Would Still Pack Quite A Wallop

What would you say to taking the warheads off some of America's ICBMs and replacing them with conventional explosives... then using those missiles to destroy suspected weapons of mass destruction?

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says that's one plan now under consideration, especially in the case of North Korea.

"They sell anything to anyone," Rumsfeld said during a visit to Alaska's Fort Greely last week. "They sell our currency that they counterfeit. They're selling illegal drugs. They're selling basic missile technologies. There's not much they have that they wouldn't sell either to another country or possibly to a terrorist network."

"I think the real threat that North Korea poses in the immediate future is more one of proliferation than a danger to South Korea," he added.

So, how do you counter that? Rumsfeld suggests rearming American ICBMs with non-nuclear warheads, and use them to target a terrorist launch site with a non-nuclear missile.

Rumsfeld was standing alongside his Russian counterpart, Sergei Ivanov, when he made his comments.

Reuters reports the US Defense Chief invited Ivanov to consider a similar plan, but Ivanov said wouldn't commit to that just yet... that Russia had concerns about such a plan, and that there may be other solutions for preemptive strikes -- such as the use of intermediate-range missiles.

Those types of missiles are currently banned by a treaty agreement between the two countries, however.

FMI: www.whitehouse.gov/government/rumsfeld-bio.html