Who can name who is depicted in this Korean work of art?:

Here are this year’s current Korea Finder Leader’s Board:

Mark -9

Sonagi – 5

James – 2

Peekstr – 1

HumKor – 1

Farty – 1

Mike -2

Maui – 1 

kcbill06 – 1

CPT Kim – 1

Tim – 1 

Note that who ever totals the most points at the end of the year, I will purchase for them a Korea related book or DVD of their choice using the proceeds I have accumulated by people purchasing books from Amazon.com on my website.  If you like this website than please support it by buying your books, DVDs, and other products from Amazon.com from the search box on my sidebar.  Thanks.

If you have not already done so make sure to read the latest posting from Michael Totten, which features an interview with an Iraqi interpreter working with US forces.  This posting is compelling and an absolute must read. 

Also, Bill Roggio has more on a major assault against Mahdi Army and Iranian agents in Sadr City that has left 30 of them dead and even more captured.

Things are stabilizing enough in Ninevah province enough that troops are beginning to be repositioned from the province:

The top U.S. general in northern Iraq said Wednesday he was redistributing troops and predicted any pullout from the country would take at least two years.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, commanding general of the Multi-National Division – North and the U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry Division, said American forces could begin drawing down in the north by next year.

Mixon said Ninevah province would be closely monitored, as commanders in the region have said recently the area is becoming increasingly secure as compared to two years ago, when insurgents almost overran Mosul, the provincial capital.

General Mixon has already moved an entire infantry battalion out of Ninevah and it appears even more troops will be repositioned by the end of the year.  General Mixon expects that sometime next year only US air support will be required for the Iraqi forces in the province. 

The article also goes on to explain how General Mixon used his own version of the Anbar Awakening to gain the participation of local tribes in improving the security situation in Ninevah:

Some of the general’s northern commanders have begun experimenting with a new strategy of combating elements like al-Qaida in Iraq and the Islamic State of Iraq. They have enlisted some residents who previously fought American soldiers to provide “security contracts” to guard critical resources.

“We’ve talked with the local sheiks, who the people recognize, and said, ‘Hey, we want to conduct a security contract with you to secure this particular stretch of highway or this particular (oil) pipeline, or whatever — just like a security company,” he said.

“We’re not going to arm them, and we’re not in the business of doing that.”

He said that was up to the sheiks.

Mixon went on to say that the pact is only being conducted on a short-term, trial basis until it is determined how the groups perform under the agreements. In the meantime, they are able to gather all of the recruits’ personal data, even conducting retinal scans. The contracts, which have already gotten under way, will range from about 90 to 180 days.

“For them, it is about providing employment to them, really, at the end of the day, so they aren’t out there seeking their employment by way of placing [a roadside bomb],” Mixon said.

These contracts first of all employ people and secondly they also give the tribes a stake in improving security in their country.  The next big challenge will be integrating the tribal forces into the Iraqi security forces, but the "Awakening" movements taking place across Iraq are having an overall cumulative effect in improving the security situation in the country, that now not even the mainstream media can deny. 

For those of you that have never seen this, it is something to see.

The precision in the way they are parked is impressive.
It’s difficult to comprehend the size of the "Bone yard" and the number
stored there.

Of course the important thing to remember is that they are all capable
of being returned to service if the need ever arises.

If you are ever in the Tucson area, the weekly tours of the bone yard
are still given through the Tucson Air Museum, located just south of
Davis Monthan AFB.

Both the museum and the boneyard are very popular attractions in the
Arizona desert.

It is difficult to comprehend the number of military aircraft in dead
storage until you see these photographs!

Even if you have seen this before, look again.

The 3rd largest Air Force in the world is sitting on the ground here.

It’s the only unit in the U.S. Air Force that actually makes a profit.

UPDATE: One of things critics of the 2nd Inter-Korean summit have been bringing up is that Kim Jong-il promised Kim Dae-jung during the 1st Inter-Korean summit that he would visit Seoul for the 2nd meeting. The excuse that Kim Jong-il is using is that “security concerns” are preventing him from traveling to Seoul. Kim likes traveling by train when he leaves the country and the South Korean government expects people to believe that Kim Jong-il can’t take his train on the new train track laid through the DMZ that cost the South Korean taxpayer $80 million bucks to do one test run on, to come to Seoul?

In response to criticism about a secret payoff the South Korean government is claiming there was no secret pay off:

Kim Man-bok denied that there was any cash attached to the deal. Such talk, he said, is “groundless and absurd.” He said the summit was worked out in a “transparent manner.”

If the Roh administration has not provided any secret bribe than that means the likelihood of Roh signing an agreement which makes South Korea have to give unconditional aid to North Korea for a fixed number of years is more likely. I began digging through my archives a bit more and found what Roh administration may have planned:

The government provides rice and fertilizer to the North on humanitarian grounds. But that is not enough to address the fundamental poverty there, and a different approach is needed. Lee appears to be thinking of comprehensive economic aid so Pyongyang can overcome poverty. Experts speculate that the government is thinking about a large-scale economic package similar to the Marshall Plan that revived Europe after World War II.

