By Why oh why won’t this idea to redeploy Korean troops to Afghanistan go away?:
The United States has reportedly asked Korea can redeploy its Zaytun unit to Afghanistan, military sources said yesterday.
Zaytun was recently pulled from Arbil in northern Iraq after four years of rehabilitation operations.
The United States has unofficially asked Korea to send troops to Afghanistan, but this is the first time for Washington to mention the name of a unit in repeating the request.
The sources said that when the Zaytun unit withdrew from Arbil to Kuwait Dec. 10-14, the United States asked if the withdrawing troops could go to Afghanistan via Multinational Forces – Iraq.
A Korean official said his government has made no official reply, saying, “It is important to pull our troops and bring them to Korea safely for now.”
One military source said, “The U.S. seems to want the Zaytun unit to set another successful example of civil military operations in Afghanistan, since it brought security and stability to Arbil over the past four years.”
Another source added, “Given the security conditions in Afghanistan, the U.S. hopes for elite military forces equipped with self-defense skills rather than civil agents like police.”
When U.S. President-elect Barack Obama takes office next month and Afghanistan becomes the focus of the U.S.-led war on terrorism, Washington is likely to deliver a specific plan asking Korea to send troops.
After the U.S.-Korea summit in early August, U.S. President George W. Bush said the only thing he talked to President Lee Myung-bak about was non-combat help.
A high-ranking U.S. defense official told Korean correspondents in Washington Dec. 13 that more contributions from Korea are needed in Afghanistan. [Donga Ilbo]
I chuckled when reading the quote, “The U.S. seems to want the Zaytun unit to set another successful example of civil military operations in Afghanistan, since it brought security and stability to Arbil over the past four years.” The Zaytun unit did not bring security and stability to Arbil over the past four years. They hardly ever left their base in what is the safest area of Iraq. Here is what the Kurds in Arbil thought of the ROK Army deployment:
Iraqi Kurdistan is technically occupied by a foreign power, but this occupation surely ranks among one of the most absurd in human history. Dr. Ali Sindi, advisor to Prime Minister Nechervan Barzani, told me that South Korea is the official occupier of Northern Iraq. Korean soldiers are stationed just outside Erbil in a base near the airport. He laughed when he told me the Kurdish military, the Peshmerga (those who face death), surround the South Koreans to make sure they’re safe.
Even Korean soldiers that have served in the Zaytun unit have voiced their frustrations with the deployment, which has been echoed by the Korean media as well. The ROK Army contingent actually accidently killed more Kurdish people then any terrorists.
I have been against the Zaytun deployment before the unit was ever deployed because I figured the unit would not be allowed to do much of anything meaningful which is evident by the fact they can’t even go to a local market place to buy supplies in the highly friendly and secure Kurdish region of Iraq. They did do a good job with the toilets though, I have to give them credit for that. That is about all they would do in Afghanistan as well. Doesn’t the US have enough allies in Afghanistan doing nothing? Why add another one? Send in the Korean businessmen instead.
7:58 pm on December 23rd, 2008 1
Well, since they already paid the Taliban $20 mil to release the Christian tourists, maybe we could convince the Koreans to pay off some “Sons of Afghanistan” like we paid off “Sons of Iraq?”
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8:58 pm on December 23rd, 2008 2
Forget the Korean military.
They should let the Koreans in to run girly bars. Mama knows how to take care of business.
Any terrorist or insurgent who tried to disrupt the cash flow might find himself in a world of hurt. At the very least, he would be paid off with 72 Filipina vigrins without having to die for Allah. It’s a good deal for everyone (except the Filipinas).
Come to think of it, it might be hard to find 72 Filipina vigrins, but, compared to a camel, what does Haji know.
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9:07 pm on December 23rd, 2008 3
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10:23 pm on December 23rd, 2008 4
So why is the US asking them to do it again, when all they’re going to is to ‘install new toilets’?
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1:16 am on December 24th, 2008 5
Tom,
They need more names on the master list for the Coalition of the Begged and Bullied into Being Willing to Send a Token Force to Show They are With Us and not Against Us.
You don’t want to be labeled as Being Against Us, do you?
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1:44 am on December 24th, 2008 6
[...] US Wants Korea to Redeploy Zaytun Unit to Afghanistan [...]
2:21 am on December 24th, 2008 7
Say what you’d like, but it would be nice to see Ford or GM set up automotive mechanics classes for Iraqis at Balad the way that Hyundai has in Arbil.
