Some Tout Preemptive Strike; Others Advise Caution

Much of the world continues to be captivated by the possibility that North Korea could test-launch its Taepodong-2 long-range ICBM -- a missile capable of hitting Alaska, and perhaps much of the West Coast.

In the Washington Post Thursday, former Defense Secretary William Perry and his former assistant, Ashton Carter,  wrote an opinion piece calling on the Bush administration to immediately make clear its intention to destroy the North Korean missile before it poses what they call a "mortal threat."

"...[I]f 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," the men wrote.

There have been veiled threats from senior US defense officials of a preemptive strike against North Korea to do just that.

By late Thursday, however, those calls had been muted. Vice President Dick Cheney says the US is responding to the Korean situation in the appropriate fashion -- and called Kim Jong Il's missile capabilities very rudimentary at best.

"I mean, they've been building Scuds and so forth over the years," Cheney told the BBC, "but their test flights in the past haven't been notably successful."

Still, he says the US is monitoring the situation very closely. But if that sounds like the US is taking a wait and see attitude on the North's missile test... Cheney also says, if Kim plans to attack other countries with its missiles, he'd better be ready to take more than one shot.

In the meantime, the Taepodong-2 continues to sit on its launch pad... apparently fueled, and ready to go.

FMI: www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/dprk/index.html