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http://www.ekantipur.com/2010/07/11/world/korea-bloodbath-probe-ends-us-escapes-much-blame/318232/
Korea bloodbath probe ends; US escapes much blame. You have to read that first.
The link above is the first place I read the AP story. I was just strolling around the Internet and was visiting a Nepal newspaper. After I read it I immediately went looking to see if this was just some anti-American rant. But I found it immediately at the Washington Post and read the four page AP article there. I would have linked that but I can't get back there without signing up to receive spam and add to my master marketing profile............
In 1999 the AP confirmed the U.S. killing of refugees at the South Korean hamlet of No Gun Ri in July 1950, in which survivors estimate 400 died, mostly women and children. That report led witnesses to come forward with accounts of other large-scale U.S. killings.
The U.S. archives show clear proof of intent, including 1950 communications from the U.S. ambassador in South Korea and a top Air Force officer saying U.S. forces, to guard against infiltrators, had adopted a policy of shooting refugees approaching their lines, and a series of orders from U.S. commanders to fire on all civilians. Refugees are "fair game," said the 1st Cavalry Division's Maj. Gen. Hobart R. Gay.
The timing of the South Korean announcement to not hold us accountable is for others to bicker over. My guess is that with the change in leadership in the Afghanistanwar, we wanted to show our enemies our history and strike fear in their hearts since we haven't been able to win them over with Neo-con capitalism
The leadership of South Korea has given us a pass, I think putting the information out the will do enough damage but I guess we must thank them for their statement:
In a political about-face, a South Korean commission investigating a century of human rights abuses has ruled that the U.S. military's large-scale killing of refugees during the Korean War, in case after case, arose out of military necessity.
Shutting down the inquiry into South Korea's hidden history, the commission also will leave unexplored scores of suspected mass graves believed to hold remains of tens of thousands of South Korean political detainees summarily executed by their own government early in the 1950-53 war, sometimes as U.S. officers watched.
Now understand I'm not a peace-nick, I come from military. Though, I have to admit my knowledge about the Korean War is limited. Its been called the forgotten war, I see why now.
We were trying to beat back the Russians, the Commies, those Pinkos. Now we are trying to beat back the those "nasty Muslims" (Have you watched the religious channels about the holy war we are in? Or have you read the list of reasons why the Quaran is a violent religion. As if the Bible isn't violent itself....... or that killing of abortion doctors isn't an honor killing that we rant against Muslims about....but I digress)
The Military Industrial Complex provided an escape from the Great Depression though government spending. And over the years the building of weapons has provided this country not only with economic stimulation but also with huge advances in technology. A good portion of our medical breakthroughs have come from front-line medics. Even now, the US military is eons ahead of the rest of the country in preventive medicine. Heck if it wasn't for the military the Internet would have come much later. And yes we've used our military might to influence others to do things our way. There's nothing like air, land and water superiority to open up trade routes.
There an old saying that something along the lines of "A society that is not expanding is dying". (I've got it wrong because google didn't have a result for me) But I'm not too sure any more. Europe has been doing just fine since WWII, with our tax dollars paying to defend them of course. But we were supposed to be the power that would fill the vacuum and show the way. You know, The shinning city on the hill.
We've killed many innocents over the years in the name of freedom and our "values". Yes war is ugly and sometimes necessary. I'm just not sure the American people understand what would be necessary anymore, nor do most understand that setting the example of not committing war crimes keeps our soldiers safe.. We've become like Pavlov's dogs. A politician rings the "you should be scared" bell and enough of us stand up for the drums of war, without really understanding why.
We've aloud war profiteering, the idea that was wrong went out the window with conflict of interest. Weapon producers have gotten smart and try to make their weapons in as many states as possible as to increase the number of representative to argue for the continued production no matter what the cost. We spend more on war than anything else in our society and most of the world combined. (And before you come back with fact checking on that make sure you move the military legacy costs and taking care of our soldiers after active duty back into the military column from of the civilian column where it is now. Cute accounting trick that is) What does that say about our priorities? As a result our kids among the stupidest and fattest in the world.
We here about the Muslims "Violence is all they understand" Well do we as a country understand much more?
We went to war with Afghanistan to retaliate for a bunch of terrorists that broke through the trillions of dollars we've spent on "defense". Then we ignored that war to go fight in Iraq. We are pulling out of Iraq and trying to win in Afghanistan. What does victory mean there? How many of our kids and parents will die, how many of theirs? How much more of our treasury will we spend before we realize that the fall of the USSR is looking like de ja vu to us? They too ignored their domestic needs and drowned in debt from their military spending.
I don't know. I know, I don't have any answers, but I sure have a heck of alot of questions.
The biggest one being "How many countries and people will my kids have to apologize too?
I love my country. I want to be the shining city on the hill. I want to leave my country better than I received it. Are all these wars the way to accomplish that?
