After generations of keeping huge numbers of troops in South Korea, the Pentagon is very used to the idea. Indeed, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford warned on Monday that any diplomatic progress with North Korea necessarily makes the military “more uncomfortable” on the Korean Peninsula.
Dunford was honest in his assessment on the situation, saying that over time, diplomatic talks with North Korea “will take a form where we’re going to have to start making some changes to the military posture on the peninsula.”
This is true, as a peace treaty would mean little need for a large US military presence in Korea. And while the administration has downplayed this, and North Korea has made no such demands, the reality is that peace would no longer justify the same military posture as decades of war.
And while Dunford said the military is prepared to make such changes as they are required, his comments also make it clear he’s not happy about it. In Korea, perhaps more than any place else, peace is a major threat to the status quo.
Sure, if peace were to break out everywhere we wouldn’t need the likes of Dunford any longer. But these dumb military types should have got the message on Korea long ago.
Jun 4, 2008
Gates Approves of 3-Year Tours for U.S. Troops in South Korea
Thanks for the link. We hoped things might have changed with the one good policy of Trump-ten years ago the possible changes we have now seen would have been impossible, but the fact that North and South Korea really want peace is completely at odds with US forever-war strategy.
Yes, forever war or the threat (real or imagined) of war. That allows the world hegemon to protect its “interests” in various parts of the world, having nothing to do with US national security and everything to do with corporate profits.
Smedley Butler: “I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.” — General Smedley Butler, USMC, double recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Anecdote: I participated in several anti-war demonstrations & parades with my Smedley Butler Society banner, and at one such, a young man approached me and recited the entire above paragraph from memory. “I helped make Mexico. . .” That was very impressive.