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Obama Pulls Syria "Red Line" in North Korea
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
December 21, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Reminiscent of President Barack Obama’s infamous
Aug. 20, 2012 “red line” warning to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad that the use of
chemical weapons would be met with serious consequences, Obama did it again with
North Korea’s alleged cyber attack on Sony Pictures. When al-Assad used chemical weapons
Sept. 16, 2013, Obama moved the goal posts on his so-called “red line.” Most Internet security experts refer
to North Korea’s hack on Sony Pictures as cyber warfare, warranting a more
proportional but analogous response to Sept. 11.
Knocking down World Trade Center and damaging the Pentagon were clearly
classic acts of war destroying U.S. and corporate property. Wrecking a publicly traded company’s
business, whether partial, complete, temporary or permanent, through 21st
Century cyber warfare carries the same fiscal consequences as knocking down
buildings.
When Osama bin Laden’s programmed assassins flew jetliners into the World
Trade Center and Pentagon killing nearly 3,000 innocents folks, everyone agreed
it was an act of war. If the
buildings were empty and no one died, it still would have been an act of war. Obama said Dec. 19 in a year-end press conference that the U.S. would respond
proportionally to North Korea in its own way and timetable. After hearing more threats from
North Korea about retaliating against any U.S. response, Obama backtracked. “I don’t think it was an act of war. I think it was an act of cyber
vandalism that was very costly, very expensive.
We take it very seriously,” said Obama today, in pre-recorded remarks to
CNN’s “State of the Union with John King, backpedaling on the growing chorus
calling the hack cyber warfare.
Obama hopes to reassure North Korea before they lash out.
Placating North Korea looks more important to Obama than sending Kim
Jong-un an unambiguous message that he can’t get away with a cyber attack on the
U.S. government or publicly traded corporations.
“We’ve got very clear criteria as to what it means for a state to sponsor
terrorism. And we don’t make those
judgments just based on the news of the day,” said Obama, making no sense. What does sponsoring terrorism have
to do with a direct cyber attack?
No one in North Korea paid some third party to attack Sony Corp. North Korean officials decided that
Sony’s expected Dec. 25 release of the “Interview,” a satire on an assassination
attempt on Kim Jong-un, warranted a cyber attack on Sony Pictures. Obama’s Drug Enforcement Agency also
has “very clear criteria” labeling marijuana as dangerous narcotic comparable to
heroin. His “clear criteria” about
cyber attacks make no sense.
Reacting to Obama’s backtracking, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), incoming
Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, rejected the president’s reasoning. “It’s more than vandalism, it’s a
new form of warfare that we’re involved in and we need to react and react
vigorously, including re-imposing sanctions,” said McCain calling for a measured
response to Kim. “This is 100%
cyber terrorism. Think about Sony
pulling the movie—it is responding to terror through cyber means,” said Internet
security expert Stuart McClure, CEO of Irvine, Calif.-based Cylance. Calling Sony’s actions “giving in to
terrorism,” McClure believes Sony’s actions reward terrorism. Obama’s statements mince words about
the attack, pretending acts of state vandalism don’t qualify as acts of cyber
warfare. Responding to Kim’s
threats, Obama rewards terrorism twice, once for the hack and once for Kim’s
threats against the U.S.
Denying that Pyongyang was involved in any Sony Pictures hack, Obama
invites more hacking. Former
President Ronald Reagan didn’t wring his hands April 15, 1986 before dropping a
smart bomb on Libyan strongman’s Muammar Gaddafi’s tent. U.S. officials fingered Libya,
despite Gaddafi’s denials, for the 1986 Libyan bombing of a Berlin discotheque
killing two U.S. soldiers. Obama’s
quick pivot on North Korea occurred a day after he left on his annual Christmas
retreat to Honolulu. While denying
any involvement in the Sony Pictures hack, North Korea said they “are fully
ready to stand in confrontation with the U.S. in all war spaces including cyber
warfare space to blow up those citadels,” said North Korea’s National Defense
Commission. With South Korea
fearing the North crossing the 39th parallel and re-starting the Korean War,
they want no part of a U.S. response.
Pulling of the “Interview” starring Seth Rogan and James Franco, Sony
Pictures invites more terrorism on U.S. soil.
While Sony Pictures’ 54-year-old CEO Michael Lynton denies capitulating
to Kim’s threats, yanking the movie invites North Korea and other rogue regimes
to continue threatening the U.S.
“Our toughest counteraction will be boldly taken against the White House, the
Pentagon and the whole U.S. mainland, the cesspool of terrorism, by far
surpassing the ‘systematic counteraction’ decided by Obama,” said North’s
National Defense Commission. When
former President George W. Bush fingered Iraq, Iran and North Korea Jan. 29,
2002 in his State of the Union Speech as the “axis of evil,” he wasn’t kidding. No matter how the White House spins
it, hacking Sony Pictures was an act of cyber warfare. If Obama does nothing, North Korea and other rogue regimes will lash out at the U.S.
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