first off, glad you are back..

second, there is some speculation that the scuds are intended to threaten the Saudis and not israel, short range, shitty accuracy, etc..

if this is true, it was absolutely the right decision to let the missles go to the Yemenis :-)

I'm absolutely in agreement. To some people, Scuds just aren't "politically correct" weapons.

But they're just weapons, they're no different from suicide bomb belts. What matters is the target, not the delivery method.

Yemen is cooperating with us more than some other countries, I don't see why they shouldn't get to receive their completely legal shipment.

I am with you on this, but it is odd that they were buried under bags of cement on a ship with no flags.

I'm impressed with the Spanish. When the ship failed to stop after shots ahead, they fired on the ship itself and destroyed the mast.
After that, having seen the dodgy papers, they would have been perfectly in their rights to take it to the nearest Admirality court for a hefty fine and cargo confiscation.
I wonder if there was more value in seeing where those missiles end up?
Anyway, haven't seen what they were. Could have been:

Taepo-dong 2:
Length: 116 feet
Diameter: 4 feet
Payload: 1,650 pounds
Range: 3,720 miles

Now look at a map.

The new shipment of Vodka finally arrived. Hurrah !

You're right when you say that the Scuds for Yemen won't threaten the balance of power in that region (at least not for the US and its allies).

But giving them back after catching Yemen and North Korea red-handedly (and on a vessel with no flag), will strengthen the Islamokazis in their conviction that the Americans are sissies. It will help them in the recruitment of raving lunatics who want to die taking as much westerners as possible with them.

Let's not forget that this is also a psychological war, with an enemy who (like Saddam) declares victory when he wakes up in the morning, because that obviously means that he wasn't killed during the night.

I am not worried about this SCUD issue with Yemen and the North Koreans. A couple of things: First it’s obvious now that we know they have them and will keep a keen eye on where they go. Second, it was a nice waiting game by the Bush administration to wait out the delivery of the missiles and three, a nice bone to the Spaniards, letting them take the lead. This is a non-issue, and lends more credence to the administration’s non-imperialist assertions. “We could have taken these missiles…but we chose not to…”

I would hope we planted some sort of high tech tracking device on the missiles - so we see exactly where they do end up/

Ppl miss the point about chem and bio weapons.It's not their effectivness,it's the panic that will ensue following the use of them.Everyone with a country cousin will head for the farms,traffic jams,no one at work ,no deliveries to markets,causing those who stay to panic,etc.Granted thats a worse case scenario,but it's something to think on.

Like so many other Soviet legacy weapons systems, Scuds are better for parading down the street to impress the proles than use in battle...

I just like the chance that they were the No Dong missle. It just opens up the humor possibilities.

The Yemenis have No Dongs.

Tribal meeting in Yemen:
"I have No Dong."
"Yes, I have No Dong, too!"
"Hey, I want No Dong!"

And the Spanish, already with a big woody for conquering that island back from Morocco, now have something else to strut about. The Madrid papers are full of talk about the "lost American colonies".

North Korea isn't a legitimate government so I'd have doubts as to the "legality" of the "transaction."

It would have been nice to put a thumb in Kimmy's eye; and, since the Predator attack, it's obvious that Yemen has little choice in matters (so America could have stuck it to them as well). But the story has shifted decisively to the fact that America was watching the boat's course from the beginning, and will most likely watch it all the way into port. Convincing our enemies and pseudo-allies that we can track their every move is worth far more than a bust.

Welcome back.

I agree with you that the important thing about these missiles is the world knows that we're on the red, white and blue alert.

It reminds me of the U2 Gary Powers incident many moons (Eisenhower Adm) ago when the Soviets forced down one of our spy planes.

I was delighted that we actually had spy planes up there and I believe a lot of people in the rest of the world, especially the Eastern Bloc countries, were rejoicing as well.

Happy Holidays to all, especially those who are protecting us from harm.

I don't care so much that the Yemenis are buying missiles. As you point out, Scuds are large and conspicuous and not particualrly good weapons.

The fact that the North Koreans are selling them is the real issue here. The north Koreans are the biggest current danger to non-proliferation, and have shown complete willingness to sell anything and everything they can make to the highest bidder. Given the state of their economy, 6 cheese sandwiches and $5 of hard currency is probably enough to buy a medium range ballistic missile from them.

This is an old order, but given the current problems with North Korea, I hope we are taking action as firmly as possible to try and shut off the spigot of North Korean arms shipments. And one way to do that would be a blockade--you're free to buy stuff from North Korea, but we're going to step in and sieze it before it gets to you.

First, you dont suppose that during the inspection of the SCUDs that the special OPS team may have (GASP!) damaged so portion of the SCUD's, do you? A little slip of the drill here, a smashed coupling there and you no longer have a missle but an ugly modern art display( arent they all?).

Second, You dont suppose that we imbedded either/or tracking and listening devices into the packing crates for the SCUDS. Or the ship itself perhaps?

Third, If you dont have the Mobile launchers, youve got an exhibit for the lobby of the Yemeni Childrens Space Museum and Exporatorium.