(…)

On Tuesday, the unification minister said, “We need to offer aid to North Korea from a more productive and longer perspective beyond what is currently being done. We need to restate our concept of aiding the North so that it can continue under the next administration.” Kim Tae-hyo, a political scientist at Sungkyunkwan University, says “it sounds as if the government wants to help North Korea in infrastructure or logistics systems, beyond cooperative projects like package tours to Mt. Kumgang or the Kaesong Industrial Complex. It seems to have concluded that it must do it in a way so the next government can’t change the policy on aid to the North it has set.”

I think it is now pretty clear that this is what the Roh administration has in store, a massive unconditional aid package that when the conservatives come into power, they cannot over turn. The fundamental problem with poverty in North Korea that such a massive aid package won’t fix is that the cause of poverty in the country, the North Korean regime! You can give them fertilizer and food, you can pave all the roads in North Korea, but poverty will remain because it is in the regime’s interest to keep the people poor and the South Korean government knows it and does not care.

It is all about the photo op and maintaining the “Myth of Progress“. Sadly I believe most people in South Korea want to believe the myth is true, which means people like this 66 year old grandma will be left fighting to expose what the regime really is.

________________________________________

I come home from work today and find out that peace in our time is at hand, with the announcement of a second Inter-Korean summit. At least that is what would think after reading this South Korean government’s press release:

President Roh Moo-hyun will visit Pyongyang Aug. 28-30 to hold a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, Roh’s office Cheong Wa Dae said in a statement Wednesday.

“The two Koreas have agreed to hold a summit in Pyongyang Aug. 28-30. For the summit, Roh will remain in the North Korean capital for three days,” said the statement.

“The second inter-Korean summit is expected to contribute to peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula. The talks will also provide momentum to settle the North Korean nuclear problem,” it said.

Hmmmm, “peace and prosperity on the Korean peninsula”? I don’t know about the peace portion, but I guarantee there will be some prosperity for at least one person, Kim Jong-il. The last inter-Korean summit that Kim Dae-jung lined up in 2000 that earned him the Noble Peace Prize was only agreed upon after $500 million dollars was secretly sent to North Korea. The going rate for this meeting had to be much more expensive considering the lame duck status of President Roh Moo-hyun. Whatever the bribe is this time, it won’t be found out after the election, but as usual it will be the Korean taxpayer that will lose out.

President Roh has already put down some pretty good down payments on the inter-Korean summit bribe. Anyone remember the suitcase stuffed with $400,000 in cash or the hundreds of tons of supposed humanitarian aid, not to mention all the oil the North Koreans received from the denuclearization agreement, which will never be up held. Plus Kim Jong-il is earning millions more from his slave labor camp at Kaesong. Also don’t forget the one billion dollars in aid sent to North Korea this year along with the $80 million to Kim Jong-il to allow the South Koreans to test drive one train across the DMZ in what I like to call the World’s Most Expensive Train Ride. Remember all the unification talk and feel good stories about riding trains from Seoul to Paris via North Korea after that train ride? Well what has that train ride accomplished since then? Well nothing, and that is what this summit is going to accomplish for the people of South Korea.

Roh thinks he is going to get some kind of legacy over this and the leftist politicians think this summit will help them in the presidential election this year. They will end up losers in all of this and the only winner of this summit will be Kim Jong-il who has been banking in the money from all the South Korean extortion payments and may get what my biggest fear of all is, some kind of agreement for unconditional aid for a set number of years that a future conservative president cannot over turn. Why would Roh Moo-hyun care about the loss of Korean tax payers dollars when he has scored the World’s Most Expensive Photo Op.

If President Roh had any ounce of decency and moral courage in him he would demand that Kim Jong-il return the 3,790 South Korean citizens kidnapped by North Korea over the years along with accounting for the many thousands more of Korean War POWs. If he was able to win the release of these people from the gulag that is North Korea, than Roh would be worthy of some legacy, but I fully expect that winning the freedom for these South Korean citizens will be left to 66 year old grandmas to do. But, hey “peace and prosperity on the Korean peninsula” is on its way.

Actually predicting that a second inter-Korean summit was going to happen was quite easy and predicting what is going to come out of it is even easier. Expect Kim Jong-il to only make vague promises and declarations with no substance. President Roh understands Kim Jong-il won’t denuclearize or make any major concessions, but that isn’t what a second inter-Korean summit is about. It is all about the photo-op and keeping the myth of progress alive.

Personally I think a photo of President Roh toasting Kim Jong-il, ala Madeline Albright, will be a fitting legacy for Roh.

You can read a whole lot more over at Lost Nomad and the Marmot’s Hole.

