Sunday, July 09, 2006
Wrong question, part Soixante-Huit
Aside from the diplo-speak idiocy (We need bilateral useless jabber! No, no, we need multilateral useless jabber!) which is obviously ridiculous and represents nothing more than a commercial competition between the Albright Group and the Haig Group ....
Aside from all that absurd noise, I'm starting to wonder if there's really any point in trying to slow down Kim's development of nuke weapons.
Why? Because we were EQUALLY COWARDLY in facing Kim Senior when he DIDN'T have any nukes. I'm talking about the Pueblo incident in 1968.
Concise account, from GlobalSecurity.org:
On 23 January 1968 North Korean patrol boats seized the USS Pueblo, a US Navy intelligence-gathering vessel, in the international waters of the East Sea off Wonsan. One USS Pueblo crewmember was killed in the boarding and 82 were taken POW and held captive. The seizure, which took place a mere two days after a commando intrusion into Seoul, shocked the whole world, and there arose strong public demand in the United States for firm retaliatory action against North Korea. North Korea made the utmost use of the Pueblo incident in its crafty propaganda, believing that the United States, deeply involved in the Vietnam War then, would not be able to use the force of arms on the Korean Peninsula.
Eleven months after the seizure North Korea repatriated 82 Pueblo crewmen and one set of remains to the United States through Panmunjom. Upon signature of the US admitting to espionage in the coastal waters of the Sea of Japan, the 82 POWs were freed. Upon their return on 28 December, 1968, the crew was treated poorly by the public and the military and only in 1990 did they receive the POW ribbons to which they were entitled. The ship remains in Wonson Harbor, North Korea.
To read about what happened in between, this website tells what happened to our sailors. Warning: it's nasty.
Kim knows from long-term and short-term experience that we won't respond if he actually attacks us. So why shouldn't he attack us? ¶ 9:13 AM
Aside from all that absurd noise, I'm starting to wonder if there's really any point in trying to slow down Kim's development of nuke weapons.
Why? Because we were EQUALLY COWARDLY in facing Kim Senior when he DIDN'T have any nukes. I'm talking about the Pueblo incident in 1968.
Concise account, from GlobalSecurity.org:
On 23 January 1968 North Korean patrol boats seized the USS Pueblo, a US Navy intelligence-gathering vessel, in the international waters of the East Sea off Wonsan. One USS Pueblo crewmember was killed in the boarding and 82 were taken POW and held captive. The seizure, which took place a mere two days after a commando intrusion into Seoul, shocked the whole world, and there arose strong public demand in the United States for firm retaliatory action against North Korea. North Korea made the utmost use of the Pueblo incident in its crafty propaganda, believing that the United States, deeply involved in the Vietnam War then, would not be able to use the force of arms on the Korean Peninsula.
Eleven months after the seizure North Korea repatriated 82 Pueblo crewmen and one set of remains to the United States through Panmunjom. Upon signature of the US admitting to espionage in the coastal waters of the Sea of Japan, the 82 POWs were freed. Upon their return on 28 December, 1968, the crew was treated poorly by the public and the military and only in 1990 did they receive the POW ribbons to which they were entitled. The ship remains in Wonson Harbor, North Korea.
To read about what happened in between, this website tells what happened to our sailors. Warning: it's nasty.
Kim knows from long-term and short-term experience that we won't respond if he actually attacks us. So why shouldn't he attack us? ¶ 9:13 AM
