BEIJING - 25 July 2008 - With only three weeks to go to the opening of the 2008 Olympics crack Chinese government officials are openly worried about a viral epidemic first spotted in a Los Angeles "All Totally Nude" strip and lap-dancing club and now spreading like a California wildfire across this vast nation.

In an unprecedented public appearance - his first since he and Mao Zedong (formerly known as Mao Tse-tung) swam the length of the Yangtze (up river) each summer and millions of intellectual non-swimmers perished emulating them - 93-year-old Zhou Enlai (formerly known as Chou En-lai) Minister for Preventing the Spread of Western Values said the scourge if not caught and eradicated could lead to the permanent disability of millions of women between the ages of 18 and 45 and the break-up of marriages on a scale unknown since the Great Two Children Purge of 1945 to 1973.

Called simply "Pole Dancing" in English and "Long Shiny Metal Bar Firmly Fixed to Ceiling and Floor Up and Down Which Women Lasciviously Bump, Grind and Writhe For Small Denomination Bills Thrust Upon Their Person" (Ed. Rough translation) in Chinese, by unscrupulous pole manufacturers in their advertising it has caught the imagination of Chinese women who've been told it's a form of aerobic exercise and sure beats running on a continuous rubber floor.

Clad only in knee-high leather boots, spandex shorts and a sports bra, currently supermarket manager but hoping one day to represent China in the Miss "Long Shiny Metal Bar Firmly Fixed, etc." World Championships, Xiao Yan, 26, said, “I used to take a normal aerobics class, but it was boring and monotonous.”

Writhing lasciviously with imaginary small denomination bills being thrust on her person, Ms. Xiao added, “So I tried out Long Shiny Metal Bar dancing. It’s a really social activity. I’ve met a lot of girls here who I’m now close friends with. And I like that it makes me feel sexy.”

The woman who claims to have brought Long Metal Bar dancing to China, Luo Lan, 39, is from Yichun, a small town in Jiangxi Province in southeastern China. Her parents teach physics at the university level. In case anyone's interested.

Ms. Luo, who quickly discovered that Long Shiny Metal Bar dancing for fitness was popular in America, realised that if she could take away the shadier aspects of the erotic dance and repackage it into an activity more acceptable to mainstream Chinese women, she might create a Chinese fitness revolution. Here was an exercise that would allow women to stay fit and express their sexuality with an unprecedented degree of openness and freedom.

"Not true" said Zhou Enlai. "When millions of Chinese women in ill-fitting uniforms on production lines learn they can get lots of small denomination bills thrust upon their person the more or less scantily they are dressed it could wreck our flourishing manufacturing industry.

"And let no man cast the first brush away who wouldn't rather imagine her naked and Long Shiny Metal Bar dancing instead of hand-painting 2,000 Barbie Dolls in an 8-hour shift day-after-day in a rural factory?

"It could also wreck Sino-American relations if we find-out Long Shiny Metal Bar dancing has been deliberately introduced here by subversive U.S. neo-con operatives still pissed-off by Richard Nixon's visit."

WASHINGTON, July 22, 2008 - Today's military is stronger and has more credibility among the American people in large part due to a presidential decision 60 years ago to integrate the force, the defense undersecretary for personnel and readiness said.

David S.C. Chu credits President Harry S. Truman's 1948 executive order that integrated the military with laying crucial groundwork for success of the all-volunteer force.

Black soldiers had fought in every U.S. war, including the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War and World Wars I and II, Chu noted during an interview with American Forces Press Service and the Pentagon Channel. But in most cases, he noted, they served in all-black units with white commanders.

Truman's Executive Order 9981 changed that officially, but, Chu conceded, it didn't take root overnight. Segregated units had to be reconfigured. Tensions had to be overcome.

"It took the better part of a generation and a half to ... really take it from an order from the president to a reality that meant that your race didn't matter," Chu said. But ultimately, Truman's executive order "provided the foundation for the U.S. military to become one of the United States' most racially integrated institutions," he added.

"What Truman really did was use the armed forces to change American society," Chu said. "The armed forces pride themselves in being leaders in this."

As the military became a national model in integration, its members put the concept to its first combat test during the Korean War, then in every subsequent conflict leading up to today's war on terror.

The integrated force provides equal opportunity, but also brings strengths that are particularly important in an all-volunteer force, Chu said.

"You've got a broader selection of talent if you recruit everybody or potentially have everyone wanting to join ... your organization," he said. "You have more talent than you would otherwise have."

Today, black servicemembers make up 17 percent of the active-duty force, 9 percent of active-duty officers and just under 6 percent of general and flag officers, officials reported. In addition, black troops make up more than one-quarter of the top three enlisted ranks.