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6:42 am on December 24th, 2008 8
#5. If what the USA needs is just more names in a list, than the USA should have requested Korea to dispatch just a couple of people (some engineers and doctors) instead of a whole unit.
I think the bitterness that most Americans in Korea feel about the Zaitun unit is based on the fact that American soldiers are dying in Iraq but not the Koreans. If this is the case don’t blame Korea, but your government that sent your soldiers there.
I know that precious life of American soldier were lost in Iraq, and I regret it, but that’s not Korea’s fault. The Korean government took the necessary measure to protect its soldiers, but your government decided to send your soldiers to die in Iraq for, oh my God, what was the reason?????
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6:53 am on December 24th, 2008 9
Who said the American soldiers who died in Iraq was Korea’s fault? I am not bitter toward the Zaytun unit, I just didn’t think they should have been in Iraq in the first place for various reasons I have listed before.
As LG DACOM mentioned, having Hyundai setup automotives classes goes back to what I said about how sending in Korean businessmen would be much more beneficial then sending in an entire ROK Army unit.
A Korean military unit will be allowed to do little and which is not a reflection of them because the ROK Army is quite capable but of political will. Could you imagine what the Korean left would do if the ROK Army experienced a mass casualty attack in Afghanistan?
The ROK Army deserves better then to simply be known as the unit that doesn’t leave base but runs a good chow hall in Afghanistan.
Send in the businessmen instead.
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7:32 am on December 24th, 2008 10
Oh my god, Dr.Yu. You’ve said everything what I was thinking.
As everyone pointed out before they went in there anyway ignoring advice from everyone, the US can’t blame anyone for their military and political failures in the phony war that they stubbornly insisted was a just cause. As it turned out, it was Bush and his Americans are the greatest crowd making up all kinds of excuses so that they can play military in the desert.
As it turned out, Iraq war has been a disaster for the US and their credibility. Americans are bitter because Koreans didn’t let their soldiers die in a worthless war that wasn’t going to be won. The newly elected Obama is pulling out of Iraq, and all those American deaths – are all for not. They died for Bush and they died for nothing.
You know it’s kinda ironic but think about this, Koreans without spilling any blood and spending far less, did far more to buy good will and peace from the Iraqis, than Americans with so many needless deaths in their hands and who spent trillions of dollars in the war (yet they get nothing but contempt from the Iraqis).
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8:16 am on December 24th, 2008 11
You could put the Salvation Army in Irbil and they’d have the same effectiveness without spilling blood.
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8:41 am on December 24th, 2008 12
I think the Salvation army with bells and trumpets would have done a far better job than the regular US army with their big guns. Am I not wrong?
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8:43 am on December 24th, 2008 13
I know I know, that concept is hard to fathom for a people who grew up playing with big machine guns and grenade launchers sold in mom and pop corner stores.
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9:13 am on December 24th, 2008 14
My point is not size of guns, although I know Coreans have inferiority complex about that, but rather, Irbil. Study Irbil and Kurdistan.
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10:18 am on December 24th, 2008 15
Mark is now going to blast away with everything he’s got in anger.
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2:00 pm on December 24th, 2008 16
The salvation army?? Good idea.
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5:53 pm on December 24th, 2008 17
@5
Tom, you simply sound like a Korean with ill will toward the United States in general.
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5:54 pm on December 24th, 2008 18
Correction @10 (Tom)
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6:19 pm on December 24th, 2008 19
Afghanistan would be nice but Korea should send the Zaytun Unit back to Iraq. If Korea doesn’t send them, I think it would be a good time to seize Korean assets in America.
Fortunately, Bush signed an executive order, “Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq,” to confiscate the assets of US citizens and organizations who “directly or indirectly” pose a risk to US operations in Iraq.
This seems like a perfect time to apply this. Maybe we can put some of the war protesters in the poorhouse, too.
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6:47 pm on December 24th, 2008 20
If we pulled our troops out of Korea, we would not have to worry about having other countries help support the war. Let them take care of there own country, with there own troops, weapons, and money. Heck, even a child is expected to be able to walk on his own feet after a while. It is was past time for Korea to defend itself. Over 50 years, and at last they have only Korean troops on the DMZ.
Pull the complete 2ID out, and station them in Hawaii, and deploy them from there as needed to other areas.
