Rumsfeld: S. Korea Must Cut U.S. Reliance

Finally! Someone has pulled their head out of their azz. Rumsfeld is finally talking about decreasing troop levels in South Korea. As it stands in Iraq and Afghanistan, we need more troops. Lots more. They're talking about bringing back the draft, which, in light of the upcoming presidential election, would be political suicide for Bush. Could this be a move to stall a possible draft? Rummy's talking about 12,000 out of the 30,000 could be brought home soon. Hell, I say pull 'em all out and bring 'em home. We still have 40 thousand plus troops in Japan.

Here's an article:

Today: November 18, 2003 at 14:04:44 PST

Rumsfeld: S. Korea Must Cut U.S. Reliance
By ROBERT BURNS
ASSOCIATED PRESS

OSAN AIR BASE, South Korea (AP) -

The United States and South Korea agree the time has come, 50 years after the Korean War, for the economically vibrant Asian country to lessen its dependence on the American military, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday.

"It is time for them to set a goal for becoming somewhat more self-reliant," Rumsfeld said during a question-and-answer session with several hundred U.S. troops at Osan Air Base. Banners lining the hangar where he spoke highlighted the immediacy of the North Korean military threat felt by 37,000 American troops stationed here and around the country.

"Ready to Fight Tonight," read the banner of the 51st Fighter Wing.

"Take the Fight North," read another.

In an interview later, Rumsfeld told reporters he endorses President Roh Moo-hyun's vision of a South Korea that takes more responsibility for its own defense. "That's a correct direction," Rumsfeld said, noting that defense officials in Seoul reaffirmed to him Monday their plan to shift 10 military missions now performed by Americans to their own forces, including security in the border area with the North.

Rumsfeld's comment also reflects his desire to see a major realignment of U.S. forces in South Korea - a change that likely will result in a sizable troop reduction. The Pentagon believes as many as 12,000 of the 37,000 troops could be brought home, although Rumsfeld and others said the scope and timing of any troop cuts have not been decided.

the rest:
www.lasvegassun.com... 7.html

That certainly sounds like good news to me. I think it is a move to stall the draft, but even then that's okay by me. It's been 50 years, it's about time!

North and South Korea have been trying to persue their Sunshine policy which the Bush administration does not support. It's their frokkin peninsula, let them handle it. What business is it of ours to tell them how to react to one another? If the South is confident enough of our troops pulling out, that would solve one of our big headaches, for sure.

Of course three things come to mind..

1-An immediate troop advancement from the north, as the US pulls out.

2-Clearing out of US troops, in preperation of a possible US retaliation, for a NK nuclear application somewhere (bomb) yet to occur

3-US needs of troops elsewhere that are more important than there purpose there in SK

Just some thoughts,..no facts

Sounds more like the building up in secret of Japan and South Korea militarily is nearly complete.

I pity lil' Kim if he thinks he can rape SK and get away with it.

With Rumsfeld, you gotta wonder if he's simply looking at it this way: If N. Korea gets froggy and wants to attack, let 'em. We'll just nuke their azz along the DMZ. All the better if our troops are nowhere near. That's all the control the U.S. needs there.

Originally posted by THENEO
Sounds more like the building up in secret of Japan and South Korea militarily is nearly complete.

I pity lil' Kim if he thinks he can rape SK and get away with it.

Japan's definitely going nukes. And they're talking about wanting us out, too. You know they got some kamikaze move up their kimono.

south korea is already developing a good navy. They've just finished building a stealth destroyer and are working on building 3 aegis destroyers and 2 large-deck landing ships.

And their XK2 tank project is nearly complete.

[Edited on 18-11-2003 by gooking]

That's what I mean everyone,

let then pound thier straw hatted heads into the ground.

just don't givem any idea of world domination though.

else we have to nuke em all.

Applause!

Finally! And hopefully, well do the same in Europe too! Bout damn time we quit wasting billions occupying all these other countries that dont need it anymore. If they wanna handle it, let em, its no longer our problem.

Japan, Europe, Korea, I look forward to the day when we can remove all our bases there, and bring all the soldiers back to the US. We need them here.

No more sitting around in other countries. Besides, the influx of soldiers and reopening bases here at home, does anyone realize the economic boost this will give us?

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
Applause!


No more sitting around in other countries. Besides, the influx of soldiers and reopening bases here at home, does anyone realize the economic boost this will give us?

Excellent point, Skadi!

I used to say the drawdown in the early 90's was bad policy for three reasons:

1. Many of the soldiers who took the money and early outs were worthless peices of # to begin with. We weren't saving any money by showing 'em the door because 8 out of 10 would blow their money and go get on welfare. Just a transfer of funds. Should've just kept those folks gainfully employed. At least they were contributing to a vibrant economy.

2. We could not sustain our two-wars at once doctrine with the cut in troops

3. The ECONOMY. Troops are great for the ECONOMY. They generate tons of business and savings. It's about damn time we bring our troops and that money they spend in Germany and Korea HOME, too. Imagine how the economy would look with 80,000 American troops back on our soil. I know the automobile and computer businesses would do gangbusters.

Now here's my long-time pet peeve.. I always said - before 9-11 - that we should bring our troops home from Germany and post them along our southern borders since the INS is INCAPABLE of keeping the illegals out. I betcha a week's paycheck ain't no one gonna get across the border if they're staring down the barrell of a 50-Calibur machine gun.

