What? That Is Your Day Job? (Part 1)

I never was a fan of Lawrence Eagleburger, and I see no reason to become one now:

VARNEY: Would you — do you believe that the U.S. and/or China should now seriously consider and plan for a military attack?

EAGLEBURGER: I have believed that for some time. So, you’re — you’re call — you are asking the wrong person, I guess, because I have felt, as I say, for the better part of 10 years, that we could see this coming, and we just sat back and tried to talk them out of it. Now, and I think, yes, that military action is one very, very definite option. But I don’t think we should do it alone. [Fox News]

What does Mr. Eagleburger propose to attack now?  The nukes North Korea already has, which are probably two miles under some unknown mountain?  If his goal is to overthrow the regime, does he mean that we should invade?  Does he understand what he’d be getting us into?

And which of the three plausible potential allies could Eagleburger be thinking of?  It would be diplomatic ignorance to believe that China would join with us, it would be regional and historical ignorance to believe that Japan should join us, and it would be strategic and political ignorance to think that the South Koreans would be up for this.  They aren’t.

If we were to come to the point of last resort, after all financial and political options had failed and where only military options remained, it would make far more sense to flood North Korea with Tokarevs, RPG’s, and Chinese AK’s than to attack North Korea directly.  I’m not opposed to that idea in principle.  Certainly it’s an alternative that China must fear so much that it would rather cooperate with us.  But it would take years to work, and it could only succeed if a potential resistance organization had first infiltrated North Korea and established a political underground, supply system, and intelligence network.  The direct military option, however, should be reserved only for imminent anticipatory self defense or to stop a proliferation incident.