What? That Is Your Day Job? (Part 1)
I never was a fan of Lawrence Eagleburger, and I see no reason to become one now:
VARNEY: Would you — do you believe that the U.S. and/or China should now seriously consider and plan for a military attack?
EAGLEBURGER: I have believed that for some time. So, you’re — you’re call — you are asking the wrong person, I guess, because I have felt, as I say, for the better part of 10 years, that we could see this coming, and we just sat back and tried to talk them out of it. Now, and I think, yes, that military action is one very, very definite option. But I don’t think we should do it alone. [Fox News]
What does Mr. Eagleburger propose to attack now? The nukes North Korea already has, which are probably two miles under some unknown mountain? If his goal is to overthrow the regime, does he mean that we should invade? Does he understand what he’d be getting us into?
And which of the three plausible potential allies could Eagleburger be thinking of? It would be diplomatic ignorance to believe that China would join with us, it would be regional and historical ignorance to believe that Japan should join us, and it would be strategic and political ignorance to think that the South Koreans would be up for this. They aren’t.
If we were to come to the point of last resort, after all financial and political options had failed and where only military options remained, it would make far more sense to flood North Korea with Tokarevs, RPG’s, and Chinese AK’s than to attack North Korea directly. I’m not opposed to that idea in principle. Certainly it’s an alternative that China must fear so much that it would rather cooperate with us. But it would take years to work, and it could only succeed if a potential resistance organization had first infiltrated North Korea and established a political underground, supply system, and intelligence network. The direct military option, however, should be reserved only for imminent anticipatory self defense or to stop a proliferation incident.
That quote from Eagleburger reminded me of a scene from “Billy Madison”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKjxFJfcrcA
JH, that was brilliant.
I believe Eagleburger is trying to say in pidgen diplomatese that all options remain on the table. As my profs at Georgetown used to say, never tell your opponents in a geopolitical crisis that you’re ruling out any of your options. I would think that would be doubly so with the North Koreans.
That is, unless the North Koreans are itchin’ for a fight and actually want you to strike. Could be possible. What better way to consolidate rule for you and your 25 year old son than through the time-tested method of “the Americans are coming! the Americans are coming!” The regime can then turn to its people and tell them “see, that Yankee warmongering that we’ve been shoving down your throats for the past fifty years? It’s all true! Rally around my son for the next forty years!”
As long as the NorKs contain potential military force to a “surgical” level, military action actually seems to work to their advantage. Hell, it could be a great way for Kim Jong Un to gain legendary stories about himself, Chuck Norris-style.