US Considering Shooting Down NKorean ICBM

First off, of course they are. The Pentagon would be completely negligent if they weren't preparing for that.

The Bush administration is weighing responses to a possible North Korean missile test that include attempting to shoot it down in flight over the Pacific, defense officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Because North Korea is secretive about its missile operations, U.S. officials say they must consider the possibility that an anticipated test would turn out to be something else, such as a space launch or even an attack. Thus, the Pentagon is considering the possibility of attempting an interception, two defense officials said, even though it would be unprecedented and is not considered the likeliest scenario.

The officials agreed to discuss the matter only on condition of anonymity because of its political sensitivity.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said he could not say whether the unproven multibillion-dollar U.S. anti-missile defense system might be used in the event of a North Korean missile launch. That system, which includes a handful of missiles that could be fired from Alaska and California, has had a spotty record in tests.

Although shooting down a North Korean missile is a possibility, the Pentagon also must consider factors that would argue against such a response, including the risk of shooting and missing and of escalating tensions further with the communist nation.

Even if there were no attempt to shoot down a North Korean missile, it would be tracked by early warning satellites and radars, including radars based on ships near Japan and ground-based radars in Alaska and California.

Robert Einhorn, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said a U.S. shootdown of a North Korean missile on a test flight or a space launch would draw "very strong international reaction" against the United States. He saw only a small chance that the U.S. would attempt a shootdown.

OK, a "small chance" that would happen would normally be true, but this is Bushco. And, being Bushco, its entirely possible they will try to shoot it down in which case 2 things are possible.

1) They'll miss, thus making the US look incompetent. Which Bushco already does come off as.

2) They'll hit it and destroy a satellite or, sans satellite, it will still greatly increase tensions between US and NKorea. And it will horrify what few allies we still have.

If that missile isn't aimed at the US, and our allies will know if it isn't, then Bushco had damn well better not shoot at it.

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