Obama: Sony Attack ‘Not an Act of War’

Dubbed Cybervandalism, US Still Mulls Putting North Korea on Terror List

Though experts still doubt the US blaming North Korea for the hack on Sony Pictures, the Obama Administration is treating responsibility as a settled question, and moving on toward retaliation.

How big of a overreaction the US has toward a nation that may well not have done it in the first place is an open question, but President Obama at the very least is insisting that hacking Sony over a comedy movie is not in and of itself an “act of war.

Obama went on to label it “cybervandalism,” but puzzlingly is also considering adding North Korea back to the list of “state sponsors of terrorism” over the hack, which doesn’t seem to be terrorism by any stretch.

Even playing the terrorism card didn’t satisfy hawks, and Sen. John McCain (R – AZ) is beating the war drums once again, with former NY Gov. George Pataki calling for the US to “declare cyber war” on North Korea.

What that even means isn’t clear, and Gov. Pataki conceded he isn’t even sure how North Korea’s economy works, or how its communications systems would need to be disrupted in such a war, though he was confident the US could do so.

North Korea, for its part, is reiterating that it didn’t do anything in the first place, and offering a joint investigation into the hack. The US will not accept, of course, as they’ve already officially blamed North Korea and, evidence aside, will stand by that allegation.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.