Steve -

Don't pretend the administration has "forgotten" Korea. That's just bogus on the face of it.

It's amazing to me how many people are now desperately looking to al-Sistani as the potential saviour of the left's fortunes, practically begging him to throw in with Iran so this whole Iraq thing can be discredited once and for all. I get the feeling the left is scared shitless that if this Iraqi democracy thing actually works out, they're gonna be political toast for a long time, so God forbid any good things happen there. I'm sure I'll just be called a Pollyanna, told that I'm not being a realist, but that's expected. After all it's the sacred duty of the opposition to... oppose.

Cheers,
Daiwa

desperately looking to al-Sistani as the potential saviour of the left's fortunes, practically begging him to throw in with Iran so this whole Iraq thing can be discredited once and for all. I get the feeling the left is scared shitless that if this Iraqi democracy thing actually works out, they're gonna be political toast for a long time

Pure bullshit. You have the audacity to preempt claim to patriotism as though liberals were traitors hoping Iraq blows. For Christ's sake have some decency; the left whether opposed to the war or not, still roots for our troops and surely take no pleasure that they are constantly in harm's way.  

and if we started something rash with iran or north korea YOU would be crying about that too.

Strategic strikes over Korea might be considered rash but justified, inasmuch as the fifty year old "truce" is flimsy in face of North Korea's bold threats. Still, I don't see what's wrong with conducting two party talks in light of the US literally setting the agenda with the other negotiators. Besides, after this blog, North Korea got into the act to remind us that is more severe than Iran

Korea is the one that walked out of the talks *not* the US.
Link

"I don't need a link to state the obvious, but their walking out doesn't negate the value of our talking directly from strength--what are we afraid ofthat we have to sit on our hands while the others do the talking?"

I don't have anything to prove it, but I think the powers that be know that lil' Kim is a lot nuttier than we think.

Think back on all those goose stepping parades. Think about all thise big fat missiles. Do they really need to have unconventional warheads to make a mess of Japan or South Korea? Lets say tomorrow morning we wake to find that he has lobbed 20 or 30 big conventional warheads into Tokyo proper.

What then? Japan is immediately at war, and as their ally, so are we. What do you do, pulverize them? God forbid, invade?

I think the idea of a ground assault on Iran is a spring picnic compared to what we would have to commit to humanely win a war with North Korea. If we opted to win it in a less than human manner, the chance of dragging China or another superpower in is troubling as well.

I have no doubt that we could pulverize them with little effort if collateral damage isn't an issue. Don't you think, steve, way back in the least jaded recesses of your mind, that we don't WANT to kill tens of millions of people?