Sunday, October 19, 2003
The Marmot points out this AP story. Damn good news. We've been hearing rumblings about this for some time, but now it sounds as though it's actually going to happen. The US will reduce its force strength on the peninsula by about a third, and move most of what's left off the DMZ to positions south of Seoul.
_The forces that remain will be more "expeditionary." They would be positioned in ways to enable American commanders to send them elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region. It's a major change, reflecting Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's view that the fight against terrorism requires a more flexible approach to use of U.S. troops worldwide.
_Though smaller in number, the U.S. military presence would be more capable in important ways. By moving farther south of the Demilitarized Zone that has separated North and South Korea since the war ended in 1953, the U.S. Army would be able to respond more quickly to an attack by the North. As currently positioned, the Army would have to withdraw south of Seoul first, while in range of the North's long-range artillery, before organizing a counteroffensive.
"No longer will our forces be based near the DMZ as a political `trip wire,'" Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense, told Congress this summer...
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: US Continues Plan to Reduce Forces in Korea.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.solomonia.com/cgi-bin/mt4/mt-renamedtb.cgi/1271
Leave a comment to: US Continues Plan to Reduce Forces in Korea
Subscribe to This Thread Without Leaving a Comment
Comment Info and Policy:
1) You must have Javascript enabled in your browser in order to comment (blame the spammers). If you don't know what that is, you're probably fine.
2) HTML is on, so basic html should work. Raw links will be made auto-clickable, too, so even if you don't know html you can just paste in the link and it should work fine. Keep the "http://" in it.
3) Comments are generally unmoderated, which means I don't necessarily agree with the tone and tenor of everything posted. In fact, sometimes people post things they don't really mean just to make other people look bad. The internet is an anonymous place for the most part. That said...
4) I welcome you to post here. I'd love to have your input, agree, disagree or just offer a different data point, really. If I didn't want any participation, I'd turn off comments. Be aware, however, that this blog and the comments section exist for my entertainment. Therefore, I reserve ALL RIGHTS here, including the right to remove any or all comments on nothing more than a whim. Please don't even bother complaining. I'm the one providing the space and the free news and thought buffet. I don't owe anyone anything.
Anyone who posts here will be treated as my guest. That means I'm happy to be polite as a default, but if anyone is rude to the host they'll be unceremoniously shown the door.
It may pay to recall a famous line from the Tom Selleck magnum opus, Mr. Baseball: "Jack-san, you want Yoji's advice about the babes, you come to Yoji with respect."
5) Enjoy your stay!