Well, folks - no guest column today - we have a real, live [and unfisked] Hani editorial on the troop dispatch translated and posted for your reading pleasure. Money shot:
By looking at the fierce opposition of the Iraqi citizens to the “army of occupation” and the dignified attitudes with which each nation has responded to the question of sending troops, it’s needless to say that one cannot help but feel how rough and humiliating the decision by President Noh Mu-hyeon to send troops to Iraq is. Moreover, we cannot understand at all how the President, in making such a huge decision, did not go through the process of selling it to the public, or why even now he has yet to offer any explanations or apologies to the citizens. The President must respect the true wishes of the citizens, and if he is a leader who is concerned with his place in history, he should not manage himself so lightly.
Full editorial in the “continue reading” section.
It’s becoming increasingly likely that Korea’s decision to send troop to Iraq will finally be a “going at it alone” kind of detachment. This is because not only was this a groundless war of invasion to begin with, but even though a UNSC resolution was passed, the situation in Iraq gets worse by the day, and aside from Korea, not one other country has acceded to American requests to send troops.
The October 26 rocket attack on the downtown Baghdad hotel at which American Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz was staying positively revealed just how fierce the anti-American offensives by resistance fighters are becoming. Secretary of State Powell said, “We did not expect it would be quite this intense this long,” not concealing America’s lethargy and embarrassment. When you see that even Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, in a secret memo, said that Iraq will be a “long, hard slog,” it’s not hard to guess that within the Bush Administration, skepticism concerning the handling of post-war Iraq has reached a serious level.
With the situation in Iraq becoming this dangerous, almost no countries have stepped forward to send troops following the [passing of the] UNSC resolution. France, Germany, and Russia - the three “anti-war” states - have not said anything, and Turkey - which even got legislative agreement to send troops - is putting off sending troops because of opposition from Iraq’s governing council. Recently, even NATO - of which the US is the leading power - has refused to send troops to Iraq. Pakistan, too, which assisted the US when it attacked Afghanistan, said that “A mistake in judgment now can bring disaster to the nation,” and made it quite clear that sending troops to Iraq was a bad idea.
By looking at the fierce opposition of the Iraqi citizens to the “army of occupation” and the dignified attitudes with which each nation has responded to the question of sending troops, it’s needless to say that one cannot help but feel how rough and humiliating the decision by President Noh Mu-hyeon to send troops to Iraq is. Moreover, we cannot understand at all how the President, in making such a huge decision, did not go through the process of selling it to the public, or why even now he has yet to offer any explanations or apologies to the citizens. The President must respect the true wishes of the citizens, and if he is a leader who is concerned with his place in history, he should not manage himself so lightly.
