North Korea About To Fire ICBM

Top US military officials are convinced that North Korea will be test firing a long range missile capable of hitting the West Coast of the US in the near future. Satellite photos show that they have completed the fueling process, a process that cannot easily be undone due to the volitility of rocket fuel. It is unlikely the missile would contain a warhead.

White House spokesman Tony Snow promises that we will "respond appropriately" when the time comes, without elaborating on what sort of response we would bring. Japan promises a strongly worded protest to the UN. Excellent military/intelligence reporter Bill Gertz of the Washington Times is speculating that we will attempt to shoot down the missile.

There are so many questions here I don't know where to begin...

-Will the response be an attack on military assets in North Korea, just an interception of the missile, or will we just complain to the UN?
-While we would likely easily decimate North Korea's miliary in a couple of days, would they start throwing everything they have at South Korea and Japan?
-We have that 747 with the crazy missilie shooting laser undergoing testing...is it likely that we have an operational unit ready to roll?
-We know these guys are nuts, and are really just upset that we've been paying more attention to Iraq and Iran than to them...should we really respond heavy handedly for conducting a non-damaging test?

And for the conspiracy theorists...
Is it coincidence that a long-planned "government continuity exercise" in which thousands of federal bureaucrats will descend into mountain bunkers is scheduled to take place tomorrow, June 19th?

Hmmm.

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Originally Posted by GothamSpotter

-Will the response be an attack on military assets in North Korea, .

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We can't do that. It's unacceptable to China.

Perhaps Japan should be allowed to militarize -- with a couple dozen nuclear warheads to start.... and then see if that does not impress N Korea - or get China's attention to truly lean on them.

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And for the conspiracy theorists...
Is it coincidence that a long-planned "government continuity exercise" in which thousands of federal bureaucrats will descend into mountain bunkers is scheduled to take place tomorrow, June 19th?

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Can those thousands of bureaucrats stay in those bunkers for awhile??? We'd be alot better off.

China is quite convinced that the North Korean leader is quite crazy, but, China does support North Korea.

Even though North Korea talks tough, they are not going to attack South Korea, or Japan.

North Koreans working in Japan provide a tremendous amount of money to the North Korean economy, while any attack against South Korean would be suicide for the North Koreans & the wrath of the United States.

North Korea would like nothing more than any sort of attack again them, in any form.

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Originally Posted by Tom_Turner

Perhaps Japan should be allowed to militarize -- with a couple dozen nuclear warheads to start.... and then see if that does not impress N Korea - or get China's attention to truly lean on them.

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If Japan were to be a military power, you will see the Asian region enter into turmoil. China, Philippines, & South Korea would freak the hell out if Japan were to ever become a military power again. There are still bad memories of what Japan did during WWII, even today.

The good thing is that the citizens of Japan & the politicans have no interest in becoming a miliary power again.

Probably one of the reasons that is willing to financially support the US military bases in Japan, as a way to keep the region stable