north korea missiles, possibly nuclear, aimed at US. (house, school)

[terracore]

Originally Posted by OpenD

I think this is a pretty good analysis of the situation...

And at one time they said Al Qaeda couldn't "hit" the homeland either. The problem with "conventional" military analysis is that they assume the "enemy" doesn't think outside the box. We have no reason to assume that North Korea is planning to launch missles from their soil. Missiles can be launched from ships, aircraft, or other countries. The North Korean nuclear weapons program is financed by Iran and made possible by Iranian scientists. They detonate the test weapons in North Korea because Israel would never allow testing in Iran or Syria. There are bigger problems here than just the fat kid's tantrum threats and some bad photoshopping.

That all being said, I believe Hawaii is safe. South Korea and Japan are far easier targets to hit.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by terracore

And at one time they said Al Qaeda couldn't "hit" the homeland either.

Note that the analysis didn't say they wouldn't ever be able to hit Hawai'i, just that they couldn't hit it now... even empty. And they don't have a nuclear device that would fit in a missile. Maybe in 5 years, I dunno, but not now. And meanwhile now we're getting new Interceptor missile coverage that was formerly planned for the Europe, so it's already in the pipeline.

And the stark reality is that if they did happen to squeeze off a shot that got through our defenses, we've still got them outgunned by thousands to one, and could reduce their country to a rubble field in no time if they attack us. KJU must realize that. He spent years going to school outside N Korea, he must have some perspective on the realities.

[the_windwalker]

From what I'm reading, N. Korea does have one missile with a range long enough to hit most of the coast of California, but that's about it. In order to get it farther inland, they'd have to launch it from a ship at sea.

But, for places like Guam and Hawaii, they'd have to score a direct hit. On the west coast of the US mainland, they only need to hit solid ground with a nuke. It's the radio-active cloud that would drift and contaminate the country, making food sources unsafe.

[Curmudgeon]

I hope no one is losing sleep over these empty, bombastic threats. Just business as usual.

[BeauCharles]

My three year old nephew is like this sometimes. His mother puts him in his room and he screams, cries, falls down and kicks his feet - and then tires himself out and he falls asleep. When he comes out he behaves. That's basically what they should do with North Korea. Just ignore fat boy.

[Kualoa]

That omnipresent huge white ball sitting atop the platform in Pearl Harbor is there for a good reason...

[Gunluvver2]

The most dangerous threat from a N. Korean nuclear missile would be to detonate a Nuke 200 to 300 miles above the N. American continent. The Electromagnetic Pulse generated from an explosion like this would knock out a huge percentage of the North American electric grid, most of the computer electronics that our economy depends on and the biggest share of our transportation system. Such an event would take years to recover from and would cause millions of deaths. One example would be medicines that require refrigeration. There are hundreds of Diabetics that depend on Insulin that would be in mortal danger without a ready supply in just a few days. We live in a "just in time" business economy and a disruption that an EMP event would create would result in immediate problems.

GL2

[PaliPatty]

Seriously, gang....if anyone decides to launch a nuclear weapon, we'd be fried. Suggestion? Okay...here goes.
Grab the Haagen-Daaz, NY hotdogs, perfect poke, excellent Scotch whiskey. Grab your SO. Acknowledge that this is the end. Everyone has to go eventually, and we all go differently. This is our fate. Raise a toast to those who may survive and wish them well.
Agree that it could have been so much better, had we joined hands and bonded. But we did not.
Sucks, but there it is.
And on this sadly bittersweet note, I shed a tear.

[HonuMan]

Unless the North Korean leaders are collectively stupid or suicidally insane (which is improbable, if not impossible), what conceivable motivation would they have to launch an unprovoked nuclear attack on anyone? We'd respond in kind, and they'd be vaporized within minutes of their own attack. Unlike with Al Qaida, everyone knows where to hit them. They have no allies who would stand by them, so WW III wouldn't likely be triggered. They're like the bully in 10th grade who used to threaten to follow me home from school and kick my okole, but never did. Anyway, do we not have the capability to intercept a North Korean nuke before it reached Hawaii, assuming it was launched from North Korea?

[Mikala43]

A lot of the defensive missile tests missed.... we're not as good as we would wish on that front.

It IS the EMP burst that is a concern... not really being hit.