North Korea there will be blood?

So we could just bring those troop home.Then that removes one possible threat.

I think we should care about them, pity them, wish they did not suffer.What does that have to do with the thread?

Yes, if we had spent one tenth of what we have spent on our military and our continued invasions of other Nations on foreign aid the world might be a far better place.

Lost me there.Yes, North Koreans live in North Korea.What does that have to do with the thread?

I certainly don't see that message but so what?Fools often take time to learn and if that is the message someone takes they may someday learn they are wrong. That can be very painful.But the question to ask is "Is it wise to put yourself in a hazardous position when responding will almost certainly hurt you more than the other person?"

That might be relevant had I made such a claim, but fortunately I didn't.The US will likely have very few casualties at least initially. But the US also places a higher value on it's soldiers lives. Each US casualty caries a far higher cost than all the North Korean casualties combined in the US political arena.So again, is it wise to put yourself in a hazardous position when responding will almost certainly hurt you more than the other person?"

Follow the money.

Halliburton is a big direct beneficiary but there are many, many more, all the South Korean and Japanese and Vietnamese and Australian and Chinese companies that don't have to pay to be the policeman.The Greek and Chinese and Japanese and Korean merchant ships benefit from the US Navy maintaining the freedom of the seas.

You may find it twisted logic while I see it as honesty and reality.There is of course no win or lose in this discussion but there would be in reality should the US actually invade North Korea.

You haven't been reading this thread have you?

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As you say, we do place a high value on human life, and we value 100 of our own casualties higher than 100,000 enemy ones.

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from Message 85.The average American places greater value on one American life than on the lives of all the North Koreans combined, but they place an even higher value on being able to watch WWE, having the latest cell phone and app.I wish I were making it up, but I am not.

Does it?And does the average North Korean even enter into the equation?

But a casualty is not a casualty. A casualty has the value placed on it by a government.The value may not even be consistent or constant.Is it time for Japan and Taiwan to assume responsibility for themselves?The issue is just how much pain and costs should the US assume?

Does it matter?Do the folk in North Korea who may commit them to a war place any value on whether or not they have families and loved ones?

But as you admit all casualties do not carry the same value or cost. Well no, that has never been the topic of this thread regardless of what you mean by "Korea". What makes you think I think that?The issue is "What is the least harm to the US?" That would depend on whether we joined in the madness of it spreading. Is there some reason to think the result might not be the same as with Vietnam and China? Might the result be that in a decade we find that "Korea" (the unified peninsula) is a major trading partner?

Of course I understand that the US has a trade and financial interest with South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, but is a financial interest sufficient justification for war or invading another country?And of course the US values not just the lives of US citizens but even the enemy which is why the US uses drones and other forms of limited response instead of carpet bombing, but that is irrelevant to anything I have posted.The issue is "What value do the leaders of North Korea put on the lives of their citizens and of non North Koreans?"North Korea invading or more likely simply destroying South Korea would disrupt trade with South Korea certainly, but that is not a real threat to the continued existence of the US.North Korea has no real chance of invading Japan or Taiwan or of seriously threatening the continued existence of Japan or Taiwan so trying to drag them into this thread is simply a vacuous attempt to avoid what I have been saying.