Peter Brookes in New York Post on Missile Defense
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The Heritage Foundation‘s Peter Brookes says the Obama administration is changing its tune on missile defense as a result of North Korea’s recent missile launches: An excerpt:
“The Obama administration is reacting to the anticipated launch of another North Korean long-range ballistic missile, expected to fly over the Pacific toward Hawaii sometime soon, by putting missile defense on alert…That’s a big change from last time.
“Back in April, in advance of North Korea’s last missile test, the administration pretty much pooh-poohed the threat posed by the Taepo Dong launch, characterizing Pyongyang’s saber-rattling as bluster.
“Indeed, from all outward indications, Team Obama did just about nothing but bloviate to defend US territory and interests from the missile that, by almost all accounts, has the potential to reach the western United States.”
Brookes notes that Obama’s “charm offensive” against North Korea hasn’t worked, so the administration apparently decided to toughen its stance. More important, missile defense is effective, and in light of North Korea’s bold talk and actions, shoring up our missile defense will keep us from appearing weak on national security.
“The good news is the Bush administration kept its promise to develop and deploy missile defense to protect us against an expanding nuke and missile threat,” Brookes writes. “Otherwise, we’d now be completely vulnerable to North Korean missiles.”
Read the full article here.
Tags: Barack Obama, Hawaii, North Korea, Peter Brookes, Taepodong-2 missile