North Korea's Missile > Our Missile Defense System

The Washington Post reports today:

The United States said Thursday that a U.S. missile-defense system under development has "limited operational capability" to protect against weapons such as the long-range missile North Korea is said to be close to test-firing.

By "Limited Operational Capability," we mean that we can occasionally hit targets that have been specially outfitted to literally screaming EM out at the world, enticing our interceptors onto a nice collision course.

"The way out of this is for North Korea to decide not to test this missile," [National Security Advisor Stephen] Hadley said.

Yeah, that's about what I thought. So why would the North Koreans acquiesce? It certainly doesn't seem that "jeopardizing" the 6-party talks is high on their list of worries. Is this what the game of diplomacy comes down to every time? What can we secretly give them so we don't have to deal with this black eye? How distasteful.

There is another possibility, I suppose. Former Defense Secretary William Perry recommended in an op-ed that we go ahead and hit the missile before it's launched. That was a possibility I didn't see any realistic percentages in.

In the op-ed, Perry said the Bush administration should strike and destroy the missile before it can be launched. Perry noted the Bush administration's doctrine of pre-emption, which it used as the basis for sending U.S. troops into Iraq in 2003.

"Therefore, if North Korea persists in its launch preparations, the United States should immediately make clear its intention to strike and destroy the North Korean Taepodong missile before it can be launched," Perry said in the piece, co-written with Ashton B. Carter, Perry's assistant at the Pentagon.

Zing! Where's your doctrine of preemption now? 'Cuz there's no way in hell we're going to hit the missile while its still on the pad.