US was prepared 'to use nuclear weapons against North Korea' if troops crossed border
US was prepared 'to use nuclear weapons against North Korea' if troops crossed border
Heather Saul
Thursday 16 October 2014
The US was prepared to use nuclear weapons if North Korean forces crossed the border into South Korea, the former CIA Director and Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has claimed in his memoir.
In a passage published in Newsweek from his autobiographical book Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace, Mr Panetta recalled a briefing in 2010 by the commander of US forces in South Korea.
During this briefing in Seoul, he said General Walter L. Skip Sharp suggested the US would use nuclear weapons if necessary in the event that North Korea moved across the demilitarised zone.
If North Korea moved across the border, our war plans called for the senior American general on the peninsula to take command of all US and South Korea forces and defend South Korea including by the use of nuclear weapons, if necessary, Mr Panetta wrote.
I left our meeting with the powerful sense that war in that region was neither hypothetical nor remote, but ever-present and imminent.
<snip>
SamKnause
(13,037 posts)had a daily Tabasco Sauce-Ex Lax bomb shoved up their collective asses.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)But why give away our plan? That us all I am mad about. We talk to much. Loose lips and as the saying goes. We need to tighten up our big mouths.
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)"wooden-headed" and said that this wasn't helpful. I thought someone was supposed to screen his book for classified/sensitive material before it was published.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)The book was screened before it was published, and this was left in.
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)come across as even more paranoid and delusional than his predecessors, and casually revealing that you plan to use nukes doesn't seem very bright.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)But then, I think Panetta isn't the brightest bulb, and he's leaked classified info before.
bananas
(27,509 posts)Maybe I should "NSFM" to the subject line (Not Safe For Mushrooms).
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)bananas
(27,509 posts)If you want to be kept in the dark and fed bullshit, go to mushroomunderground.com
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)for our ongoing tense situation with North Korea. I wasn't telling YOU that you shouldn't post this. Don't take it personally.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)...in the event there was any doubt.
There is no question that the North could easily over-run the South, or even just shell the shit out of Seoul.
In the event of hostilities of that kind, command of the South Korean armed forces reverts to the US, but in view of the numbers, there has always been the assumption they would be backed by nuclear weapons in view of the difference in numbers and the advantage of surprise to the attacker.
This seems to be just a reminder.
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)make that public? Different generals, different SecDef, different Joint Chiefs since 2010. Yes, South Korea is under our nuclear umbrella, but what that specifically means should probably not be spelled out. Sorry, I think this is dumb. Maybe ol' Leon thought he could scare NK into behaving, with this revelation, but it just seems stupid to lay it out there.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Nuclear weapons are not primarily useful for blowing things up. They have historically been used for deterrence purposes.
Whether one buys into the theory or not, it is the one we have always operated on in Korea. There is no question that the North could easily roll over the South if they were so inclined. Our principal defense against that has been to be clear that it will trigger a nuclear response. The 35k or so troops we keep there have been called a "nuclear tripwire" for decades.
Deterrent effectiveness is reduced where there is doubt about the will to use them. So, yes, there will be occasions such as this one where it is "leaked" that, yes, there is the will to use them.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)tech3149
(4,452 posts)Just one sentence exposes and emphasis's our country's demented foreign policy
I left our meeting with the powerful sense that war in that region was neither hypothetical nor remote, but ever-present and imminent.
The totally irrational fear of "communism" and its spread have been a major factor in our self serving and counterproductive relations with the rest of the world.
Just because we came out of WWII pretty much unscathed doesn't mean we are any better or more deserving than any other nation.
Panetta is just one more of the idiots who buy into that myth.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Comments are my own