pyonyang insists the missile is designed for carrying a communications satellite, not a nuclear warhead that the secretive nation appears bent on developing.

Gates said while he doesn't think North Korea has the capability yet to shoot off a long-range nuclear-tipped missile, "I don't know anyone at a senior level in the American government who does not believe this technology is intended as a mask for the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile."

Gates conceded that North Korea will likely get away with thumbing its nose at the international community by test-firing the missile. He also said that six-party talks aimed at curbing Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions have been largely fruitless.

"It's very troubling," Gates said. "The reality is that the six-party talks really have not made any headway anytime recently."

Gates also lamented that the missile launch planned by dictator Kim Jong-Il comes just two months after President Obama took office.

"If this is Kim Jong-Il's welcoming present to a new president, launching a missile like this and threatening to have a nuclear test, I think it says a lot about the imperviousness of this regime in North Korea to any kind of diplomatic overtures," he said.

Gates also said Japan is unlikely to shoot down a North Korean missile unless it drops debris on the island nation.

The Obama administration has signaled it wants to scale back the deployment of a missile defense system that was initiated by former President George W. Bush. The White House is also talking about dropping plans for missile defense facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Gates lamented the futility of diplomatic efforts toward North Korea and Iran, another nation with nuclear ambitions. Despite the Obama administration's talk of ramping up diplomatic overtures toward Tehran, Gates was pessimistic about that strategy.

"Frankly, from my perspective, the opportunity for success is probably more in economic sanctions in both places than it is in diplomacy," Gates said. "What gets them to the table is economic sanctions."

This is complete bullshit! We have 2 BMD equipped Aegis cruisers in the vicinity, we have our Alaskan BMD base, and we could likely even try out our ABL on NK's missile. It is clear that Obama has told the US military to stand down unless the missile is on a trajectory to hit the US (and who really knows if that is the case too!).

[Malsua]

Face it, the big zero wants us to get our nose bloodied. That way, the world will like us again.

[Toad]

I have a very difficult time believing there's absolutely nothing we can do about it.

First of all we could fully and unconditionally support Japan who just may be willing to shoot it down.

Secondly, we have absolutely no units in S. Korea, Japan, Okinawa, Guam with anti-missile capacity? None? Zero?

[American Patriot]

Can't do nuttin' - but we did send some anti-missile cruisers off the coast... in case they figure out there IS something they could do...

Gosh, I WONDER what they COULD do if they put their minds to it....

[vector7]

Newt Gingrich: A Single Nuke Could Destroy America

Sunday, March 29, 2009 4:23 PM

By: Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen

There is a sword of Damocles over our heads. It is a threat that is real but has been all but ignored.

On February 3rd, Iran launched a “communications satellite” into orbit. At this very moment, North Korea is threatening to do the same. The ability to launch an alleged communications satellite belies a far more frightening truth. A rocket that can carry a satellite into orbit can also drop a nuclear warhead over any location on the planet in less than forty-five minutes.

Far too many timid or uninformed sources maintain that a single launch of a missile poses no true threat to the United States given our retaliatory power. A reality check is in order and must be discussed in response to such an absurd claim:

One small nuclear weapon, delivered by an ICBM can, in fact, destroy the United States by maximizing the effect of the resultant electromagnetic pulse upon detonation.

An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is a by-product of detonating an atomic bomb above the Earth’s atmosphere. When a nuclear weapon is detonated in space, the gamma rays emitted trigger a massive electrical disturbance in the upper atmosphere. Moving at the speed of light, this overload will short out all electrical equipment, power grids and delicate electronics on the earth’s surface. In fact, it would take only one to three weapons exploding above the continental United States to wipe out our entire grid and transportation network. It might take years to recover from, if ever.

This is not science fiction. If you doubt this, spend a short amount of time skimming the Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack from April 2008. You will come away sobered.

