Report to Congress on the Situation in Iraq
General David H. Petraeus
Commander, Multi-National Force-Iraq
10-11 September 2007
The Korea Times is reporting that President Roh may actually be thinking about extending the Zaytun deployment to Iraq:
A summit between President Roh Moo-hyun and U.S. President George W. Bush in Sydney last Friday has produced expectations that South Korean troops will stay at least for one more year in Iraq.
In his talks with Bush on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, Roh said he will look for ways to help the United States as a coalition partner in Iraq, Roh’s aides said.
Roh made the remarks in response to Bush’s praise for the Korean troops’ humanitarian and reconstruction operations in the Middle Eastern country.
“I will seek ways to contribute (to the stability in Iraq) through consultations with the National Assembly as the troops’ mission expires at the end of the year under a parliamentary motion,” Roh said. […]
The state-funded Korea Institute for Defense Analysis has already submitted a report calling for extending the troops stay in Iraq, while reducing the their size to 400, citing the alliance with the United States and economic benefits in the future. [Jung Sung-Ki, Korea Times]
Just for the record I have been against the Zaytun deployment since before the unit was ever deployed because I figured the unit would not be allowed to do much of anything meaningful which is evident by the fact they can’t even go to a local market place to buy supplies in the highly friendly and secure Kurdish region of Iraq. They did do a good job with the toilets though. Plus if there was a mass casualty attack or as we saw with the Taliban, a pro-longed hostage crisis, the anti-US groups, politicians, and media would waste no time capitalizing on it. Additionally, the Korean government would expect unrealistic political benefits from the dispatch.
I’m not the only thinking this way either; Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki has already hinted that he would prefer 2,300 Korean businessmen instead of 2,300 Zaytun soldiers. The Kurds are literally laughing at the Zaytun "occupation force". Plus soldiers that have served in the Zaytun unit have voiced their frustrations with the deployment, which has been echoed by the Korean media as well.
The Korean "occupation force" has out lived it’s usefulness and the American government should allow the Zaytun unit redeploy. The hostage crisis should have been a wake up call to the US government that the Korean participation in Iraq is not worth the potential negative side effects we saw of such a participation in Afghanistan. Let them go home.
More over at the Marmot’s Hole.
This is a predictable election tactic:
North Korea will likely boycott multilateral talks on its nuclear disarmament if a conservative candidate wins the December presidential election, former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan said Sunday.
Lee, now vying for the nomination of the pro-government United New Democratic Party, predicted North Korea will wait and see if a conservative administration would change its inter-Korean policy from the current liberal engagement approach. [Yonhap]
Lee Hae-chan might as well just say, "Vote for me because I will give Comrade Kim Jong-il everything he wants and then some, so we can keep the myth of progress alive."
Kim Jong-il is only going to boycott the nuclear talks if who ever is elected does not give him the free stuff he wants with little to no reciprocity in return.
A really quiet month for USFK in August probably due to UFL, but overall the entire summer has been very quiet. Notice that when there is a period of very few GI incidents no one brings up how well behaved the servicemembers are? However, when one servicemember does something stupid than people start talking about the military recruiting a bunch of gangbangers and how the soldiers should all be locked down on post. Also if you look at the complete GI crime statistics I have been compiling, you can see that the majority of the incidents in 2007 have occured outside of 2ID. Yet when 2ID has an incident all you often hear is how out of control 2ID is. When you look at the actual compiled stats 2ID is more behaved then the units down south it just that they have the memorable incidents.
Something that is of concern is again there was two more DUIs in August making it a total of eight DUIs in 5 months. That is not a good statistics and a ticking time bomb in my opinion for the Korean media to jump on once they get through bashing “low quality foreign English teachers“.
The entire results can be read below the fold:
The Koreas
– If you haven’t seen the KBS2 anti-foreigner special yet, you can view the entire show here.
– Anyone want to teach English in North Korea?
– A scholarly viewpoint on the Korean hostage crisis.
– More advice from Brendon Carr on auto accidents in Korea.
– Here is a list of 50 things not to do in Canada if you are a Korean. Many of them are valid for the US as well.
– It was only a matter of time, but the worst Korean movie in history is coming to the US.
