A pre-emptive attack by the United States against North Korea is “high risk” and “unpredictable,” says a former top US military commander and intelligence chief, amid reports that the administration of US President Donald Trump is mulling a strike to take out the North’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
Retired Admiral Dennis Blair, who once led the US Pacific Command, told the Guardian in an interview published Tuesday that it was a tough order for Washington to cripple Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal in a so-called “bloody-nose” strike and Trump had to wait for a first strike by Pyongyang instead.
“With all the tunnels they have, with all of the difficulties of intelligence in that country, I don’t think an American-South Korean strike [on the North] would have a high probability of taking out all of their nuclear capability and then you’ve left them with not only with nuclear capability but also an aggrieved…