Rep. Hunter call for ‘pre-emptive strike’ worst thing he’s ever said as a politician

U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that the United States will be forced to “totally destroy” North Korea unless Pyongyang backs down from its nuclear standoff, mocking North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a “rocket man” on a suicide missio

By The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board

San Diego Union-Tribune

Sept. 22, 2017 3:50 PM PT

Rep. Duncan Hunter’s call for a “pre-emptive strike” on North Korea is incendiary and dangerous — the worst thing he’s publicly said as a politician. In a KUSI-TV interview, the Alpine Republican asserted that since Pyongyang is no global power and since North Korea claimed it had aimed nuclear weapons at the U.S., “Why would I not hit you first?”

A Marine veteran and member of the House Armed Services Committee, Hunter should be far better informed than the average American. This is why one would think that instead of Hunter stewing over the spectacle of tiny Pyongyang sticking its thumb in Washington’s eye, he would grasp the big picture: that one of the oldest allies the U.S. has in Asia — South Korea — would pay an immense price for unilateral U.S. action.

Just across the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea, Pyongyang has assembled some 8,000 artillery cannons and rocket launchers that can quickly drop destruction on the 25 million South Koreans who live within 70 miles of the border in Seoul and its sprawling suburbs. This is not the nuclear arsenal being assembled by North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, which may be vulnerable to a sophisticated cyberattack. This is low-tech weaponry capable of raining 300,000 rounds in an hour if Pyongyang realized U.S. missiles were en route.

The death toll could easily reach the millions.

The prospect of such vast carnage is why the Pentagon dropped its threats of unilateral action against Pyongyang in 1994 during a previous tense chapter. It’s why then-senior White House official Steve Bannon declared last month that “there’s no military solution” to North Korea’s saber-rattling. It’s why containment of Kim, not confrontation, is the smartest, least risky approach.

Hunter, who should have more savvy, instead said this, “I would pre-emptively strike them. You could call it declaring war, call it whatever you want.” How about calling it absolutely crazy?