Even as the new Administration plans to spend trillions on economic bail outs, it has announced plans to reduce funding and downgrade efforts for missile defense. Furthermore, the reluctance by the United States to invest in a modern and credible traditional nuclear deterrent is a serious concern. What good will a bailout be if there is no longer a nation to bail out?

Fifty years ago it was not Sputnik itself that sent a dire chill of warning around the world; it was the capability of the rocket that launched Sputnik. The rocket that lofted Sputnik into orbit could also serve as an ICBM.

Yet for all its rhetoric, the Soviet Union was essentially a rational power that recognized the threat of mutual destruction and thus never stepped to the edge.

The world is different today. Intercontinental range missiles tipped with nuclear weapons in the hands of leaders driven by fanaticism, leaders that support global terrorism, leaders that have made repeated threats that they will seek our annihilation. . .can now at last achieve their dream of our annihilation in a matter of minutes.

Those who claim that there is little to fear from Iran or North Korea because “at best” they will only have one or two nuclear weapons, ignore the catastrophic level of threat we now face from just “a couple” of nuclear weapons.

Again: One to three missiles tipped with nuclear weapons and armed to detonate at a high altitude—to achieve the strongest EMP over the greatest area of the United States—would create an EMP “overlay” that triggers a continental-wide collapse of our entire electrical, transportation and communications infrastructure.

Within weeks after such an attack, tens of millions of Americans would perish. The impact has been likened to a nationwide Hurricane Katrina. Some studies estimate that 90% of all Americans might very well die in the year after such an attack as our transportation, food distribution, communications, public safety, law enforcement and medical infrastructures collapse.

It is a blow we most likely would never recover from.

Two things need to be done now and without delay.

1. Make clear in the strongest of terms that if a rocket is launched by either Iran or North Korea on a trajectory headed towards the territory of the United States, we will shoot it down. The risk of not doing so is beyond acceptable. And if they construe this as an act of war, so be it, for they fired the first shot. The risk of sitting back for thirty minutes and praying it is not an EMP strike is beyond acceptable, beyond rational on our part.

2. Funding for EMP defense must be a top national priority. To downgrade or halt our missile defense program, which after twenty five years of research is at last becoming viable, would be an action of criminal negligence.

Surely, with such a threat confronting us, a fair and open debate, with full public access and the setting aside of partisan politics, is in order. In the meantime, a policy must be stated today that we will indeed shoot down any missile aimed towards the United States that is fired by Iran or North Korea. America’s survival, your survival, and your family’s survival might very well depend on it.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. William Forstchen is the author of "One Second After," an account of a town struggling to survive after an EMP weapon is used against the United States.

[American Patriot]

Newt is right partially.

He is wrong on a couple of things.

The weapon has to be pretty big, and it has to be at the right altitude when detonated. Setting it off in space won't really affect the planet. Setting it off in the atmosphere, however will. Setting it off HIGH enough can effect the entire US and most of the Western Hemisphere.

What is wrong about is that we won't ever fund "EMP defense" and we won't ever shoot anything down.

We sent those boats there just in case, and probably without orders.

[vector7]

North Korea Has Two Nuclear Warheads for Missile, Kyodo Reports

By Stuart Biggs
March 31 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea has two nuclear warheads it can load on its mid-range Rodong missile, Japan’s Kyodo News reported, citing an analyst at the International Crisis Group, a non-government organization.

The warheads were built using plutonium extracted from North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear plant, Kyodo reported, citing Daniel Pinkston, who said he got the information from a government official without divulging which country.

South Korean and U.S. intelligence officials have obtained evidence of the warheads, Pinkston told Kyodo.

North Korea said earlier this month it plans to fire a rocket carrying a satellite into orbit between April 4 and 8. South Korea and the U.S. suspect the launch is a cover for a test of a long-range ballistic missile, which would be a breach of a United Nations resolution.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stuart Biggs in Tokyo at sbiggs3@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 30, 2009

[vector7]

S. Korea opposes military action if North launches rocket

Denver Post Wire Report
The Denver Post
Posted:03/30/2009 12:30:00 AM MDT

SEOUL, South Korea — President Lee Myung- bak said South Korea opposes a military response to North Korea's planned rocket launch.

