Also on the Youtube front, here’s UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon getting a bit of a scare in Iraq [Youtube]. Took it rather well, I thought, although not quite as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who disturbingly didn’t even flinch. [HT to seouldout]
-
English Books on Korea... and More!
-
Visit My Brother's Film Review Site
33 Comments
According to Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso, Gen. Sec. Ban should be ideally suited to bring peace to the Middle East.
http://www.reuters.com/article.....9220070322
Koreans will bring peace, prosperity, and Christianity to the Middle East.
Sounds good.
Koreans TV channels broke regular programming to show the above mentioned video, and obviously they made a very bid deal out of it.
Let’s cut the guy some slack, unlike the Iraqi PM, Ban has never been in the middle of a war zone, but after a few war zone trips, I’m sure he won’t be flinching during the next rocket or bomb attack.
mins0306,
Where’s the flak? The post say Ban-ki Moon took it well.
If there was any flak, and I don’t think there was, it was against the Iraqi “who disturbingly didn’t even flinch”.
mins0306—As I said in my post, I was actually quite impressed by the way Ban responded. I personally would have shit my pants. And Arghaeri’s right—if there was anything disturbing, it was that al-Maliki didn’t even flinch, which is probably doesn’t speak well of current conditions in Iraq.
I personally would have shit my pants.
Or at least brown capped.
Actually, the impression I got from watching the live newscast last night was that Ban was really scared and it showed in his facial expression.
I was in Kuwait when the Republican Guard rolled in, and I can understand how it feels like to be in that kind of situation.
Yes, there is no flak in this post, but less understanding people might think or say otherwise, and my comment was meant for them.
Boy, things have really gotten bad when the guy who flinches gets more respect than the one who doesn’t.
Meanwhile, back at the office, co-workers are sneaking up behind Ban ki Moon’s back and going “booom!”
I just love it how a press conference reporting on how the Baghdad security situation is “improving” is interrupted by a mortar attack.
Is Ban one of those politcians that hasn’t served in the Korean military? I don’t know what kind of training he would have had if he had served, but just in basic, I was exposed to so many explosions (the kind that sucks the air out of your lungs, leaves you hears ringing through two layers of ear protection, and sends resonations throughout your chest (pretty cool effect, actually)), I really don’t see how he could be so darned scared.
if he has/had served.
“I just love it how a press conference reporting on how the Baghdad security situation is “improving” is interrupted by a mortar attack.”
Very telling isn’t it?!
Someguy,
I don’t really get your point. When I was in the army, one day I went jogging with my sergeant. A car backfired and he - the Vietnam vet - hit the deck. I don’t think that I even flinched.
“…but just in basic, I was exposed to so many explosions (the kind that sucks the air out of your lungs, leaves you hears ringing through two layers of ear protection, and sends resonations throughout your chest (pretty cool effect, actually)), I really don’t see how he could be so darned scared.”
Assuming you didn’t walk around all the time wearing two layers of ear protection, you must have known an explosion was coming if you were wearing it, ergo no surprise. Also, I believe most people’s first instinct would be to seek cover if they’ve had military training. I don’t personally know of any military that teaches its troops to stand there and pretend they aren’t afraid when stuff starts blowing up (although I imagine there’s one out there, after seeing 300 last night!)
I served in the military and have been on the receiving end of a rocket attack in Iraq, and I can tell you my reaction was less muted than Ban’s.
From the youtube source.
I hate liberals. Especially misinformed ones.
even a slight noise can trigger Post traumatic stress disorder in a war vet. Some guy I know gets all cautious just by the sound of a basketball dribbling in a gym. Depends on the person. Not everyone will have ptsd.
Someguy, if your on a miltary training exercise you’re surely expecting some load bangs, but in a press conference come on!! Not only that I thought military training was supposed to teach you to find cover under fire not stand up beating your chest yelling fuck you I’m no wimp you bastards and promptly having your head taken off by shrapnel!!
Look at the video; most of the journos, presumably with much more experience of the area, surface from the cover of their chairs moements after the blast, the Iraqi security rushes to the shoulder of the Iraqi minister ready to protect him and Ban Ki Moon has a perfectly normal reaction an unexpected explosion.
Also, according to Taro Aso,
http://news.chosun.com/site/da.....01095.html
In the Japanese tradition of,
and
http://www.findarticles.com/p/.....1209/print
A strong tradition, in my opinion.
