Category: Uncategorized

Maybe the Korean government was hoping the command transfer issue would be forgotten with the ouster of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld? They thought wrong:

The four-star army general stressed the need for a firm date for the transfer of operational control. He said that without a fixed date, the two militaries would not be able to draw up new joint war plans or secure military funding and equipment that would correspond to the changing military structure.

“It’s like rolling out new products. In about six months, that (fixed date) will give everybody a lot of confidence with regard to the ability of the alliance between the two countries,’’ said Bell, who concurrently serves as chief of Combined Forces Command (CFC) and United Nations Command (UNC).

He reaffirmed that the U.S. military would provide intelligence “bridging capabilities’’ centered on surveillance and reconnaissance assets to the South Korean military if needed even after Seoul exercises independent wartime control of its armed forces.

This is really reaching a point of absurdity that the Korean government has yet to agree on a date for the hand over considering President Roh said the ROK Army could take operational control now if needed. As I have speculated before, President Roh is trying to drag out the handover to where it is implemented well after he has left office and any economic and political reprecussions he will have successfully avoided.

Maybe it is time for the USFK commander to issue an ultimatum like General Garry “Give Me My Damn Bombing Range” Trexler did in order to get a command handover date. It is sad when threats and ultimatums appear to be the only way to get major issues settled between USFK and the Korean government.

Via Lost Nomad, Cindy Sheehan has resurfaced once again, now in Time Asia. You will need a strong stomach to read all this:

Why are you in South Korea?
I was invited by several peace groups and farmers from Daechu-ri to help them with their [campaign against] U.S. military-base expansion. I think a lot of areas would be more stable if the U.S. military presence wasn’t so overwhelming; we have 700 bases around the world. I think [U.S.] military expansion is out of control and rampant militarism is responsible for my son’s death, as it is for taking away the land from these people in this village.

What do you hope to accomplish in South Korea?
Most people here think George Bush is a greater threat to stability than Kim Jong Il. Our goal is to go back to America and be the voice of the people in South Korea. We also want the people here to know that not even the majority of Americans support George Bush.

Do you want the U.S. to get out of South Korea?
I think that’s what the majority of South Koreans want. Our government in the U.S. is demonizing North Korea. People in South Korea see the North as their brothers and sisters. [They] want reunification, but don’t believe that will happen while the U.S. is here.

Read here and here where I have already debunked her claims about US military expansion and militarism in South Korea. I do have to say I’m amazed she at least knows who Kim Jong-il is. I bet she would fail the advanced quiz if I asked her who Kim Il-sung is or what year the Korean War started.

Anyway her last comment just shows how incompetent she is about the situation on the Korean peninsula. I guess she believes her two days in Korea hanging out with North Korean sponsored leftists makes her an expert on South Korean affairs. The US is the one who wants unification more than the South Korean government and people do. South Koreans will always say they want unification but just not anytime soon if it means they cannot drive a Hyundai, buy a 12th story apartment, or take their vacations to Guam anymore because of the cost of rebuilding North Korea.

President Bush’s North Korea policies are designed to isolate and collapse the regime while the South Korean policies are designed to prop up and prevent the collapse of the regime. She also fails to realize that according to her North Korean sponsored leftist friends, they want the US to leave Korea so unification can happen on North Korean terms. If that happens I just hope Sheehan is there at the DMZ to welcome the North Korean troops. Sheehan is clearly a useful idiot.

Is President Roh on the verge of quitting? Let’s hope so:

President Roh Moo-hyun said Tuesday that he hopes he would not become the first head of state who resigns before his tenure expires and did not rule out the possibility of cutting ties with the governing Uri Party

The embittered president made the bombshell remark in a Cabinet meeting at Chong Wa Dae, apparently out of his deep frustration over offensives from both governing and opposition parties and the media.

He said he would be forced to quit the party he founded after winning in the 2002 election, if he has “no choice but to do so.” Roh’s five-year term ends in February 2008. He is banned from seeking reelection under the Constitution.

As much as I would love to see President Roh quit, I would be really surprised if he did it. I think Roh is trying to distance himself from the Uri Party which currently has a popularity rating 8.8% compared to the opposition GNP party rating of 44.3%. He may be thinking that his own low popularity rating of 11% is caused by his ties to the Uri Party. If he could cut ties with them than maybe his own popularity rating will increase. However, I think what he doesn’t realize is that his own unpopularity has more to do with own incompetence than ties with the Uri Party.

Read more over at Lost Nomad and the Marmot’s Hole.

I gripe about the Korean media quite a bit when it comes to GI crime stories and the wonders of kimchi but really the US media is much worse. Flopping Aces has the run down on the recent Civil War in Iraq^TM and the information being published about it from our worthless professional journalists from the MSM. The published articles might as well be coming from Hezbollahwood.

HT: LGF

So now not only am I stupid, but I also have no career options:

I want to make it abundantly clear: if there’s anyone who believes that these youngsters want to fight, as the Pentagon and some generals have said, you can just forget about it. No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits. And most all of them come from communities of very, very high unemployment. If a young fella has an option of having a decent career or joining the army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq.

Let me guess, it was a botched joke.

