NORAD and Buckley AFB placed on heightened alert

[Amelia]

NORAD and Buckley AFB placed on heightened alert

07/04/2006

The Denver Post

North American Aerospace Defense Command near Colorado Springs and Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora were placed on heightened alert Monday.

Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and Patrick Air Force Base in Florida also went to "Bravo-Plus" status, which is considered slightly higher than a medium threat level. NORAD's four levels are Alpha (low), Bravo (medium), Charlie (high) and Delta (critical).

"There's a lot going on," said NORAD and U.S. Northern Command Chief of Media Relations Michael Kucharek.

"The commander of U.S. Northern Command recently directed personnel at Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station in Colorado Springs, Colo., to take necessary security precautions commensurate with its missions," according to NORAD's official statement.

On Monday, amid reports that North Korea is preparing to test long-range missiles, North Korea's state-controlled news outlet announced that the country would respond to any pre-emptive U.S. attack with nuclear war.

"The safety of our people and resources is our top priority," Kucharek said.

[Pockey]

Good eye Amelia. Apparently N. Korea just launced 3 test missles.

[Amelia]

Thanks Sid. I keep my bad eye out for the weird stuff. []http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v310/kbhilltopstables/smileys/th26255b63.gif[/]

[Stan]

You have to wonder about Bush...

He threatens North Korea with Nuclear weapons, as he did with Iran... OF COURSE they are going to try to defend their country with the same kind of weapons they are threatened with...

One just had to shake their head...

[/political opinion off}

[Jeannieb43]

[political opinion ON]

I wonder more and more about Bush every day.

[political opinion OFF]

[Dr. Shane]

We all know that the Clinton Adminstration gave North Korea a light-water reactor (which produces plutonium) because they agreed to end their weapons program, right?

So let's not start playing partisan games. North Korea and Iran are tough issues to deal with and no one party has all the right answers.

The US needs to start shipping antibalistic missles to Japan and testing them over the Sea of Japan.

The concern with North Korea is that they will sell their nuclear technology to other nations and more specifically, to terrorists. If North Korea was going to use its nuclear weapons just to defend itself and deter attacks, I wouldn't see an issue with them having them.

[Amelia]

N. Korea long-range missile fails in test launch

Rogue country sends at least five rockets into the Sea of Japan

[]http://media.msnbc.msn.com/i/msnbc/Components/Sources/sourceAP.gif[/]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13704198/

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the first missile was launched at about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, or about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday EDT. The two others were launched at bout 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., he said.

If the timing is correct, the North Korean missiles were launched within minutes of Tuesday’s liftoff of Discovery, which blasted into orbit from Cape Canaveral in the first U.S. space shuttle launch in a year.

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North Korea's arsenal

A look at some of North Korea’s missiles:

— TAEPODONG-2: Said to be North Korea’s most advanced missile, with a range of up to 9,320 miles. Experts estimate it could potentially hit the mainland United States with a small payload. However, the missile is unlikely to be accurate.

— TAEPODONG-1: North Korea is believed to have test-launched this long-range missile in August 1998. The second stage landed off Japan’s eastern coast. The missile has an estimated range of up to 1,800 miles.

— RODONG: As many as 200 Rodong missiles are in North Korea’s arsenal. With a range of about 620 miles, Japan is their most likely target. The missiles can be fired from mobile launchers.

— SCUD: North Korea reportedly has more than 600 Scud-type missiles that are relatively short-range and would potentially target South Korea.

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[Neil D]

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Shane said:

We all know that the Clinton Adminstration gave North Korea a light-water reactor (which produces plutonium) because they agreed to end their weapons program, right?

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No, We DON"T know that, Shane...Perhaps you can show from unbiased sources where that happened? This is what I have found from my unbiased internet sources...

