It was a surprise to me to hear that North Korea likely has nuclear-tipped missiles (albeit untested ones that cannot reach the continental United States yet). It's a rather important little fact in a debate about what to do about North Korea's nuclear threat, no? But the Obama administration didn't want us to know that fact (tip to Real Clear Defense):
In a new twist, a House source tells Defense News that a DIA congressional liaison told a senior House Armed Services Committee aide that while the finding was unclassified, the Obama administration wanted to keep it under wraps.
House Armed Services Committee member Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., sent ripples around the world Thursday when he read this passage from a sensitive DIA intelligence report: “DIA assesses with moderate confidence the North currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles. However, the reliability will be low.”
Our administration knew North Korea has nukes. I guess that explains the sudden turn-around on missile deployments in Alaska. That dramatic change really should have clued me in to wondering why the decision was made.
The North Koreans knew they had nukes. Their recent nuclear threats make a little more sense now, don't they?
But the American public wasn't supposed to know. Yeah, who could blame the administration? The warlike gun-toting, Bible-thumping masses that it is their misfortune to lead while they have the pleasure of rubbing elbows with Upper West Side and Hollywood types more to their liking might actually think we should do something about it.
Because if North Korea has nuclear missiles that can hit our people--in Guam, Alaska, or Hawaii--preemptive war against North Korea (feeling some sympathy for Bush, now?) becomes something that the Obama administration must consider. Alaska-based missile defenses cannot be our first line of defense.
And even a week-old analysis of the situation unintentionally hits the nail on the head as it (wrongly) reassured its readers that we don't need to consider preemptive strikes:
Mr. Obama, officials say, has ruled out striking at the missiles while they are on their launchers — when they are easiest to destroy — unless there is evidence they are being fitted with nuclear warheads, which intelligence officials doubt North Korea yet possesses.
Funny enough, the Obama adminsitration knew that North Korea possessed nuclear warheads. But still ruled out striking the missiles. They just didn't want us to worry our clinger little heads about them--or expect the administration to do something.
The left wrongly claimed that President Bush (43) lied us into war by claiming Iraq was an imminent nuclear threat. He never did, of course, and consistently and explicitly said otherwise. But now President Obama refused to tell us that North Korea is an actual--not just imminent--nuclear threat. Not to us, it seems, because the range isn't enough. But that will come in time. Heck, you might even call it "imminent."
When Obama promised to be the anti-Bush, he wasn't kidding.
