http://www.geocities.com/onefr.....ology.html

If readers, soldiers, or others can provide links to other incidents of this nature, I’d appreciate you providing a link so that I can post it. Incidents that threaten the lives or safety of our soldiers do deserve mention by the CINC.

I guess we’d have to go to the Congressional Record to get the questioning? I suppose there’s usually a delay before that’s transcribed and printed; I don’t know if it’s published on the internet but don’t see why not.

Joshua, I wouldn’t discount the prepared statements. I just skimmed the one in html format. It looks like something required by the Congress of the CINC’s annually or semi-annually. These will have a lot of info in them (i.e., details I didn’t know about ROK’s exact force commitments to the Persian Gulf/ Afghanistan/ Iraq). Also there was mention of the ROK committment to East Timor peacekeeping, for which they should get credit.

Surely you don’t think that a 4 star is going to go in front of the Congress and cry in his beer about how everything with him and our allies is all screwed up and woe is me, etc. Call it “spin” if you like, but is doom and gloom what you’d do with your boss in making a report?

The problem with the US–ROK alliance is a political one, and it’s for the Congress and the Executive Branch to deal with their ROK counterparts to resolve it. If the South Korean troops were glaring at their American counterparts and fingering their weapons, then the generals/admirals would be duty bound to report that type of thing, but we’re not there yet.

(A more realistic example might be if South Korean rioters were throwing fire bombs into US residential housing compounds and the problem was escalating to the point where the CINC’s had to withdraw American families–but again we’re far from there yet, or at least I hope so).

I agree I’d like to see what the Congress-people asked and the 4 stars answered, without the outlook filter of the presumably Korean reporter & editor at the Chosun Post link M provided. I’ll look for it in Congressional Record and on C-Span, if I can find it.

Between Clarke, events in Fallujah (& Iraq in general), Afghanistan, and the missing college girl in Madison WI, not a peep made to my eyes and ears. I guess that’s an indicator for you of stateside “interest”.

I recommend you remind your Korean friends and blog readers, though, that stateside disinterest can change at the drop of a hat, if something significant happens to our servicemen in USFK. I suspect that’s why these lawmakers appeared to be “nervous”, and if the US public ever gets seriously engaged on this it won’t be so easy for folks such as Mr. Cheong Wook-sik (blog entry next above) to do their “triangulation” routine.

But for now — no problem for the triangulators, admittedly.

Maybe I’ll be able to find a rerun of the officers’ testimony on one of the C-
Spans.

BTW I hope you’ll keep posting on the status of the land acquisition for the new base areas to the south, where the Americans are due to be relocated eventually (can’t remember the names but you blogged on the land acquisition problem a few weeks ago).

I’ll be interested to see what happens, if/when:

a) Rumsfeld keeps the pressure on to make the move on schedule;
b) the local landowners continue to resist;
c) ROK politics continue in tumult, and
d) the US election approaches and it becomes increasingly clear that Bush will be re-elected.

(Last is just my opinion, naturally, and I suppose hope springs eternal for those opposed to him. And I was sure wrong about Clinton.
If you’re a South Korean hoping for Kerry, though, I recommend a lot of time devoted to traditional Korean spiritual/prayer practices for his electoral welfare — or the Christian church of your choice).

I realize it might be a long time between developments on the new base areas, but a regular periodic update (even if there is no further news to report) would be a positive part of your contribution to more focus on this issue IMO.