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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| S. Korea to become second-largest military ally in Iraq |
| 2004-04-09 |
| South Korea has decided to become a major contributor to the U.S.-led military effort to stabilize Iraq despite the recent abduction of Korean nationals by insurgents. I think the abductions have backfired.... South Korea will deploy more than 3,700 soldiers in Iraq by August, officials said. They said the soldiers would be deployed in northern Iraq, either in Irbil or Suleimaniya. The commitment by Seoul will make South Korea the third largest contributor of military troops to Iraq. Britain and the United States have been the leading contributors. Officials said the first South Korean contingent will arrive in Iraq in June despite the abduction of South Korean nationals by Sh’ite insurgents, Middle East Newsline reported. Most of the Korean force will not be composed of combat units, officials said. Instead, the force will focus on logistics that can be used for reconstruction tasks in Iraq. "It is a mixture of logistics types," U.S. Army Lt. Col. Michael Finnegan, the South Korea country director in the Defense Department, said. "The unit will contain engineers, medics, truck drivers and other reconstruction skills. But the unit will also contain security and civil affairs personnel." So far, Korea has 500 soldiers deployed in Nasseriya south of Baghdad. Most of the troops are engineers and medical personnel and they will join the new force in the north. Officials said this was not South Korea’s first mission in the Middle East. South Korea has contributed forces to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the disputed region of Western Sahara. It would be nice if Japan (and Italy) does the same thing. Will probably stop all the abductions well. |
| Posted by:CrazyFool |
| #4 oooooo good point, Stephen |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-04-09 7:52:44 PM |
| #3 If I believed in the Bush/Cheney/Halliburton/VastRightWing TakeOver-The-World-MasterPlan I would believe the S.Koreans were sending troops to Iraq so they could get practice calling live US air-support in preparation for next summers' illegal,unilateral attack on peaceful North Korea. Seriously,S.Koreans look like they want some practical experience in rebuilding a country devestated by a dictator. |
| Posted by: Stephen 2004-04-09 7:42:57 PM |
| #2 We trained w/ROK Marines. Good to go. No bs approach to training. Shiites/sunni's would do well to steer clear of pissing these guys off. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-04-09 4:50:57 PM |
| #1 When I was in Vietnam the Korens came in and took over the area I was in, northern part of the country, and set up their base camp. The Vietcong, in an uderstandable attempt to establish the proper pecking order attacked the Korens. It was kind a long firefight as fire fights go. Afterword the Korens staked out, literally, the extent of their base camp area. One end of the stake was in the ground. On the other end of the stake was was the head of a Vietcong attacker. To the best of my knowledge that camp was never attacked again. I spent some time with those folks and really liked them. I hope those boys do their daddies proud. |
| Posted by: Michael 2004-04-09 4:45:45 PM |