It seems like an almost daily occurrence: some crackpot dictator or terrorist, half a world away, threatening the US with a nuclear attack. Unfortunately, such a devastating scenario is far from impossible and Barack Obama seems woefully unprepared to deal with it.
In Pakistan, the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies have been dangerously close to overtaking the war-torn country’s nuclear arsenal. Yesterday, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, the Al Qaeda leader in Afghanistan, said in an Al Jazeera interview : “God willing, the nuclear weapons will not fall into the hands of the Americans and the mujahideen would take them and use them against the Americans.”
This morning, a few thousand miles away, Kim Jong Il was rattling his own nuclear sabre. The North Korean dictator reminded the US that it has the bomb, and will use it if a United States Navy Destroyer continues to follow a cargo ship suspected of hauling nuclear material. The ship, the Kang Nam, has been involved in weapons shipments before, and is the first vessel to be targeted by the new UN sanctions enacted after North Korea’s nuclear test last month.
Last week, North Korea’s state-run media claimed that Barack Obama was “trying to ignite a nuclear war,” adding that the US had carried ”nuclear equipment into South Korea and its surroundings and staged massive war drills every day to look for a chance to invade North Korea.” Meanwhile, Kim Jong Il continues to ready a long range missile with the intention of lobbing it at Hawaii on the Fourth Of July.
Obama’s response to all of this? Well, not much really. He’s told us that America has some sort of “contingency plans” should the Taliban threaten to steal Pakistani nukes, that Iran should be allowed to have nuclear power as long as they pinky-swear not to weaponize it, and he made the painfully obvious assertion that a nuclear North Korea is a “grave threat.” Beyond that, he’s been nearly silent.
On Wednesday, a missile defense radar ship did put out to sea from a Hawaiian naval base – a good sign to be sure, but the president has been frighteningly quiet in the face of multiple threats. His strategy of UN sanctions coupled with his steadfast desire to only play military defense is beginning to look an awful lot like weakness.
We should have learned by now that we ignore Al Qaeda threats at our own peril. If Obama’s nebulous “contingency plans” fail in Pakistan, if Bin Laden’s organization acquires nuclear weapons, the United States will face a threat like it has never known. Likewise, if, on the morning of July 4th, Hawaiian air raid sirens wake the state’s increasingly jittery population, Obama’s foreign policy failures will be complete.
When a single missile could wipe out the population of an entire US city, It’s not enough to simply sit back and allow our enemies to attack, hoping that we can intercept whatever they throw at us. Obama wants to cling to diplomacy? Fine, but he’d better get a hell of a lot better at it, because time appears to be running out.
-Robert Laurie
Hell of an article Rob! Hell of an article. Brilliant points, very insightful and imaginative. Makes me miss the Soviets as an adversary. At least they were somewhat rational. This whole damn situation (s!) give me great cause for concern. I have a feeling Obama is letting Biden handle the foreign policy side of things. I am hoping this is a case of Biden playing the game with his cards close to his chest. Something akin to a great closing pitcher who doesn’t appear rattled when he walks a batter after giving up a single. Don’t let on to the adversary see you sweat sort of thing.
Most of North Korea’s missile launches have been failures. It would be unwise to assume that a)North Korea will soon develop nuclear weapons and missile capabilities to reach major US cities b)that they can build a nuclear weapon capable of completely destroying a large West Coast city and c) that our missile defense system is completely incapable of stopping an incoming ICBM.
Finally, this all assumes that North Korea is a completely irrational and suicidal state actor, both of which have been historically proved untrue.
No need to reach the west coast, or do you not consider Honaloulou worth saving? Most of the US Space program launches were failures….until they weren’t. Most of Germany’s missle launches in WWII were failures….until they weren’t. Eventually, sooner rather than later, NK will have the capability. If NK is so incapable of firing on a US city, why did Obama move missle defense ships to intercept positions?