July 27, 2010 – Congressman Trent Franks (AZ-02) today responded to threats made by the North Korean Defense Commission, which warned that North Korea would “legitimately counter with their powerful nuclear deterrence the largest-ever nuclear war exercises to be staged by the U.S. and the South Korean puppet forces.”
According to Franks, “These provocative threats indicate precisely why unstable, dictatorial regimes like North Korea must not be allowed to possess nuclear weapons. North Korea has repeatedly demonstrated an inability to gauge appropriate levels of response to actions it deems disagreeable. The fact that this regime would threaten a nuclear attack over something so routine as a military exercise raises major concerns about how it would react should it ever become involved in a more substantive conflict.
“North Korea’s numerous inexcusable actions and irresponsible threats make all the more clear precisely why another rogue nation, Iran, cannot be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons. As the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism, Iran has demonstrated a willingness to train, fund, and provide weapons for terrorist groups across the Middle East and the rest of the world. There is no reason to believe they will not do the exact same thing with the nuclear weapons they draw closer to obtaining by the day.
“Should Iran be allowed to develop nuclear weapons — and President Obama has consistently demonstrated that he is asleep at the wheel when it comes to addressing the Iranian threat — the world will change instantly, and instead of the rambling threats of a crazed, aging dictator, we will continually face the possibility of a well-organized, well-funded terrorist cell slipping a nuclear weapon into the United States and detonating it in a major American city.
“We have heard much about ‘teachable moments’ from the President. I can only hope the President will use this situation as a ‘teachable moment’ regarding just how much our world will change if those who espouse a jihadist ideology are allowed possession of nuclear weapons. As I have so many times in the past, I call on the President to finally put action behind the hollow, flowery speeches and declare that we will not stand idly by while the Iranian regime threatens America, Israel, and the rest of the world with its nuclear weapons development.”
Congressman Franks is serving his fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, and is a member of the Committee on Armed Services, Strategic Forces Subcommittee, Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee, Military Readiness Subcommittee, Committee on the Judiciary, Constitution Subcommittee, and is Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law.
