Fox News' Ralph Peters says 'better a million dead North Koreans than a thousand dead Americans

Ralph Peters, a strategic analyst at Fox News, penned a scathing op-ed for the New York Post on Tuesday and said that the "moral answer" to the North Korean conflict is simple: "Take them out!"

In his piece, Peters — a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel — called for definitive action against North Korea and urged the U.S. to strike first if necessary.

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Peters' op-ed began without much fanfare — primarily because his opening paragraph was jaw-dropping enough:

Better a million dead North Koreans than a thousand dead Americans. The fundamental reason our government exists is to protect our people and our territory. Everything else is a grace note. And the words we never should hear in regard to North Korea’s nuclear threats are “We should’ve done something.”

The piece was a call to action by Peters, who suggested that a pre-emptive strike against North Korea would be preferable to a response to a strike from North Korea.

He reasoned that a strike against North Korea, however "terrible," could very well save American lives.

"A pre-emptive strike against Kim Jong Un’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs would be a terrible thing, demanding a vast military effort (if done properly) and leaving broad destruction in its wake," Peters said.

"But that terrible option increasingly appears to be the least bad option," he mused. "The question is whether we’ll delay action until it’s too late to save American lives."

Peters' rationale

Peters explained that he didn't believe U.S. military action against North Korea's nuclear threats would be a question of ethics.

"When we’re threatened with nuclear destruction by North Korea," he wrote, "a military response is not unethical."

Peters bolstered his own argument for a military response by writing that the mass killings of U.S. citizens would be "unethical" as well as "immoral."

"Inviting a North Korean attack by hesitating endlessly — then witnessing the slaughter of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of our citizens — would be unethical and immoral," he wrote.

Peters later added that the decision to initiate war is never a keen idea but remained adamant that sacrificing American lives in order to "shield the consciences of intellectual elites" simply cannot be allowed to happen.

A solution?

Peters said that he believed an amicable way to resolve U.S. conflict with North Korea would be optimal, but pointed out that "generations" of talk and sanctions against the country have gotten the U.S. nowhere.

Despite hoping for a peaceful solution to the North Korean conflict, Peters said that the "irresponsible claim that there’s no military solution" is categorically "false."

"Of course, there’s a military solution," he said. "It’s horrible, but pulling triggers may be the only option feckless diplomats and prevaricating administrations have left us to protect our people and territory."

Adding that he does "not relish death or human suffering," Peters concluded his fiery commentary with an ominous warning:

We cannot allow moral relativism to butcher Americans. We must deal with the world as it is, not as we wish it to be. And in the real world, the greatest immorality in war is not killing the enemy. The greatest immorality would be for our country to lose.