– I never realized this but musical charts in Korea have long been defunked due to scandal and favoritism. Now it appears they are coming back as well as some interesting notes on the state of Korean music can be found here.
Japan
– An interesting look at Japanese as well as Korean aircraft carrier programs.
– Here is a survey that lists the Top Ten men and women in Japan that bring the most pride to the nation internationally. It seems people in Japan are confused with who is well known outside of Japan. I can’t believe Akira Kurosawa is listed only as 10th.
– Here are some nice pics from Fukuoka.
– Beginning November 1st all foreigners visiting Japan will be fingerprinted.
– Combating global warming with Big Macs?
– Only in Japan would someone get eels drunk in order to pray for rain.
– This is not Japan related but it is from a Japanese blog and is the funniest harmless prank I have seen in quite some time.
China
– Could you imagine what the reaction in Korea would be if this happened in America? Yet with China it is near silence.
– Surprise, surprise Wikipedia is blocked in China.
– Security guard beat down.
– Korea may have fake degrees, while China has fake reporters.
Milblogs
– Are the positive changes in Fallujah false?
– Speaking of false things, is Al Qaida in Iraq a myth?
– This is one all servicemembers should read before they go whine to the media.
– If you haven’t read it yet, here is General Petraeus’ letter to the troops before he left to Washington.
– Some thoughts on designating the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist entity.
Forward Deployed
– Challenging Petraeus
– Pictures of Valiant Shield
– Michael Gordon on the Surge
– Will the UN Save Darfur?
– CNN’s Defamation of the US Military
– Promoting the Haditha Storyline
– Comparing Australian and Canadian Recruitment Ads
– Mayor Quits and Joins the Army, Why?
– Nuclear Mistake Over the US
Somebody really screwed up over this:
A B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear warheads and flown for more than three hours across several states last week, prompting an Air Force investigation and the firing of one commander, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.
The incident was so serious that President Bush and Defense Secretary Robert Gates were quickly informed and Gates has asked for daily briefings on the Air Force probe, said Defense Department press secretary Geoff Morrell. He said, "At no time was the public in danger." […]
The plane was carrying advanced cruise missiles from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Aug. 30, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a Defense Department policy not to confirm information on nuclear weapons.
The missiles, which are being decommissioned, were mounted onto pylons on the bomber’s wings and it is unclear why the warheads had not been removed beforehand.
The Air Combat Command has ordered a command-wide stand down on Sept. 14 to review procedures, officials said. They said there was minimal risk to crews and the public because of safety features designed into the munitions.
In addition to the munitions squadron commander who was relieved of his duties, crews involved with the mistaken load — including ground crew workers — have been temporarily decertified for handling munitions, one official said. [Pauline Jelinek, AP] (HT: Nomad)
I’m not in the Air Force, but to be fair this does seem a bit overblown because I would assume planes have taken off from US soil before and flown with nuclear weapons on board. Somebody in the Air Force can correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m sure it is going to be dealt with and already people already being held responsible for it.
UPDATE #4: Thanks to commenter extraordinaire Sonagi, what Roh actually said is a whole lot "clearer" to me now and DPRK Studies has an updated posting on Roh’s actual comments that sums things up very well.
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UPDATE #3: DPRK Studies believes Roh is just stupid while OFK believes this was planned attack on Bush before the Korean presidential election to show how Roh will stand up to the hated Yankees. I don’t think Roh is stupid, he is just incompetent.
Also everyone seems to be picking up on the Korean media cover up of this exchange as well. The only Korean media source I have seen bring up the exchange was the Joong Ang Ilbo which briefly mentioned a "testy exchange" between the two leaders.
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UPDATE #2: This story is definitely getting around. It is currently on the front page of the Drudge Report now. The Marmot and Nomad have a postings up on this as well. KU Studies looks at the current US-ROK relationship as defined by this exchange in the context of what it means towards the possible unification of the two Koreas. More over at DPRK Forum.
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UPDATE #1: Video of the exchange is now available on CNN (HT: Jack). Unfortunately you cannot hear what President Roh says in Korean or more importantly what the interpreter says in Korean.
