"...And people are stupid, And love means nothing in some strange quarters..."
I hesitate to add to any rhetoric:
WASHINGTON (Feb. 12) - North Korea has an untested ballistic missile capable of reaching the western United States, intelligence officials said Wednesday.
The North Korean missile is a three-stage version of the Taepo Dong 2, said Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. It has not been flight-tested, Jacoby said, leaving some questions about the North Korea's capability to successfully launch the missile.
CIA Director George J. Tenet, who joined Jacoby in briefing the Senate Armed Services Committee, also acknowledged the North Koreans have the capability to reach the western United States with a long-range missile.
Previous U.S. intelligence reports have said such a missile probably could carry a nuclear weapon-sized payload across the Pacific Ocean.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said he was unfamiliar with the testimony but said: ``Technology and time means regimes like North Korea will increasingly have the ability to strike at the United States.''
He said that is why President Bush supports building an anti-missile shield.
``We do have concerns ... about North Korea's missile development programs,'' Fleischer told reporters.
The revelation was certain to raise questions about Bush's priorities - and whether North Korea or Iraq pose a greater threat to the United States. Baghdad does not possess weapons that can strike America, officials have said.
``They are both important priorities,'' Fleischer said. ``The question is, what are the means best used to deal with each priority.''
He said diplomacy has failed to curb Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction program for more than a decade, thus Bush made military action a front-and-center option. ``That's not the case with North Korea,'' Fleischer said, saying Bush believes diplomatic pressure can contain North Korea."
How much do we squirm when the gun is pointed back at us?
WASHINGTON (Feb. 12) - North Korea has an untested ballistic missile capable of reaching the western United States, intelligence officials said Wednesday.
The North Korean missile is a three-stage version of the Taepo Dong 2, said Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. It has not been flight-tested, Jacoby said, leaving some questions about the North Korea's capability to successfully launch the missile.
CIA Director George J. Tenet, who joined Jacoby in briefing the Senate Armed Services Committee, also acknowledged the North Koreans have the capability to reach the western United States with a long-range missile.
Previous U.S. intelligence reports have said such a missile probably could carry a nuclear weapon-sized payload across the Pacific Ocean.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said he was unfamiliar with the testimony but said: ``Technology and time means regimes like North Korea will increasingly have the ability to strike at the United States.''
He said that is why President Bush supports building an anti-missile shield.
``We do have concerns ... about North Korea's missile development programs,'' Fleischer told reporters.
The revelation was certain to raise questions about Bush's priorities - and whether North Korea or Iraq pose a greater threat to the United States. Baghdad does not possess weapons that can strike America, officials have said.
``They are both important priorities,'' Fleischer said. ``The question is, what are the means best used to deal with each priority.''
He said diplomacy has failed to curb Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction program for more than a decade, thus Bush made military action a front-and-center option. ``That's not the case with North Korea,'' Fleischer said, saying Bush believes diplomatic pressure can contain North Korea."
How much do we squirm when the gun is pointed back at us?