Isn't the saber-rattling because Kim Jong-Il is grooming his son as his successor and he's trying to rally the military behind his son? Apparently, he promised the military that North Korea would be a fully-fledged nuclear power by 2012. At any rate, wouldn't the population's nationalism prevent us having a quick victory with surgical strikes at key government locations? I mean, they did have thousands of North Koreans protesting the United Nations resolution in Pyongyang Didn't we basically do that in Iraq? At any rate, North Korea would retaliate against South Korea, with their thousands of artillery tubes..