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In what is probably the last meeting between President Bush and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun it ended in what is the perfect analogy of the current relationship between the US and Korea, an incoherent argument over North Korea:
In a testy public exchange Friday with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, President Bush said the United States would formally end the Korean War only when North Korea halts its nuclear weapons program.
The two leaders met on the sidelines of a 21-nation Pacific Rim summit here, spending much of their roughly one-hour session discussing the international standoff over the communist North’s pursuit of atomic arms.
They agreed there had been progress. But then they had a before-the-cameras back-and-forth that was remarkable in the diplomatic world of understatement and subtlety.
Roh pushed Bush to be "clearer" about his position on an official end to the 1950-53 Korean War. The two Koreas were divided by the conflict, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, meaning they still remain technically at war.
The leaders’ tone remained light, but Bush responded firmly: "I can’t make it any more clear, Mr. President. We look forward to the day when we can end the Korean War. That will happen when Kim Jong Il verifiably gets rid of his weapons programs and his weapons." […]
The tense moments with Roh came as the leaders each made statements to reporters after their meeting. Roh concluded his by questioning why Bush hadn’t mention the issue of the war’s end.
"I might be wrong. I think I did not hear President Bush mention a declaration to end the Korean War just now," Roh said through an interpreter. "Did you say so, President Bush?"
"It’s up to Kim Jong Il," Bush said.
Roh pressed on. "If you could be a little bit clearer," he said, prompting nervous laughter from the U.S. delegation and a look of annoyance from Bush. [Tom Raum, AP]
I have to wonder if the delegation was laughing at the situation or laughing at Roh. I have been looking for video of this exchange, but could not find any yet. Interestingly enough Yonhap mentioned nothing about the exchange between Roh and Bush and actually put a positive spin on the meeting.
Friday’s Roh-Bush meeting, the eighth South Korea-U.S. summit during Roh’s term, lasted over 70 minutes in a "very friendly and warm atmosphere," presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon said, noting Bush called Roh his friend during the talks.
Roh and Bush have said that the settlement of the North Korean nuclear issue would lead to multilateral negotiations on the establishment of a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. [Yonhap]
"Very friendly and warm atmosphere"? If you say so Yonhap.
Over at KBS there wasn’t much said about the exchange either:
U.S. President George W. Bush says that if North Korea abandons its nuclear ambitions, Washington is willing to sign a formal peace treaty with the communist state.
He made the remarks during talks with President Roh Moo-hyun Friday in Sydney, where the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit is under way.
When Mr. Roh asked Bush to elaborate, the U.S. leader said the treaty will replace the inter-Korean armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953.
Bush said that whether the U.S. makes the peace offer is not important but that all depends on North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, urging him to get rid of his nukes and complete verification procedures. He added that progress is being made but that the ultimate decision lies with Pyongyang. [KBS]
I have to wonder if Roh had a poor interpreter or is he really that incompetent? What does he not understand about the Korean War officially ending once Kim Jong-il ends all of his illicit weapons programs?
This argument with Roh has made international headlines and is currently on the front page of Yahoo, CNN, and Fox News. I have to think that Roh has high hopes of having the US and North Korea end the Korean War during his term and wants to use the upcoming inter-Korean summit to announce it. He is desperation mode for some kind of legacy, but Bush isn’t going to give him any kind of legacy unless Kim Jong-il verifiably disarms his nuclear weapons programs which he has no intent to do for reasons I have listed before.
First the ransom payment to the Taliban and now this. It hasn’t been a good week for US-Korea relations. Bush’s expression in the above photograph says it all about the current state of the US-Korea relationship.
You have been kidnapped by a religious death cult, two of your friends have been murdered by the death cult, your nation has just paid millions of dollars in ransom money, and the military and fellow citizens have withdrawn in disgrace due to threats from the death cult which has brought the entire nation under international criticism for its actions. After your release what is the first thing you would do?
Well for the Korean hostages recently released in Afghanistan the answer is to go shopping:
The hostages were transported by plane from Afghanistan to Dubai and during their lay over in Dubai they found time to do some Duty Free shopping. This apparently has caused much anger among Korean netizens who are wondering who paid the bills for the shopping spree.
You would think that if they had enough time to go shopping they at least could have found some time to shave.