In an interview with the Financial Times published today, Lee said all countries in the world oppose the North's planned rocket launch, which might happen this week. But Lee stressed that he is against using military means to punish the North.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in an interview broadcast Sunday that the U.S. has no plans to try to intercept the North Korean rocket.

[Ryan Ruck]

Yep, real good thing we've said we'll sit on our hands...

North Korea 'Has Deployed Multiple Nuclear Warheads' Ahead of Launch

North Korea has developed and deployed multiple nuclear warheads that can be attached to medium-range Rodong missiles, according to a Seoul-based defence analyst.

"I received the information from the national intelligence agency of a certain country that they believe North Korea has deployed nuclear warheads at two underground facilities for Rodong missiles," Daniel Pinkston, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, told The Daily Telegraph from Seoul.

"We estimate that North Korea has as many as 320 Rodong missiles, which can be launched from mobile transporters anywhere in the country, and we are assessing the threat these pose," he said.

North Korea's deployment of nuclear weapons will heighten tensions in the region, already strained due to Pyongyang's determination to go ahead with the launch of what it claims is a rocket carrying an experimental satellite.

Tokyo, Washington and other countries in the region believe the projectile is a long-range missile.

The launch is scheduled to take place between April 4 and 8.

The intelligence reports suggest that the warheads are made from plutonium extracted at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, which North Korea has promised to dismantle in return for fuel assistance but has been stalling on completing.

The regime in Pyongyang has also threatened to halt the dismantling of its nuclear programme if another country interferes in the launch of its satellite or the United Nations imposes sanctions on it.

Rodong missiles have an estimated range of 1,300km, putting Japan within range of the two missile bases that have been identified in North Korea.

Satellite surveillance images have shown a three-stage rocket on a launch pad at the Musudan-ri facility close to the east coast of North Korea and experts estimate that it would take two days for technicians to assemble a Rodong weapon and attach a nuclear warhead.

[vector7]

N KOREA LIKELY TO EMULATE IRAN'S SUCCESSFUL ROCKET LAUNCH

SEOUL, Apr 02, 2009 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) -- North Korea will likely succeed in its impending rocket launch as it has probably addressed most of its technical glitches through cooperation with Iran,experts said Thursday.

Iran denies it has any relation with North Korea in missile development, but U.S. officials and analysts say intelligence points to extensive cooperation.

Quoting a government source, Japanese media recently reported that a team of Iranian rocket scientists is in North Korea ahead of the launch of what Pyongyang calls a satellite between April 4-8.

Iran sent its own communications satellite, Omid, into orbiton February 2, just weeks before North Korea announced its launch plan. North Korea had failed in an earlier test of an intercontinental ballistic missile in July 2006.

"After the successful launch of the Iranian space launch vehicle, it is believed that the causes of the previous failure of (North Korea's) Taepodong-2 have been removed," KimByung-yong, a researcher at the state-funded Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, said in a report presented at a conference in Seoul.

Omid is a two-stage rocket loaded with liquid fuel, while the North Korean rocket -- which in theory can easily be converted into a missile -- consists of three units, with the top being powered by solid fuel, Kim said.

"The North Korean vehicle is larger and has a longer range,which means the payload is likely to be heavier and the rocket can be stationed higher in orbit," Kim said.

Baek Seung-joo, a senior analyst with the same think tank,said North Korea and Iran appear to have begun joint development of long-range missiles since the early 2000s,noting their technological exchange has accelerated since then.

"North Korea and Iran have completely ignored customary delays that countries maintain before sharing their rocket technology," Baek said by phone, citing his report released Wednesday evening.

"It has come to a point where Iran is now re-exporting its technology to North Korea, which originally helped lay the groundwork for Iran's missile development," he said.