Iran and North Korea

It would appear that President Obama doesn't feel like it's a good idea to stand for much of anything with respect to Iran. What he says sounds nice... things like "So what I've said is, `Look, it's up to the Iranian people to make a decision. We are not meddling.' ". I take it that his primary goal is to appear to be not meddling, which is a weak kneed response. He lists two concerns - one being that there's not a whole lot of difference between the dueling candidates in Iran, though that assumes that the protests are purely related to this one election. His second point is that we still would be dealing with a hostile nation. With both points he can't see the forest for the trees. The U.S. should always unambiguously stand in brotherly support with those who strive for freedom and liberty. The protests have taken on the entire regime - the candidate they support is merely the straw that caused the protesters to decide they'd had enough tyranny. The regime is killing and imprisoning its own people. I don't think it's hard to decide which team to root for, no matter if the resulting leadership is more or less pro-U.S. Who cares about that? We should cheer for liberty and make it clear we support them in that endeavor - regardless of whether the result would make us best friends. I do think that countries that have real freedom will generally be friendly with each other, or at least won't be sponsors of terrorism. So if Iran becomes truly free, it can only mean things will improve!

I continue to pray for the Iranians - that they stay safe and don't lose hope. I'm sorry some of them have lost their lives. Some things are worth fighting and dying for - may they be victorious in their struggle!

North Korea is making noises about launching a missile that could potentially hit Hawaii. They have recently fired missiles over Japan and detonated an underground nuclear bomb. Can they put the bomb on the missile? It's doubtful, but they will succeed eventually. We've tried talking to them, making concessions to them, 6-party talks and even dancing with them (Madeline Albright). Where have we gotten? We're still technically at war, they capture two U.S. journalists and sentence them to hard labor, fire missiles and test nuclear weapons. For all their provocations, they keep telling the world to stop provoking them.

So, what to do? It seems to me that they mostly act like a bully, and if a bully keeps getting his/her way, they'll keep doing more and more outlandish things until someone stands up to them. The time for words is at an end - for now.

The best way to get their attention and to let them know we mean business and will show some spine would be to destoy the missile they're preparing to fire. Don't wait until it has been launched and is a hundred times harder to launch. Sure, they'll scream bloody murder, but they do that all the time. This time they'll recognize that the U.S. is through messing around. Going to the UN to get approval to do this would be a waste of time because China wouldn't agree, and North Korea would obviously hear about the plan and probably make things even more difficult.

We're still technically at war - they keep performing acts of war - so treat them as the enemy. We don't have to get into a 'hot' shooting war with them. Take out the missile, and tell them we'll take out any others they prepare to launch, and will attack any areas from where missiles are launched. The only way to get out from that kind of retaliation from us is to come back to the discussion table and be prepared to make real agreements. This time we verify that nuclear facilities are disabled and stay disabled. We also make it clear that we prefer their country be free and not ruled by a dictator. We won't actively try to force a regime change unless they perform any other acts of war.

We also need to make sure our troops in South Korea are well prepared for whatever scenarios could unfold - including the sudden and complete collapse of the North Korean regime. If that happens, and it will eventually, it's going to be far worse than what we had to deal with in Iraq. Are there any leaders capable of leading that country into the 21st century with full freedom and liberty for a people unaccustomed to it? That won't be easy - I'm sure it will take a long time. Hopefully South Korea will be able to do a lot of the heavy lifting, like West Germany did with East Germany.