Korean Job Discussion Forums

[The Bobster]

[Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee]

[Wangja]

[Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee]

[Bulsajo]

According to Seymour Hersh, Afghanistan is shaping up to be more of a Vietnam scenario than Iraq- I'll have go back and see if I can't dig up the appropriate paragraphs in Chain of Command (which is a remarkable book, although I believe there is nothing in it that hasn't already been published in the NY Times, New Yorker, and Salon).

[igotthisguitar]

U.S. Troops May Stay in Iraq Until 2015: Rice

Toronto Star | October 20, 2005
BY TIM HARPER

WASHINGTON—They are two of the darkest scenarios Americans could imagine — their troops still fighting an Iraqi insurgency in 2015, with fighting spreading to Syria.

In a long-awaited appearance before the Senate foreign relations committee yesterday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice refused to rule either out, leaving Democrats to ponder whether she was merely being diplomatic or hinting at something more sinister.

"I think that to try and speculate on how many years from now there will be a certain number of American forces (in Iraq) is not appropriate,'' Rice told Maryland Democrat Paul Sarbanes.

She said she couldn't speculate on events a decade from now, a theme replayed later by White House spokesperson Scott McClellan.

Rice also used her first appearance before the powerful committee since her confirmation hearings last February to warn Syria and Iran that they "must decide whether they wish to side with the cause of war or with the cause of peace.''

That was a sign of mounting U.S. exasperation with regimes in Damascus and Tehran which Washington believes are ushering foreign fighters into Iraq and helping the insurgency.

"In the case of Syria,'' she said, "we are concerned about cross-border infiltration, about unconstrained travel networks and about the suspicious young men who are being waved through Damascus International Airport.''

She told senators concerned about the increasing unpopularity of the U.S. war in Iraq that Washington continued to work a two-track strategy with Syria, one diplomatic, the other military with American troops clearing out insurgents in Iraq near the Syrian border.

But she also stressed President George W. Bush has not taken a military option off the table.

Democrats continually pushed Rice for "benchmarks'' that must be met before there is a beginning of a draw-down of some 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

"The gap between the rhetoric on Iraq and the reality the American people see on the ground has created a genuine credibility chasm,'' said Joe Biden of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the committee.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1129758433527&call_pageid=970599119419&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes

In Iraq yesterday:

#
Sunni-led insurgents killed 26 people, including six Shiites who were lined up at a factory and gunned down, police said.

#
Yasir Sabhawi Ibrahim, a nephew of Saddam Hussein, was arrested and charged with financing the insurgency.

#
Rory Carroll, 33, a reporter for the Guardian newspaper, is believed to have been kidnapped in Baghdad.

[The Bobster]

[bucheon bum]

[The Bobster]

[Alias]

I find it ironic that the US has much better relations with Vietnam than it does with Cuba.

It should be pointed out that Kim Il-Sung rejected the idea of democratic elections. In Vietnam the US opposed the idea because the Vietcong had too much support.

[Kuros]

igotthisguitar

[Ya-ta Boy]

[AbbeFaria]

One thing I've noticed from the anti-war crowd is how quick they are to attack the U.S. for any little mistake or oversight, but they never seem to criticize the people actually causing the violence. They make excuses or ignore it all together. Why don't we have threads about how evil the Syrians or Iranians are instead of Cheney. Or of just how sadistic and evil Saddam really was. I don't like Cheney anymore than most of you do, but I think some perspective is needed here. He is not the reason 2000 US soldiers are dead, the insurgents are.

One way or another this problem has to be dealt with. Be it now or later, here or there, we are going to clash with muslim extremists just for the fact that they want us dead. Unless you're ready to bare your throat to them now, how else should the problem be handled? It's been said countless times, but it bears repeating; Would you rather fight them over there or in your backyard?

The War could have definately been managed better, I'm all for calling out the Bush Admin. for the screw up's, again, I don't much like them, but I understand that it needs to be done. Terrorists use Iraq as a convienent excuse, but they don't need one, nor have they ever needed one. They hate us for existing. What other plans for dealing with them have been put on the table that don't include war? The jews have been trying for years to placate the palestinians. And still top palestinians say they won't be appeased until every jewish man woman and child are dead and burned from the land.

So how does one deal with one who can't be reasoned with? I'm open to suggestions.

-S-

[Bulsajo]

[On the other hand]