Rattling the Saber

I don't know whether a shooting war with North Korea is in the cards, it certainly isn't inconceivable. Col. Ralph Peters (USA, Ret.) writes about military matters for the New York Post. Today his topic is how a first strike on NK should go down. The whole thing is worth your time, note this comment.

The first step should begin immediately, well in advance and without firing a shot. All military family members, all Department of Defense civilian employees and all nonessential contractors should be evacuated from South Korea. Want to get North Korea’s attention? That single act would serve as a graver warning of our readiness than any amount of sanctions or saber-rattling.

For all of our spectacular technologies, I’m not convinced our leaders, civilian or military, are psychologically or morally prepared for a real war. We have taught our troops to break things, but to go to absurd lengths to spare all lives. Yet in warfare there’s no substitute for killing your enemy and all those who support him. And you keep on killing until the enemy quits unconditionally or lies there dead and rotting.

if North Korea’s nuclear program has tunneled so far underground that conventional weapons can’t destroy the infrastructure, use nukes. It may be time to remind the world just how terrible such weapons can be.

Iran would get the message.

Peters is a realist, about an ugly business. David P. Goldman, aka Spengler, has written much the same advice.