Fourth, You dont suppose that it was Yemen who told us they were coming, do you? Seems to me that this action was aimed much more at North Korea than it was Yemen.

Fifth ( slipping into paranoid mode here)
If the Yemenis are end-users , Im not sure I care, if they are intermediaries, then Im more concerned.

Sixth, I wonder how many SCUDS weve intercepted and scuttled at sea without notifying the press? If we dont jump up and go to the press, whos gonna know?

Welcome back, man!

Wanna have some fun?

Ask some of your left-leaning colleagues and friends right now to defend their attacks on President Bush over his walking away from the ABM treaty. Ask them to repeat for you how it will only harm our security, and start a new Cold War with Russia. Ask them to tell you again how "it'll never work anyway", and therefore we just have to, well, hope that no one uses missiles against us, etc. Ask one more time for the details on how the alleged "missile threat" is just an excuse for Bush to spend on his arms buddies, and how no one out there is trying to acquire missiles at all, and if they are it's all our fault anyway.

Just go ahead and ask 'em. It's great for a few laughs.

Welcome back.

I confess to being one of the people that posted some scathing messages concerning Bush about this incident.
While I'm glad that you have brought some balance this issue, I still hold some grudges against Bush for letting those missiles go to Yemen.
There is only one target for those missiles: Israel. Whatever their status as allies, Yemen still strives to destroy Israel.
And whether they carry HE or Bio/Chem warheads, they can still kill alot of people, even if a percentage of them break up in flight.

However, missiles can be very touchy weapons. It doesn't take much to cause one to malfunction. I hope Bush took advantage of that.

But if he sent functional missiles to Yemen, I will never forgive him.

Most Soviet-style missiles, like the SCUD and its relatives, are liquid-fueled. Liquid fuel is notoriously unstable, even for teams with the required expertise (and it is highly unlikely that the Yemenis have anything approaching that; they maybe got a User's Manual written in Korean)

Personally, I'll be surprised if half of them get off the launch pad.

I wouldn't say that Iraq accomplished zip in the Gulf War by firing SCUDs on Israel. Two killed, many wounded--and a number of deaths from suffocation of improperly-worn gas masks, as well as heart attacks from the stress of running to the bomb shelters.

Terror is an effective weapon. Check out this link.

I'd rather Yemen didn't have them. Hope the Spaniards did something to them to make them not work.

Okay, this link. Sorry.

Stephen is right on the mark.

This was a message to North Korea...we're watching and we can stop you whenever we want to.

But just as importantly, it says to prospective buyers: "buy at your own risk...next time, we might not let them through and you'll get bupkus for that advance payment you sent to Pyongyang".

May the buyer beware, indeed!

That's what's important here and most bloggers completely missed it...good job!

Welcome back Stephen,

I agree that letting the missiles go to Yemen was the correct move. Good point concerning the Spaniards asserting themselves (and calling us in for assistance), but the lost in all this is the fact that we tracked this from N. Korea and guided the Spaniards in.

The Axis of Evil must be aware that, yes, we are watching them.

Meryl, we have equipped the Israelis with much more effective Patriot-type anti-missile batteries that (we hope) will destroy any inbound missiles.

I may be wrong, but I seem to remember from old atlases that Yemen has some kind of border dispute with a neighboring country. I wonder how that's going?

We're overlooking the fact that Yemen is one of the "good guys" these days. I think the decision was made as a matter of keeping as many of our friends (or at least, sorta-friends) as possible over there.

For us to have seized the SCUDs would have annoyed them considerably.

Personally, I'd have quietly told the Spanish ship to sink the freighter, then complain aloud how terrible it was, but we just couldn't help it.

SCUDs are indeed shitty, Stephen. It's my conjecture that they are less accurate than a V-2, but accuracy data on either one is sparse. Probably because it's hard to tell what they were shooting at in the first place. The SCUD-B that North Korea makes has a range of 280-330km, so it's just a wee bit longer in range than a V-2.

I sincerely doubt they would have characterized a Taepo Dong as a SCUD. A Taepo Dong is three times the length, close to three times the diameter and roughly fifteen times the launch weight of a SCUD. Also, the Taepo Dong cannot be launched from a mobile launcher but must be launched from a pad with a gantry.

I would think they're going to track the missiles to their destination. Otherwise it makes no sense, unless you assume a certain amount of sheer stupidity.

Border disputes: given that Yemen's only recent disputes (that I'm aware of) are with Saudi Arabia, and that Saudi Arabia is currently sporting a well-armed and U.S.-trained Air Force, the wisdom of even having the appearance of threatening Saudi Arabia...well, there isn't any.

Greg has a good point. The oxidizer for the SCUD-B is quite toxic and I believe it's a hypergolic. The gasoline/kerosene fuel is much easier to handle. Still, AK27I oxidizer is difficult and dangerous to make and store, given that it's hypergolic with the gasoline/kerosene fuel (Which means it's extremely reactive with practically anything organic. And a lot of things that are inorganic.).

Althought the chem/bio panic points were all well-made, it's important to realize that once everyone is aware that the practically the only value of these weapons is psychological, a large dollop of the perceived threat is removed.