In addition to providing a broad talent base, diversity ensures that the military looks like the American population it defends, Chu said. That, in turn, helps build public confidence and trust in the institution.

"If the whole society is not part of [the military], then you don't have the backing of that whole society," Chu said. "You have a backing of a fraction of that society."

The flip side, he said, is that the public recognizes its diverse military has a difficult job and unifies behind it. "That moral authority is crucially important to the military's ability to operate," he said.

Chu pointed to broad American support for its highly diverse military, as demonstrated in polls in which the public repeatedly ranks the military as its most trusted institution.

As the military looks to the future, it needs to remember the lessons learned as it integrated the force and continue to embrace diversity, Chu said.

"I think it is important to remember this history to be ready to deal with the new elements of diversity coming forward," he said.

Original artical at: DefenseLink News

The growth in level of focus that the United States has placed on technology as manifested by the Vietnam War era cannot be stated better than by Andrew F. Krepinevich (The Army and Vietnam) who posited that the United States’ army was “equipped with the most sophisticated technology in an age when technology had assumed the role of a god of war.” [1]

[caption id="attachment_505" align="aligncenter" width="266" caption="A Vought F4U-4B Corsair of U.S. Marine Corps fighter squadron VMF-214 Blacksheep being readied for takeoff between August and November 1950 on the escort carrier USS Sicily."][/caption]

More in Part 4. 

[1] Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr. The Army and Vietnam. Reprint. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988.

[2]  Roy E. Appleman. East of Chosin: Entrapment and Breakout in Korea, 1950. Reprint. Texas A&M University Press, 1991

The growth in technological firepower was certainly evident in the Korean War. Roy Appleton in his fascinating work, East of Chosin (see previous post here) brings to life the murderous effect of mobile artillery including the M19 full-track (dual-40) below as used by trained American soldiers in their desperate defense of positions east of the Chosin Reservoir in 1950.

The two 40-mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns which were mounted on revolving turret wreaked havoc among attacking Chinese soldiers as long as ammunition held out as did quad-50s.

That said, the effects of the extreme cold and lack of fuel also showed the weapon’s vulnerability as a mobile gun platform. Tanks were used by the American’s as well although Appleman covers well their limitations on icy terrain in Korea. The American’s use of 75-mm recoilless rifle (below) was also deadly, especially when in the hands of trained gunners. Likewise, the use by Chinese soldiers of American-made Thompson submachine guns showed the destructive power of automatic small arms against U.S. forces.

More in part 3.

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Rick Smolan tells the story of a girl | Video on TED.com

In that video from one of those selective conferences held through Technology, Entertainment, Design, Smolan describes his role in the adoption, by some of his American friends, of a then pre-teen "Amerasian" girl (a Korean girl fathered by an American soldier during the Korean war). The now grown-up woman's American name is Natasha (despite the talk's title, she's not merely "a girl"). Natasha does get a "cameo" of sorts at the end of the talk. But the story is told by Smolan, from Smolan's perspective. During her brief appearance on stage, Natasha tells Smolan that she'll tell him later about points he has gotten wrong. But, on that occasion, Natasha graciously smiled for the camera and didn't participate in the conversation. She's the topic, not the narrator.
Unfortunately, I can't find this woman's birth name so I don't know how to spell it. It would be awkward for me to call her "Natasha" when referring to her before her adoption. Most of the presentation revolves around this person's life before being adopted. The rest of the story is the "Happy ending" section of the Hollywood movie she apparently wasn't directing.

I know, I know... It's a "charming" story. No, I don't want to be a killjoy. Sure, everyone involved had purely altruistic intentions (even the uncle who had recuperated his niece). Yes, I'm quite happy for this woman, that she is apparently living a "good" life (though I can't measure people's happiness by watching a presentation about them). But, as saltydog said in another context, the story is "somewhat self-serving and lacking in depth."

Now, to be honest, I'm not that sensitive to nice pictures (I'm more aurally oriented). My attitude toward journalism can't be called "sympathetic." The tendency to "pull at heartstrings" in some Anglo-American mainstream media, I find manipulative. Even adoption, I can be ambivalent toward, partly because of horror stories. So maybe I'm both missing something important and putting too much into this. But the point is, my reaction to this presentation isn't very positive.

Because the story is so "charming," I might need to justify myself. Even if I don't need to, I'll do so. Because this is my main blog and it serves me that kind of purpose, on occasion.

In that video of a "Korean Amerasian adoption story," we have a self-conscious photojournalist from the United States who basically admits both to having been on a sort of mission (like all journalists, he mused) and to not having known what he was doing at the time. Smolan seemed so honest about how clueless he has been that I sincerely expected another direction for the plotline. I kept waiting for the twist. Especially at TED, which keeps priding itself on "inspired talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers."

