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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