Heard on FoxNews: Kim Jong-Il celebrates the Fourth of July by firing two of his oft-threatened missiles. Crazy bugger wants to stir us up, but it's the Japanese of whom he needs to be mindful. Surely he remembers them.
UPDATE: NORAD confirms. The two were not ballistic missiles (mid-range Taepodong missiles) and landed in the Sea of Japan--that's the larger body of water which lies between the Korean peninsula and the Japanese islands.
Smart, Li'l Kim. Real smart.
UPDATE: Link.
UPDATE (1:55 PM PDT): Reports of number three just issued, possibly an ICBM. However, it appears to be a dud.
UPDATE: Make that four...also a dud...one of the Nodong missiles. Really.
UPDATE: Okay, they were all Taepodong missiles. I just wanted to have the chance to type Nodong.
UPDATE: US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton is urgently seeling to confer with the UN Security Council. Fill that square, John.
UPDATE: No worries; while we eat BBQ, the USAF is on the case. From yesterday:
Air bases in Aurora and Colorado Springs, Colo. are on heightened alert but no one would say why.UPDATE (3:53 PM PDT): Two more launched. These really were Nodong missles; also duds, appropriately enough. Blogs of War:The Cheyenne Mountain Air Station and Buckley Air Force Base were among four bases nationwide that went on higher alert.
Vandenberg Air Force in California and Patrick Air Force Base in Florida were also on heightened alert, after the U.S. Space Command in Colorado Springs issued the security increase.
North American Aerospace Defense Command, [NORAD] headquartered deep inside Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, went to "Bravo-Plus" alert status as part of the heightened alert.
Dongs are flying all over the place. It’s not a good day to be a fisherman in the Sea of Japan.