Originally posted by EastCoastKid
Finally! Someone has pulled their head out of their azz. Rumsfeld is finally talking about decreasing troop levels in South Korea. As it stands in Iraq and Afghanistan, we need more troops. Lots more. They're talking about bringing back the draft, which, in light of the upcoming presidential election, would be political suicide for Bush. Could this be a move to stall a possible draft? Rummy's talking about 12,000 out of the 30,000 could be brought home soon. Hell, I say pull 'em all out and bring 'em home. We still have 40 thousand plus troops in Japan.

If you want more troops south korea is sending more, under the condition that the u.s. doesn't pull out all theirs in south korea.

I could see some mistakes in the article, most of them are minor. The big killer thou is that they made it seem as if the north korean military is going to continue to get weaker, what they didn't mention is that the north korean economy has rebounded and are expected to get some new toys for their army in several years.

DAMN Skippy, ECK! My points exactly!

Soldiers along our souther and Northern Borders. They are not occupying American cities, they are simply hanging out on our borders. An excellent use for them.

And yes....the money they spend..........I remeber in germany Id blow entire paychecks in the Germany economy. I have probably made millionares of bartenders, restaraunt owners, and tourist traps, taxi drivers, ect. With our economy choking, the wealth should be brought home to the US, where at least American soldiers will not be hated and harrassed when they go and spend thier hard earned money.

Plus, people in the US like military bases as a rule, and not just economically. Think of all the stuff base communities do for fun!

Yeah, the drawdowns were wrong. I hated them. We also lost alot of good soldiers who left because of the bull#. We should have never closed a single base here in the states, instead, we should have closed all our overseas bases and brought them home. The money we saved going totally domestic would have been bigger than the cuts they did.

Plus the vast majority of soldiers do not enjoy being stationed overseas aNYWAY. Its fun at first, but having to live in foreign countries around unfriendly people all the time, and little to keep you fromn getting homesick.......

Bring em all home! We need em here!

All fine and nice but guess what comes next.

the rest of the world against the US.

Of course they are, NEO. All the more reason to send troops home, here, where they are NEEDED.

America is not being protected if our forces are stagnating and rotting on someone elses soil.

They are needed here, where they belong. If we dont have any more interests or troops overseas, then how can they attack us overseas? If they are all here at home, then it will be harder to attack here!

Let the rest of the world hate us, it matters not to me, regardless of what we do, they always have hated us and will continue to hate us, because they need someone to hate. What matters is that we can secure ourselves from agressive action, something we cant do if we are stretched thin like this.

We strengthen them and weaken ourselves by keeping soldiers everywhere. Like iraq. We need to pull out QUICK.

As far as Americans overseas, well, civilians, sorry, they take that risk by working or opening up companies and such in foreign unfriendly countries, thus, since they take the risk, they must bear the concequences.

Once weve pulled out of the rest of the world, they will find something else to focus thier hatred on, or fight amongst themselves, or pull thier heads out of their asses and do something constructive. Whatever.

But I hope that US forces continue to draw down overseas, and that we pull out of Iraq by next year, or sooner.

Skadi,

good point,

many people do indeed need someone to hate...

We also lost alot of good soldiers who left because of the bull#. - Skadi

I wouldn't know anything about that...

Yeah, I've often thought about what our military does for the economy. Imagine if we did bring our troops home from Germany and Korea, hell even Japan... and injected THAT into our economy. It would kick azz. And I can't think of a better use of our troops than protecting our borders. That would take care of SO much of our troubles. FUKK homeland security. Skadi - did we not take an oath to ..protect the US against enemies BOTH foreign and domestic? Damn straight, we did.

Skadi - did we not take an oath to ..protect the US against enemies BOTH foreign and domestic? Damn straight, we did.

I am glad someone remebers!

Its an oath I took and still take. And I hold it dear to my heart.

Americas biggest enemies right now are the domestic homegrown ones. The foreigners are minor in comparison. They can be dealt with once we have gotten rid of the domestic ones. Hell, if we get rid of the domestic ones, the foreign enemies will fall from lack of support......

Originally posted by smirkley
Of course three things come to mind..

1-An immediate troop advancement from the north, as the US pulls out.

2-Clearing out of US troops, in preperation of a possible US retaliation, for a NK nuclear application somewhere (bomb) yet to occur

3-US needs of troops elsewhere that are more important than there purpose there in SK

I agree with you but there is another option. The US remove their soldiers, NK see this removal as a good occasion, then attack SK, and a new Korea war break up.

So, may be it's not a so good idea to remove all the troop from SK. It's better to have 30K soldiers in a peacefull country than to have 300K in a country in war.

On this, I actually agree with Rumsfeld's assessment with regard to our capabilities (even if our troops are pulled out.) The speedbump force missing wouldn't affect our ability to crush N. Korea.

One of the messages Rumsfeld sought to convey during his two days in South Korea was that whatever changes are made in the size or positioning of U.S. forces, they will end up being more capable and credible - not less. This is so, he said, because technological advances, and improvements in the way U.S. air, land and sea forces fight together, mean numbers alone do not determine how effective an army, navy or air force can be. - Rumsfeld