“Someguy, if your on a miltary training exercise you’re surely expecting some load bangs, but in a press conference come on!! Not only that I thought military training was supposed to teach you to find cover under fire not stand up beating your chest yelling fuck you I’m no wimp you bastards and promptly having your head taken off by shrapnel!!”
Sure, you duck…just pointing out that he probably had a desk job while he was in the military.
“Sure, you duck…just pointing out that he probably had a desk job while he was in the military.”
Hmmm, he did duck? so what was the rest of the macho crap below about then!
“I was exposed to so many explosions (the kind that sucks the air out of your lungs, leaves you hears ringing through two layers of ear protection, and sends resonations throughout your chest (pretty cool effect, actually)), I really don’t see how he could be so darned scared.”
actually, I failed to check out dogbertt’s link before commenting.
Anyway, Taro Aso is one of those guys lined up to be Japan’s Prime Minister one day.
Worrisome individual.
Argh, because there is a difference between a controled explosion, one you set off yourself, and a shell falling nearby. One probably won’t injure you, while the other might. As I was saying, by the look on his face, he probably needs to bring his suit to the dry cleaners…not the reaction I’d expect from someone who has served in the military.
wjk:
Do you get assistance from the government?
Somegal, sorry I had no idea Ban Ki Moon had fired the rockets himself in a controlled explosion. Clearly, he should have expected a load explosion that caused a 50m crater during the middle of his press conference.
“Baghdad - UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon was unharmed but ducked behind the podium after a rocket landed near Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s office on Thursday while the two men were speaking to reporters at a news conference.
A reporter ran outside and saw a crater one-metre in diameter about 50m from the building where the news conference was in progress.
Al-Maliki security officials said it was a rocket attack.
Small chips of debris floated down from the ceiling above the UN chief after the big explosion rattled the building in the Green Zone.
Al-Maliki said “nothing’s wrong” as one of his security men started to grab the prime minister.
Within minutes the two men resumed their news conference.
The sound of the weapon being fired could be heard not far from The Associated Press office, which is across the Tigris River to the east of the Green Zone, which also houses the US embassy and Iraqi government offices.”
“Somegal”…Real classy.
“sorry I had no idea Ban Ki Moon had fired the rockets himself in a controlled explosion. Clearly, he should have expected a load explosion that caused a 50m crater during the middle of his press conference.”
Just read my previous post. It’s really not even worth commenting on that statement.
…caused a crater 50m away…
“Somegal”…Real classy,” and “Argh” was of course!!
Read it in context…
“I was exposed to so many explosions (the kind that sucks the air out of your lungs, leaves you hears ringing through two layers of ear protection, and sends resonations throughout your chest (pretty cool effect, actually)), I really don’t see how he could be so darned scared.”
followed by,
“because there is a difference between a controled explosion, one you set off yourself, and a shell falling nearby. One probably won’t injure you, while the other might.”
You admit the difference, but still can’t understand him ducking for cover at an uncontrolled explosion from a rocket nearby?
#19:
Not really. It depends on the type of fire and the situation. With indirect fire (mortars, arty, IEDs, etc.), when you’re out in the open –conducting a dismounted patrol for example — if you can HEAR the explosion, as an Army grunt, I was trained to get out of the kill zone or blast area pronto — we do not stop, dawdle and there’s no such thing as finding “cover”.
Most importantly, as a team leader I learned that if you can HEAR the explosion, it means you are still alive and have a fighting chance of getting yourself and your guys out of the blast area before an FO can get a fix on you or bracketing you.
We were also taught that if you ever get cut down by indirect fire, you won’t *hear* its explosion per se, — you’ll just experience its aftereffects, i.e., the ringing of ears, the shock waves, concussion etc.
Also, when we realize different kinds of people respond to stressors differently, we can understand why some people like Ban would flinch, while the Iraqi PM standing next to him at the podium didn’t bat an eyelash.
I also have to say that comparing Ban’s unnerved reaction to the jumpiness displayed by those with PTSD is an improper analogy.
Since Ban has never fought in a war and is of the generation that is too young to remember the Korean War, we can safely assume that his reaction was simply a case of bad nerves. Let’s face it — PTSD cases notwithstanding, which represent an anomaly — some people are inherently more jumpy/nervous/anxious/worrisome than others.