What started his tirade you ask? It was this commend and question from Chris Wallace:

Congressman Rangel, you caused quite a stir this week when you said that you’re going to introduce a bill to reinstate the draft. Here’s what you said this week in a newspaper article. Let’s take a look. “The great majority of people bearing arms in this country, for this country in Iraq, are from the poorer communities in our inner cities and rural areas.”
But a recent and very detailed study by the Heritage Foundation, Congressman, found the following and I’m going to put that up: 13 percent of recruits are from the poorest neighborhoods. That’s less than the national average of people living in those neighborhoods. Ninety-seven percent of recruits have high school diplomas. Among all Americans, the graduation rate is under 80 percent. And blacks make up 14.5 percent of recruits for the military; the national average is 12 percent.
Congressman, in fact, contrary to what you’ve been saying, isn’t the volunteer army better educated and more well-to-do than the general population?

Rangel is an idiot and like many of the Democrats he can’t come to grips that this is not a 1968 military anymore. His demographic stereotypes of the US military do not match reality. White males are over represented in combat arms branches (slightly) while blacks are over represented in combat support elements. Not that there is anything wrong with that because everyone volunteers for the job they do in the army. Hispanics are the demographic most widely over represented in combat arms branches and I don’t hear hispanics complaining. Maybe because once again they volunteered for the positions. Rangel’s claims that blacks are some how over represent in combat arms branches while the white males are hiding in college like in 1968 are groundless and borderline race baiting just like his claims that people join the military because they have no other options.

The military is an all volunteer force, highly educated, and very professional. I for one like what I do and will go back to Iraq again if needed. It is a shame that some in the US government are determined to slur it and tear down those of us committed to defending this country.

HT: Milblogs

I guess if they can’t concrete over it, they will at least concrete under it. From the Marmot’s Hole:

In a telephone conversation with Yonhap, a government official revealed that the government is considering building a mall complex—complete with shops, restaurants and movie theaters—under what is now the U.S. garrison at Yongsan, which is supposed to be returned to Korea in late 2008.

Plans to turn the land above ground into a huge citizen park remain unchanged, however.

Seoul City is not happy about this—it feels that the plan doesn’t fit with the spirit or ecology of the planned park, and it’s particularly worried that the government may later use its prerogative to develop above ground as well.

And to think I was under the impression that U.S. base land was so toxic it was burning holes to California. Who knew?

I am going to continue to maintain that by the time it is all said and done, the top of Yongsan is going to see plenty of concrete as well.

The cab driver from this assault has decided to speak out about the incident from the hospital he is currently admitted to. From the Stars and Stripes:

“It is not an assault case, but an attempted murder case,” Baek said through a split lip, an ugly black bruise spreading across his neck and fresh gauze taped across his eye. “Now I am just thankful to God that I am alive.”

Two U.S. soldiers, 18-year-old Anthony Justin Faulkner and 20-year-old Justin Ronald Brown, were questioned in connection with the case, according to South Korean police. Police officials said they would forward the case to prosecutors, who must decide whether to charge the soldiers.

While the U.S. military would not confirm identities, officials said two soldiers belonging to a subordinate unit of the 19th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) were under investigation.

Police said the soldiers admitted attacking the taxi driver, saying he verbally assaulted them.

But Baek said the soldiers are lying and that he has no clue why he was attacked.

Baek said he was standing at the urinal when one of the soldiers grabbed him from behind and pulled him off the ground in a headlock. Choking and unable to breathe, Baek said he momentarily lost consciousness.

He said he came to after being smashed into a door and dragged into a toilet stall.

“At the moment, I thought … I was to become a dead man,” he said.

What a bunch of idiots. Even if they were verbally assaulted it is no excuse to give the guy the beating that he was given. They better be getting their blood money ready because they will be paying for this cab driver’s next holiday to Guam.

Any bets that alcohol was involved in this?

More over at Lost Nomad.

Code Pink leader Medea Benjamin who was recently in Korea, you know Cindy Sheehan’s friend that can’t spell, has an interview in Oh My News posted. I’ll warn you now that you will need a strong stomach and I do mean a really strong stomach to read it. After reading the article I don’t know who the bigger Israel hater is, the interviewer Christopher Brown or Benjamin? Nancy Pelosi is not even enough of a liberal wacko for these people, so you have been warned, read with caution.

UPDATE: More details have come out that the soldier’s death was possibly a suicide. It is the holidays so take extra effort to look out for each other during this time of year.

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Not many details out yet, but a 2ID soldier has died at Camp Eagle:

A 2nd Infantry Division soldier was found dead at Camp Eagle on Saturday, according to Army officials.

Pvt. Gristen Buttrey, 23, was discovered by his roommate in his barracks room, a 2nd ID spokesman said. The cause of his death is under investigation, a spokesman said.

Buttrey was an ammunition specialist with the 1st Battalion, 2nd Aviation Regiment, 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade.

An old icon of the DMZ is being moved:

“It’s very sad to see this kind of history rot away in the DMZ,” said Han, 80. “But I’m very happy for what they are doing today.”

On Monday, a crane lifted the locomotive on to a flatbed truck and took it to Imjingak, where it will be spruced up in accordance with its standing as a South Korean national cultural property.

Workers will spend up to two years preserving what is left of the train, but they will not be restoring it to its original condition.

To do that they would probably have to replace most of the original material, which is heavily corroded after 56 winters of inactivity.

“We will use chemical techniques to maintain the locomotive as it is, to slow down corrosion,” said Jeong-seok, Cultural Heritage Administration spokesman. “This will preserve it for the next generation to see.”

The locomotive will be treated in a public glass enclosure at Imjingak, the Imjin River train station that now serves as a tourist park. Imjingak is only about a mile from the restricted access Tong-il “Unification” Bridge, which leads to Camp Bonifas and the United Nations Joint Security Agency.

The locomotive will then be returned to the DMZ, one bridge away from the final South Korean checkpoint and one mile from the military demarcation line that separates the two Koreas.