[:"green"] This is not the first crisis concerning North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons. In 1985, North Korea joined the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), which requires non-nuclear states to forswear the development and acquisition of nuclear weapons. But in 1992, International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors discovered that North Korea had diverted plutonium for a weapons program in violation of its treaty commitments. In 1993, amid demands for special inspections, North Korea announced its intention to withdraw from the NPT. The crisis was resolved in 1994 when the United States and North Korea signed the Agreed Framework, under which Pyongyang committed to freezing its illicit plutonium weapons program in exchange[:"red"] for two proliferation-resistant nuclear reactors and additional aid. [/]

The Clinton administration subsequently pursued talks with Pyongyang to limit its ballistic missile programs but was unable to finalize an agreement. After suspending talks in March 2001 pending a policy review, the Bush administration expressed a willingness to meet with Pyongyang, but President George W. Bush also named North Korea part of an “axis of evil” and linked progress on nonproliferation with other issues that delayed talks. North Korea’s admission of having a uranium enrichment program now calls into question the future of U.S.-North Korean relations, in particular the implementation of the Agreed Framework. [/] source

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So let's not start playing partisan games. North Korea and Iran are tough issues to deal with and no one party has all the right answers.

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But let's not deny the reality of the situation and make it into something that it is not, either, Shane. Bush, quiet frankly, bears the brunt of responsibility for squandering political co-operation among countries, both friendlies and non-friendlies. And he has done so, at the expense of the American taxpayer...

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The US needs to start shipping antibalistic missles to Japan and testing them over the Sea of Japan.

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You forget the Japanese are highly resistant to the idea of a military in any shape, for any pupose..including defense...They do not want to repeat WW2.

[Dr. Shane]

Some people dislike President Bush so much they would criticise him for the brand of toilet paper he uses if they knew what it was.

Here is the time line. North Korea Nuclear and Missile Timeline

One discovers the problem started in 1992, the year Clinton was elected. Clinton had his entire presidency to deal with the issue and was unable to solve it. I am not faulting him, this is a tough issue. Since what Clinton was doing wasn't working, President Bush decided to try something else. He hasn't been successful either. This is not an easy issue and shouldn't be reduced to partisan bickering.

[Dr. Shane]

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The crisis was resolved in 1994 when the United States and North Korea signed the Agreed Framework

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This is the agreement that gave North Korea the technology for the LWR that I referenced. One of Clinton's problems is that he didn't get Congress to sign onto the agreement which he would have had to if it had been a treaty. He found a loophole, so to speak. However since Congress controlls the budget, Clinton had a hard time delivering all the fuel to North Korea that he had promised to in the agreement.

This is a very tough and complicated issue. The Agreed Framework didn't solve the problem. If it had we wouldn't be where we are today. Clinton continued with sanctions even after the Agreed Framework. North Korea actually test fired a missle in 1998 (that was the Monica Lewinski year).

[bevin]

Yeah, and things were improving in the N-S Korea relations, but then some moron had to label Iraq-Iran-NKorea as an "axis of evil" and do various other things to derail the improving relationship.

Oh yeah - that moron was George W Bush.

/Bevin

[Jeannieb43]

CNN had a panel discussion last night on this subject. The panel contained both Republicans and Democrats. They all agreed that this was North Korea's attempt to get the attention of the U.S., after five years of failed diplomacy between the two countries. Bush doesn't know how to negotiate face-to-face, and so relations have fallen apart. The U.S. will now be forced to start talking to North Korea.

Former Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick was one of the persons interviewed. She had a good relationship with Kim Jong Il [or whatever his name is] during the Clinton administration.

[Dr. Shane]

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after five years of failed diplomacy between the two countries.

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Correction: thirteen years of failed diplomacy between the two countries. Clinton dealt with the situation for his entire presidency. The fact that Bush inheritted it testifies that the Clinton policy was a failure. Bush's approach isn't producing positive results either.

This is another issue that puts me in the middle of the specturm. Clinton failed and Bush is failing at resolving the issue. I just see it as a tough issue and not a partisan one.

BTW: from all the reports I have read, Bush is at his best when face to face, one on one.

[Jeannieb43]

Oops! My mistake. It wasn't Jeanne Kirkpatrick. It was former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright who met with Kim Jong Il during the last administration. She was interviewed again tonight, on Larry King Live, amd she said she has the distinction of being the highest US official ever to have met with him, and actually the ONLY US official to have met with him, since nobody has done so in the past five years.

[Dr. Shane]

Madeleine Albright was on Meet The Press a couple of years ago and admitted that Kim Jong Il had been violating their agreement even during the Clinton Administration. The Clinton Administration expected the North Korean government to fail but it didn't.