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6:56 pm on December 24th, 2008 21
@8
“Korean government took the necessary measure to protect its soldiers, but your government decided to send your soldiers to die in Iraq for, oh my God, what was the reason?????”
Well, Dr. Yu, if nothing else, the despots around the world learned that they could be brought to account for all their crimes. I’m sure the dear leader just north of us took note. And if one were to give a rebuttal that Bush is a war criminal or a despot, I simply say ‘rubbish.’ The fact of the matter is the U.N. and most of the ‘free world’ doesn’t have the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the Saddam Hussein’s of the world. If I were to oppose American intervention in places like Iraq, it would be because of the ingratitude of those who would rather live under a despot than have a foreign power physically uproot these kinds of regimes. Frankly, I think most of the world resents the United States simply because of its present strength and willingness to intervene militarily in troubled places. A Korean in a significant position of leadership once voiced this thought to me also.
P.S. I say all this out of no blind love for my own country. I see all too well the significant current problems with the United States.
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10:56 pm on December 24th, 2008 22
I have a better ideal. Pull all the troops out of Korea and ship them all to Afghanistan to fight and die there. All Korean soldiers return home. Problem/controversy solved.
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11:25 pm on December 24th, 2008 23
I’m all for pulling the troops out of Korea, Tom. However, the “fight and die there” thing is quite hateful. Hate isn’t good for one’s soul.
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12:17 am on December 25th, 2008 24
@In Seoul
“tom” is an “american” corean. He hates the USA, like “yu” does. Time to open your eyes buddy.
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12:26 am on December 25th, 2008 25
@DrTrue
You are probably right about Tom. However, you are wrong about me; I do not hate the United States. You are reading too much into my statement about U.S. troop withdrawl from Korea.
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1:18 am on December 25th, 2008 26
“Dr.” Yu and “tom” aren’t the same idiot? There’s more than one? I’ll never understand these kimchi-Americans whom hate the US so much.
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1:45 am on December 25th, 2008 27
@DrTrue
Oh, I see; I read you wrong. You meant Dr. Yu. I thought you were talking about me. Actually, I’m a veteran with an American flag hanging on my wall. My thought is that if the U.S. is not welcomed in Korea, we can always do what we did in the Philippians—pull out. Fortunately, there are a lot of Koreans who do not share Tom’s view. I’m hopeful that Tom will change his view as the years go on. My guess is that he is still pretty young.
Leon, it’s not worth trying to understand them; it only leads to vexation. However, I have read Dr. Yu before. I do not think his view of Americans is quite as negative as Tom’s. However, I think he is very proud of Korean.
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8:18 am on December 25th, 2008 28
I love USA as much as GI or most Americans here love Korea, which is, I don’t hate the USA but I don’t agree with some things the USA does.
Now, something I have noticed reading Americans expat’s blogs is how Americans are unable to tolerate critics.
It is an illusion calling the USA the land of freedom and democracy, when you are called an idiot just because you dared to say something different from the majority in an educated manner. Most of criticism toward the Zaitun unit here are based on emotional arguments rather than rational, and I was just trying to show it.
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2:55 pm on December 25th, 2008 29
#28
“It is an illusion calling the USA the land of freedom and democracy, when you are called an idiot just because you dared to say something different from the majority in an educated manner.”
What illusion? That’s exactly the greatness of our freedom and democracy: that we have the freedom to call the lowliest person to the President an idiot. When we are on the receiving end of criticism, most of us are thick skinned enough to deal with it, and those who aren’t will have to suck it up.
Yet we find here in Korea there is an effort to criminalize public criticism on the Internet because a few people harmed themselves over it. Not to be stereotypical, but that seems like evidence that American society is much more able to tolerate critics than Korean’s.
I prefer our version of freedom and democracy.
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5:58 pm on December 25th, 2008 30
The US borrows $10 billion a month from communist China to support the Iraq war. I wonder when the communist Chinese will demand repayment.
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6:17 pm on December 25th, 2008 31
Hi Greg.
Good point but… I wonder how they will collect.
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6:58 pm on December 25th, 2008 32
The Taliban may see a silver lining in a deployment of Korean troops to Afghanistan. If it is true that they were paid millions for the release of the Christian missionaries, how much may Korea be willing to pay for a handful of captured Korean soldiers? Personally, I don’t favour the idea of sending Korean troops to Afghanistan; it’s not worth all the potential trouble: street protests in Korea, the fallout from potential casualties, etc.
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