Iraq had to be faced first. Not for strategic reasons, rather simple pragmatic ones. It wasn’t about which country had more destructive capacity, but about which country could be kept from the brink longer through diplomacy, and which not.

If Iran and North Korea had each proven similar nuclear capabilities on the same day, Iran would have to be confronted first. Ahmed-the-hand-job made it clear that he would consider it a victory to lose half of his population to destroy the west. (Don’t even get me started on the left thinking that the loss of 3,000 service personnel proves we’ve lost) You deal with the most unstable/dangerous foe first. But current intelligence says he doesn’t have nukes just yet.

Most people will never know any details, but many in Iraq’s populace had been privately hoping for a U.S. invasion to remove Saddam for nearly 20 years. Iran’s leadership has changed numerous times since then, and there was always a wish for a more moderate party to take power, which is now beyond hope.

Korea, on the other hand, has always been subject to pressures from more than just the “decadent west”, including China and Russia. If Kim Jong Il has ended any pretense of restraint, then it is his turn and the time is now.

From the standpoint of raw capability, Iraq was indeed the least dangerous country in the Axis of Evil, and North Korea the most dangerous. No question about it.

Echo

I think LB1901 already said this …along with many others….

Q. Has North Korea joined the nuclear club?

Allah’s crunched the numbers, and probably not. Given the low yield of the explosion, the consensus seems to be that their test on Monday was a dud just like their recent missile test. Ain’t communism….

Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, BOOM, Dynamite?
The experts are saying, if it was nuclear, it was very small and likely not a complete success. In fact, it’s the least successful of any first test, ever. You know that’s stickin’ in Dear Leader’s craw. I…..

So Sam has his view and opinion and so do I, as long as he does not over to the dark side and instead engages in reasoned, rational debate I will keep him in the good guys column.

Nunn stated, “we started at the wrong end of the axis of evil” and “We started with the least dangerous of the countries, Iraq, and we knew it at the time.”

What was known at the time we went into Iraq?

Both North Korea and Iraq had aspirations to become a nuclear power and each in their own way were pursuing that goal. And don’t forget Clinton told us everything in North Korea was hunky-dory, no serious threat from Kim Jong Ill – just ask Madeline, she loved the guy.

A major difference between North Korea and Iraq (or Iran for that matter), was Middle Eastern countries were sitting atop millions of gallons of oil and the wealth derived thereof. They had the financial means to accelerate a nuclear program from within and external cooperation coming from the technological advice and nuke hardware provided by their oil reliant “friends”.

Kim Jong Ill was in financial destitute and lacked the ability to draw on any allies who would assist in accelerating his nuclear program. He was in no position to barter oil, or any other commodity, in exchange for help from the outside world. IMHO this made him less a threat.

Democrats like Nunn conveniently forget history and don’t hesitate to jump on the MSM Bush-bashing bandwagon. North Korea claims to have tested a nuke, so now it’s time to blame Bush again.

There have been times where I agreed with the reason and rationale of Sam Nunn. But on this one I have to call him on it. Hogwash.

Perhaps he should have been condemning one of his own for striking a deal with Kim Jong Ill that was violated from the outset. That would have been reasonable and rational. Where was Nunn then?

  The Reason for the nuclear problem in North Korea.  Can we afford a Democrat majority in the House and Senate?  From GOP USA:Within minutes of the announcement of North Korea’s nuclear test, CNN paraded talking heads who were qu…

fogw, your posts are such a joy – today’s is fantastic.

Lehuster, that was a great reflection on wars, past.

Ennuipundit, the biggest problem is that high-schools don’t have a pre-determined curriculum, combining humanities and sciences. The kids, in their forming years, don’t have the opportunities to establish an educational base. Thus, they end up later specializing in one area or another, never being able to reason, analyze, reflect or simply entertain a conversation with someone of a different view, culture, profession, etc. Never mind specifically knowing the history of the world or their own country’s. Also, they don’t learn to think on their own and to persuade with facts – they’re too easily influenced by teachers and counselors…too long to go on and really for a thread of its own. I understand your post fully and it’s sad for society.

chsw

Reports are coming in like mad, North Korea tested a nuclear weapon underground. The United States, Japan, China and Britain led a chorus of criticism and urged action by the United Nations Security Council in response to the repo…

Let’s see, in World War One, they knocked out the least dangerous members of the enemy alliance (the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary) before the most dangerous member (Germany).

In World War Two, they knocked out the least dangerous member of the Axis (Italy) first. Focusing on the least dangerous member made the most dangerous member, Germany, throw away 250,000 troops trying to prop up their weaker partner’s position in North Africa.

Nope, that strategy has never worked and can never work.

“What it tells you is that we started at the wrong end of the ‘axis of evil,’ ” former Senator Sam Nunn, the Georgia Democrat who has spent his post-Congressional career trying to halt a new age of proliferation, said in an interview. “We started with the least dangerous of the countries, Iraq, and we knew it at the time. And now we have to deal with that.”…

Excuse me?

Tell me oh wise senator, just when did Slick Willie even notice there was evil out there in the world?

As I recall when Bush first used the term “axis of evil” the libs all had their panties in bunch for using such threatening language. You know, we should be nice and talk with our enemies like Billy Jeff and Maddy did, not call them nasty names.

Your boy Clinton set the stage for N. Korea’s nukes. The only axis of evil Clinton ever recognized was Linda Tripp, Ken Starr and that bitch he has for a wife.

STFU Sam Nunn, and go build a house with Jimmah.

What the hell do they put in those peanuts harvested in Georgia?

This is typical of the North Korean technology base– claim you have something, go to test it, and watch it fizzle….

With pure material you could just about use a guy with a big chunk in each hand and have him slam them together…the gun type.

With less pure material, or smaller amounts of pure, you get less of a yield. Either that or you can inject Tritium into the core just prior to the big bang for a really big bang…the implosion type. And getting the nuclear material to compress perfectly thru implosion is very difficult. Imperfect compression is one of the safety devices on these bombs – the core gets blown out the side of the weapon and doesn’t go nuclear (but is messy).

One of our weapons was a backpack type without tritium, but with relatively pure material, and it was rated at about .3kt…designed for SF to take our bridges, etc. It was still a heavy backpack.

You can test compression technologies without being underground, and if the core was damaged by a misfire you should see radiation.

I think it was a fizzle. There was too much NoKo publicity for it to be an interim test. If this yield is what they were looking for, then I don’t think they are as close to a city-buster as they think they are.

And yes, we guarded the weapons closely…on the rare occasion we lost one (see Spain, Thresher, etc) there was a full court press to get it back. The design criteria of them is a different story tho…that could have gotten snagged.

We know two things:

1. The Noks possess Plutonium.
2. The Noks can trigger a large-scale detonation.

Oh, I forgot:

3. US borders aren’t secured.