Also, I found this interesting passage about the Bastogne bombardement during WWII and the effects it had in inducing shell shock — the PTSD of the day — on the men of E Co., 1-506 PIR, 101st Abn Div in Stephen E. Ambrose’s seminal work, “Band of Brothers”. What is interesting is that after doing a series of interviews with the survivors, the author determined that while some quickly succumbed to their “breaking point” after intense shelling by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge requring some to be evacuated, there were others — like Dick Winters — who didn’t break, but became increasingly battle fatigued and weary as the engagement continued:
Band of Brothers, Ch.12:
Now, if we’re in the press center of the Green Zone, and I hear an explosion that’s probably the result of wildly inaccurate and untrained indirect fire of insurgents, b/c of my training, I’m gonna realize three things:
1) I HEARD the explosion, therefore, I know that my team and I are gonna be OK. (It’s the ones I didn’t *hear* that I’m gonna worry about);
2) Anyone who reads the newspapers and follows press reports knows that the Green Zone is the SAFEST place in Baghdad to be.
3) Ban’s flinching shows that he didn’t understand the environment and the reality of being in the Green Zone, and is perhaps out of touch. (Maybe too busy taking private French lessons?)
4) As a leader and representative of the world’s largest body politic, Ban’s flinching during the press conference (considering the extraordinariness of the safety measures that must have been in place at the time), could either be a case of bad nerves or simply a deficit of courage — physical or otherwise.
“I was trained to get out of the kill zone or blast area pronto — we do not stop, dawdle and there’s no such thing as finding “cover”.”
Pedanticness aside, I think most would acknowledge that getting out of the area pronto is in context pretty much the same meaning as “finding cover”.
“I HEARD the explosion, therefore, I know that my team and I are gonna be OK.”
“Exactly, how do you know that? If theres one rocket explosion in a supposedly safe zone, why on earth would you presume there aren’t going to be more following!!
“Anyone who reads the newspapers and follows press reports knows that the Green Zone is the SAFEST place in Baghdad to be.”
“Ban’s flinching shows that he didn’t understand the environment and the reality of being in the Green Zone, and is perhaps out of touch.”
Any your point is what exactly, that he sould feel safe with rockets exploding nearby, because every where else in Baghdad is worse?
Watch the video, he clearly wasn’t the only person in the room who was “out of touch” with the reality of rockets exploding nearby.
“Ban’s flinching during the press conference (considering the extraordinariness of the safety measures that must have been in place at the time), could either be a case of bad nerves or simply a deficit of courage — physical or otherwise.”
Have you not heard of “reflex actions”, if theres a rocket explosion nearby, I certainly wouldn’t be standing there pondering on how magnificent the safety measures were!!!
“As a leader and representative of the world’s largest body politic”.
I realise that most politicians are not considered human, but I think most of them are still acknowledged to be pretty conserned about protecting their own asses.
When adjusting to combat situations, people get very adept very fast, at instantly and perhaps unconsciously sizing up the particular situation in which they find themselves.
I saw the video. Maliki didn’t flinch much because he’s seen/heard nearby explosions during press conferences, meetings, etc many times before. Ban hasn’t, so he flinched more than Maliki.
Ban stopped his flinch about “halfway” (ie he didn’t dive under the desk or hit the floor) because he quickly remembered he was in a press conference and “on camera”. Also, he instantly remembered that this was Iraq 2007, and the insurgents normally aren’t capable of firing an artillery or rocket barrage lasting for some time, because it exposes them to counterattack. Therefore, the probability of multiple nearby follow-on explosions, or that there was about to be a shell or rocket come through the roof above him, was pretty low.
US/Iraqi “reaction” forces were probably on stand-by, ready to roll towards the launching site of any “barrage” attempt, also there were probably US attack helicopters airborne and within a few minutes flight time, capable of counterattacking.
All this probably flashed through Ban’s mind instantaneously, since he didn’t get to be where he is now by being “unaware”, regardless of whatever his personal military experience was back in the ROK.
Talk about some “over-analysis”. I jump visibly when I hear an unexpected loud noise and I haven’t even been in “real” combat, just around a lot of very loud gunnery. I’ve noticed it gets worse as I get older.