US set to down Nork missile if it threatens US

Washington Times:

Senior Bush administration officials said publicly for the first time yesterday that the United States is set to shoot down any North Korean missile launch that threatens the United States.
National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley, briefing reporters during President Bush's brief visit here, said the United States has a missile defense system with "limited operational capability" that could be used to try to shoot down an incoming North Korean missile, but he added that U.S. officials were vigorously pursuing a diplomatic push to head off a test launch by Pyongyang.
"The purpose, of course, of that missile defense system is to defend the territory of the United States from attack," Mr. Hadley said when asked if the United States would deploy the system should North Korea attack.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told reporters in Washington that Mr. Bush has the power to order a shootdown, using one of 11 ground-based interceptors now located in Alaska and California.
"And the president would make a decision with respect to the nature of the launch, whether it was threatening to the territory of the United States or not, and the likely threat that it would pose," Mr. Rumsfeld told reporters at the Pentagon.

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It does not sound like they have bought into the suggestion by former Clinton administration officials to destroy the missile on its launch pad. Nevertheless, I think the proposal was useful in that it showed the Norks that even the dovish side of the US is ready to use force to stop their aggression,