Even though a US military strike on North Korea would be « tragic on an unbelievable scale »… « Just because it’s tragic doesn’t mean he won’t do it. »
But even though a US military strike on North Korea would be « tragic on an unbelievable scale, » according to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, that doesn’t mean it’s off the table.
At a National Committee on US-China Relations event in New York City, Samuel J. Locklear, the former head of the US military’s Pacific Command made it clear: « Just because it’s tragic doesn’t mean he won’t do it. »
« If the national interests are high enough, and I think this is the mistake that [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un needs really to think about, if you start pressing on an issue that has to do with the survival of the United States against a nuclear attack, the tragic becomes conceivable to stop it, » said Locklear. « It could be tragic. »
Adm. Timothy J. Keating, another former commander of Pacific Command, echoed Locklear’s statement.
« There are a wide range of options » that are « readily available to the president and the secretary of defense resident in the planning warrens at Pacific command, » Keating said at the event.