The atomic bombing of Nagasaki

The city of Nagasaki during World War II was one of the largest sea ports on the southern island of Kyushu. Along with the seaports the city was also home to many important industrial companies. During the course of the war for whatever reason the city had escaped the B-29 bombings that were ravaging other areas of Japan. However, on August 9, 1945 the bombing the city received would more than make up for the prior lack of bombing.

On August 9, 1945, the crew of the American B-29 Superfortress “Bockscar,” flown by Major Charles W. Sweeney and carrying the nuclear bomb nicknamed “Fat Man,” found their primary target, Kokura, and it was obscured by heavy clouds. After three runs over the city and running low on fuel Major Sweeney decided to head for the secondary target, Nagasaki.

The aftermath of the Nagasaki bombing.

At 11:02, a break in the clouds over Nagasaki allowed the bombardier, to visually sight the target. The weapon, containing a core of 8 kg of plutonium-239, was dropped over the city’s industrial sector. It exploded 1,540 feet above the ground between the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works, in the south, and the Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works (Torpedo Works), in the north, the two main targets in the city.

Some 75,000 of Nagasaki’s 240,000 residents were killed, followed by the death of at least as many from resulting sickness and injury.

Nagasaki before and after the bombing

I haven’t had a chance to travel to Nagasaki, but I would really like to in the future. The city actually has a very colorful history despite the nuclear bombing. The city was the first port to be visited by and opened up to European traders in the late 1500’s.

Nagasaki today

A very interesting book about this period of time and the city of Nagasaki is the book Samurai William, by Giles Milton. Judging by the above picture the city appears to have remarkably recovered since the atomic bombing. The big question is if the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary? That is something we will look at tomorrow.

Next Posting: The Decision to Drop the Bomb

Previous Posting: From the Trinity Site to Hiroshima 

John of Argghhh! has a great posting about the Marine unit that was forced to leave Afghanistan after being accused of shooting civilians after being ambushed by Taliban fighters.  I expected there was more to this story after it happened and John has been able to provide the rest of the story.  Here is a sample:

What Really Happened at Marko on March 3?

I am a Seattle Native working on economic development in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan and currently residing in Jalalabad. I keep in touch with the new in Seattle thanks to the Seattle Times daily email for which I wish to thank you. Today, March 5, you ran an Associated Press article entitled U.S. Forces Blamed for Civilian Deaths by Rahim Faiez. That article disturbs me in that it is unnecessarily inflammatory, very biased, and not very accurate. It unjustly makes out American Marines who had just been attacked as a bunch of out of control killers firing wildly without discretion as they escaped that attack.

What really happened? Three US Marine up-armored humvees were returning to their base in Jalalabad. While passing thru a market place in a rural village, a mini-van, laden with explosives was driven into the small convoy and was detonated by the suicide bomber driving it. The Marines then came under fire from a number of positions along side the road. It was obvious that the intent of the bomber was to disable the vehicles and the gunmen to kill those that survived. The Marines returned fire as they drove rapidly away. One Marine was wounded. When the battle was over, 8 civilians were killed and 34 others, including a Marine had been wounded. The several bullet impacts on the escaping vehicles attested to the fact that they had been fired upon by gunmen; a fact that the AP reporter failed to mention. The attack seemed to have been a rather well planned one, and it appears that the planning included manipulation of the news as is often the case with both Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Make sure to go and read the rest over at Argghhh.

I highly recommend that every read Michael Yon’s two latest postings:

Bread and a Circus Part 1
Bread and a Circus Part 2

These two postings are a perfect example of the little things that is going to win this war that the mainstream media has totally missed. 

The summit between President Bush and Afghan President Karzai has made it quite clear, he is not giving into terrorist demands:

U.S President George W. Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karazi agreed on Monday morning not to give in to Taliban kidnappers of 23 Koreans in Afghanistan. In a meeting at the U.S. presidential retreat of Camp David in Maryland, the two made it clear there will be no release of Taliban prisoners in return for the freedom of the surviving 21 Korean hostages, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. “The Taleban are brutal and should not be emboldened by this,” he added.

This is probably joy to the ears of the anti-US groups in Korea.  Now all they have to hope for is that the terrorists kill the Korean hostages and then they can really start jumping for joy because they will probably get more traction with their anti-US campaign.  Truly disgusting people, but when you are used to making excuses for North Korea making excuses for the Taliban comes easy.

Meanwhile the Taliban continues to want the UN to intervene to set up direct negotiations with the South Korean government, but the UN is unlikely to get involved because they say they don’t deal with terrorist groups.  The Africa Union has condemned the Taliban kidnappers as well today if anyone cares because I’m sure the Taliban doesn’t.

The Korean media is beginning to come around with the Joong Ang Ilbo and the Chosun Ilbo releasing editorials bashing the anti-US groups, politicians, and media who are trying to foment anti-US sentiment over the hostage crisis.  It is good to see some sanity returning to the Korean media, but we’ll see how long it lasts once the Taliban starts killing more hostages. 

This is really nothing new and apears to be making more headlines in America than in Korea. I have to say that Andy over at the Marmot’s Hole probably sums this incident up the best.