How to handle despots in the world neighborhood

The Wall Street Journal ran an editorial today blasting the Dead Eyes administration for its weak response to North Korea's recent nuke test, but the Journal offered little of substance as an alternative. Below is my letter to the WSJ on the subject.
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The Journal’s editorial on “Korea’s Obama Test” brought to mind an analogy I’ve often used with friends and on my blog concerning weapons of mass destruction and the despots who own them.

Suppose there’s a well-armed terrorist loose in your suburban neighborhood, and he has claimed the right to remain armed and to remain free to exist as a murdering and oppressive terrorist. Do you, an American citizen in the neighborhood, agree with the terrorist’s claim of armed co-existence? Do you think that authorities should “negotiate” with the terrorist to at least scale down his weapons? Do you think authorities should “sanction” the terrorist? Should U.S. authorities consult the U.N. about what we should do?

The answers to these questions by anyone you ask is an eye-rolling “No, of course not.”

Yet, when these same terrorists take over nations in the world neighborhood, these same Americans make statements such as “We can’t preemptively and unilaterally take out a nation’s leaders” and “We need to get the other nations in the U.N. to give us the OK” and “destroying such regimes would just anger more people.”

What many of my fellow American citizens refuse to recognize is that the world despots have no right to existence. They not only murder and oppress their own citizens but, by the very definition of terrorism, export their terror abroad. To wit, note the news accounts of the clandestine or overt murders and weapons transportation committed outside of their borders in just the last few years by Russia, Venezuela, Syria, Iran, North Korea and many others.

Just as John Bolton correctly predicted North Korea’s nuke test, let me now unfortunately predict what will happen in the next 3 to 10 years under current U.S. policy: A nuclear blast on a foreign city by one of the above, killing not only that country’s citizens but also some American citizens.

Will that be the day that President Barack Obama finally says, “Well, maybe diplomacy possibly probably might not work”?

The U.S. must preemptively strike now, and make it clear that tyrants are not allowed in our neighborhood – ever.