This is the reason it is so vitally important to go after Al Qaida with everything we've got and not let ourselves get too distracted by the Iraqs, Irans, and Koreas of the world. Al Qaida has no home country to retaliate against. They do not worry about a retaliatory strike. Deterrence will not work against them. We also have to assure countries like Korea and Iran that if we tie them to a terrorist nuclear weapon, it will bring them a devastating nuclear retaliation just as if they attacked us directly.
i agree with that completely. but you still think n korea is a bigger threat? it sounds like you are almost arguing why a country like iran might be more dangerous because they might be a more likely haven for terror cells. i dunno though. you may be right. this is a rare subject where i will not claim to know more than any of you.
I agree with Marine Tiger. Iran is the biggest problem because Al Qaida members are there. Also, because Islam is big in that part of the world, thats all we need is a bunch of islamic terrorists getting nukes from them. Their are plenty of countries that would come down on North Korea if they existed after a nuclear exchange of which I doubt they would exist. Even a madman wants to live, look at Saddam, his kids were more sold out than him. Nations as a whole are not going to take a chance on nuking someone like the USA especially since they know the USA has their own nukes and can wipe them out along with their countries. The problem is the terrorist or renegade types of people who do it in the name of religion, virgins waiting for them when they die, etc. This is why Iran, Pakistan, Syria are the biggest problems and this is another reason why we "went to war in Iraq".
There is an article in Time Magazine (date February 14) that is awesome. The cover is "The Merchant of Menace". I read it on the plane Friday and it talks about AQ Kahn and how he developed Pakistanis Nuke program and how he sold it abroad. But what makes it awesome is how we tracked him and his cronies for years and documented who he was trying to sell to and who was actually buying. The fact that we used the Italian Special Forces to intercept the merchant ship with the centrifuges bound for Libya so as not to blow our intelligence. After reading the article it is clear that Powell and Bush played the cards perfect with Libya and clearly hold other cards concerning N. Korea and Iran. If someone can post a link it is a great read about our intelligence work and the behind the scene things that they do. It is also evident (at least to me) that we, as everyday citizens don’t need to know all the ins and outs of our intelligence service. Just that they are working hard to protect us.
North Korea's nukes doesn't bother me as much as their propensity to proliferate enriched uranium for a dirty bomb. The same could hold true for Iran, but I don't know enough about their program to know if it's advanced to that stage yet.
Well, I think North Korea is the biggest threat to actually use a nuclear weapon or to force us to use one, for the reasons I mentioned above. But proliferation of nuclear technology is a serious problem and the worst perpetrator of illegal nuclear technology transfer is our good buddies in Pakistan -- An Islamic country that actually already has nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, and an unstable and unpopular government. Pakistan helped both Iran and North Korea develop bomb-making technology. The Taliban openly operate in Pakistan, where an American Embassy has been attacked and burned, and Osama lives there, of course. In terms of possible nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists, there is no bigger threat that Pakistan. I think Iran just wants to be a power player in their volatile region. The last thing they want is war with the US. They are trying to deter Israel, who bombed the Iraqi breeder reactor in the 80's. And Sourdough, Osama and the Al Qaida leadership is not in Iran . . . they are in Pakistan! The last thing we need is another misguided war against the wrong enemy.
Good point about Pakistan and there enrichment program. I have read about elements within Pakistani intelligence community who are sympathetic to OBL and the Taliban. That could be a major reason why he hasn't been found. He's getting state-sponsored help unbeknownst to Musharraf, so I could definately see them helping to facilitate the proliferation of enriched uranium and the building of dirty bombs. Not to mention, Musharraf's life is in constant danger because of his affiliations to the US. If he's assassinated, I believe a fundamenalist regime will be installed there and they will be in control of Pakistan's nukes. If that happens, like someone pointed out, they don't care about dying so they won't hesitate to use them. (Sorry that this post drifted from the original topic)
The understatment of the century is that no one knows for sure - especially Red or SDM. I believe he's in Pakistan/Afghanistan because there's more places to hide without government interference than there is in Iran. As Red stated, Iran has never gotten along with OBL, so why wold they put themselves even more at risk with the intense scrutiny of harboring him. With a $25 million bounty on his head, I think there's more of a chance of someone from Iran cashing that in then someone from the remote villages of Pakistan were the governement has no authority
