Secretary of Defense James Mattis revealed to the press this weekend for the first time exactly what the intent is behind the President’s order to send increasingly more naval forces off the shores of North Korea.
In a phrase: delay and deter.
Mattis explained that the overwhelming weight of American forces in the region is meant to put downward pressure on a regime that only responds to force.
However, his hope is that that show of force will deter him from further aggressive action while diplomats attempt to work things out.
The trouble with that line of thinking is that Kim Jong Un doesn’t understand diplomacy.
He’s a mass murderer who has assassinated his own family members and killed his own people.
Logic cannot prevail upon this man.
Here’s more from PJ Media…
Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters that hanging the military option over North Korea’s head is a way to “buy time” for diplomats to solve the crisis without war.
In August, National Security Advisor Gen. H.R. McMaster asked how the “classical deterrence theory” would “apply to a regime like the regime in North Korea.”
“A regime that engages in unspeakable brutality against its own people? A regime that poses a continuous threat to its neighbors in the region and now may pose a threat, direct threat, to the United States with weapons of mass destruction? A regime that imprisons and murders anyone who seems to oppose that regime, including members of his own family, using sarin nerve gas in a public airport?” McMaster told ABC News. “…The most effective way of preserving peace is to be prepared for war.”
En route to Colorado Springs on Thursday, Mattis was asked if he agreed with McMaster that North Korea may not be deterrable.
“I think that is a question on a lot of people’s minds right now. Are they deterrable, are they not deterrable?” the Defense secretary replied. “And I think what that we have to do is try deal with the protection, defense of our country and our allies, and that’s where I stay focused right now.”
