Over the past few weeks the Bush Administration has publicly made it clear to the international community that those countries that continue to violate the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty not only face severe UN economic sanctions, but the might of U.S. armed forces as well.

And while the administration is taking the diplomatic route this time around, I cannot help but wonder if threats such as invasion and occupation make citizens of North Korean and Iran that much more resolute in standing their ground in the name of protecting their boarders.

As a self-proclaimed nationalistic American, I thought I’d play devil’s advocate with myself.
First, let’s say the Chinese government, with its population of 1.3 billion, is able to improve the efficiency of its military and maximize the buying power of its citizenry, thereby increasing and intensifying patriotism.

Second, presume that the Chinese government successfully manages to covertly expand its nuclear capabilities.

Third, the Bush Administration has deployed most of the U.S. military to Afghanistan and Iraq, yet continues to make threats of force around the globe.
Fourth, the Chinese government decides to invade the U.S. because it views George W. Bush as the “axis of evil.”

And with the anticipation that half of Americans are so adamantly against President Bush, the Chinese promise a world of security and prosperity through communism for those who are with them. However crazy this hypothetical is, stay with me.

If Chinese troops, or any foreign militia for that matter, somehow penetrated U.S. territory, as a private citizen, without batting one of my extra long and curly eyelashes, I would take up arms and, by any means necessary, defend my country, my family and myself.

Yes, I would become a mean, nasty, dirty-fighting, quite possibly suicide-bombing “insurgent.” Not only would I take out as many foreign troops as possible, but also any Americans who aided or succumbed to the propaganda of foreign nationalists whose main objective was to overturn the American government to mirror it after their own. But wouldn’t any true red-white-and-blue-blooded-American?

Some of the greatest heros in American history were the soldiers of the Revolutionary War who warded off King George III's invasion of the colonies. Had the citizens of this country cowdown in the wake of British rhetoric and threats, there would be no United States of America. While I support our troops, I can empathize with the "insurgents" who continue to fight the invasion and "temporary" occupation of their motherland.

With that, I have some advice for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as she finishes her first whirlwind tour of Europe and the Middle East this week. Use caution and scale back on using the threat of U.S. military action in negotiating with those countries that are insistent, according to U.S. government officials, in continuing their nuclear weapons programs.
Instead, the U.S. should allow the U.N. to negotiate with countries like North Korea, Iran, China, etc. as its own entity because the U.S. cannot and should not have to lose any more men and women to patriots, or "insurgents".

We’ve already seen what Iraqi insurgents have done to over 7,000 of America’s bravest and finest. And for what? Weapons of mass destruction do not exist in Iraq and they may not exist in Iran or South Korea either. The U.S. needs to be more judicious with its promises of military force.