# Is US going after the right regime ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 6, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-us-going-after-the-right-regime/153155 "2003-02-06T06:17:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-us-going-after-the-right-regime/153155/1 "2003-02-06T06:17:08Z")
According to this [article](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2731305.stm), \*North Korea has warned the United States that any decision to send more troops to the Korean peninsular could lead it to make a pre-emptive attack on American forces. \* Although that just sounds like chest-beating, it seems a lot more confrontational than what Iraq’s being sounding off. Furthermore _tensions on the streets of Pyongyang are tangible. Air raid drills and blackouts are becoming twice-daily rituals and huge posters calling for courage in the fight ahead cover billboards and walls._ and \*The North Koreans are believed to possess one or two nuclear weapons already, as well as enough spent fuel rods to make four or six more. \* ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-us-going-after-the-right-regime/153155/2 "2003-02-06T06:32:02Z")
North Korea is currently more dangerous than Iraq. The North Korean situation could become extremely serious. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about North Korea. 11,000 artillery tubes aimed at Seoul means that any hostilities could kill 50,000 South Koreans in five minutes. It also means that Japan could be under threat of nuclear attack. ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-us-going-after-the-right-regime/153155/3 "2003-02-06T06:33:57Z")
I love it, “a pre-emptive” attack. If it was not deadly serious for millions of people, it would be funny. ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-us-going-after-the-right-regime/153155/4 "2003-02-06T06:36:34Z")
I knew that stuff about pre-emption was not a good idea to float in a position paper on foreign policy. They’ve turned our words against us, the nerve. This looks like it may spin out of control. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-us-going-after-the-right-regime/153155/5 "2003-02-06T12:18:43Z")
The ball is in their court. If they choose to throw it at us, their loss. We’ll survive. They won’t. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Calculus\_of\_Logic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@The\_Calculus\_of\_Logic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Calculus_of_Logic)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-us-going-after-the-right-regime/153155/6 "2003-02-06T20:06:00Z")
no we aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![regnad\_kcin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@regnad\_kcin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/regnad_kcin)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-us-going-after-the-right-regime/153155/7 "2003-02-06T20:12:36Z")
Look, who did the schoolyard bully take lunch money away from? The crazy phycho mentally-imbalanced kid playing the knife-between-the-fingers game, or the skinny wuss with the pocket protector? I rest my case. ---
**Author:** ![X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbe5ce/32.png) [@X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X_Slayer_ALE)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-us-going-after-the-right-regime/153155/8 "2003-02-06T20:20:32Z")
The US has done this before. Th US focused on Hitler and Europe while decidedly leaving Japan to go the diplomatic route and using embargos, all the way up to the point when Japan blew up Pearl Harbor. Then the US went on a 2 front war. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-us-going-after-the-right-regime/153155/9 "2003-02-06T20:30:57Z")
Blackouts? Do they really think we still fly overhead looking for movie marquees before we know where to drop bombs? ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-us-going-after-the-right-regime/153155/10 "2003-02-06T20:36:30Z")
It’s like Back to the Future, Communist style. Look, old fashioned slave labor camps! How quaint. Here’s an [interview](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2732071.stm) with the relevant statement.