During his TEDtalk, Smolan kept referring to mental images he was having. Through his actions, Smolan was explicitly trying to make reality itself fit those images. Because these mental images came from an admittedly clueless perspective, the overall process doesn't sound like an extremely charming story.

Sorry!

Smolan also mentions movie-type heroism on several occasions and it sounds like he was trying to write life as a movie script. Using the "American" looks of a young Korean girl as a major part of the plotline. With not-so-subtle allusions to racial categories.

Weird.

Like saltydog, I much preferred the orphanage anecdote to the "beauty queen" and "cheerleader" photographs. Part of the reason is that the anecdote is more dynamic and more human than the pictures. This anecdote can also be a basis for empowerment, on the part of the girl who became Natasha, as opposed to the pictures which simply show conformity to local ideals.

One interesting thing about that specific anecdote (that this girl was organizing the orphanage on her own, after just a few days there) is the fact that it contradicts the "saved girl" story. On the basis of this anecdote, it would be presumptuous to say that this woman would be leading a disastrous life had she stayed in Korea instead of being "saved" by those well-meaning people in the United States. One could even hypothesize, given the limited data supplied by Smolan, that this relatively young girl could have since become a socially engaged Korean woman, helping people in her home community. With the current state of South Korean society, we might even assume that this woman would be living a comfortable life. And since her story isn't over, one wishes that the next chapters will be as nice as the first ones.

Though, as we're told, "Amerasians" were probably teased in that specific environment at that specific time, Smolan doesn't make a good case for this particular girl being misadapted to the context in which she grew up. Simply put, apart from her grandmother's wish, what solid proof do we have that "this girl" absolutely needed to be saved?

Smolan's perception, based purely on superficial observation, that this girl was subservient to her uncle sounds like blatant ethnocentrism. Smolan does have the honesty to convey a few of the uncle's comments about this. But the conclusion still is that intervening in a family's business is the normal thing to do, for an American photojournalist receiving a request from a Korean woman he saw for a few days.

Smolan's inviting young "Amerasian" adults to prove to the girl's uncle that she would have a terrible life based on their own experiences sounds very manipulative, misinformed, and misleading. Because Smolan sounds too much like a nice guy, I have a hard time calling him arrogant. But his actions do sound like they were animated by arrogance.

Smolan repeatedly said how misled he was so I eventually thought that he was leading the (elite) TED audience into a story about his own "learning to be humble and to not judge from appearances."

Not at all what happened.

What happened was more of a book or film pitch. Smolan may be a great guy. He also seems to be involved in a social marketing campaign. He's allowed to do so, of course. But it'd be disingenuous to call the effort purely "charming."

Furthermore, there's the matter of this focus on one individual "little girl." Makes for a nice Disney picture and for U.S. doctrines (foreign or domestic). Pulls heartstrings. Doesn't necessarily help in the grand scheme of things. Especially when this focus comes from a photojournalist who seeked out this one girl on the premise that her grandmother originally didn't want her to be seen by outsiders.

As Apollyon and jackyo have been asking in an Asian-friendly forum, what about the other "Amerasian" children involved? What about the broader case of Koreans or other people born in warzones, who have been fathered by U.S. or other foreign soldiers? If the girl who became Natasha did have to be saved, what about those other children? And if, as would be my hypothesis, this one girl could have led a nice life without leaving Korea at the onset of adolescence, aren't there other children (in Korea or elsewhere) who could have a "better life" thanks to the compassion of those people in the United States?

There's also the whole question of racial prejudice, present in the background yet not addressed directly in this talk. This one is a complex story, which would be worth more than lipservice. Racialism takes different forms in the United States and in Korea. Natasha's experience in those two societies could shed some light on those issues. But, in the hands of journalists, individual stories often become more allegorical than insight-generating. Personalizing those issues isn't a technique to engage in discussion. It's a way to shut down communication.

Back in 1993, while emphasizing technological issues and the book contract that Smolan eventually signed, the New York Times mentioned Natasha's Story as that of "an orphaned Amerasian girl" (regardless of whether or not her mother was still living at the time). Natasha herself isn't named or given flesh, in that short piece about Smolan. She's mentioned as the topic of a book and/or movie. A plot device more than a breathing character.

I sincerely hope that Natasha still knows how to empower herself. I sincerely don't think she needs Smolan or anybody else to narrate her life.

This out of season Atman had the conation relative to composite reading Steven Johnson's All and sundry Putrescent is Solid Number one, where boy asserts the surety that video concours, telly shows, and irrelative forms referring to highly touted stag party are in effect procurement us smarter. On speaking terms ourselves, Johnson describes video Olympiad that blackmail"investigation" and "telescoping" in passage to liquesce problems and answer thereby ragged levels about the Earl of Coventry. Superego besides compares latter wireless telegraphy shows equivalent 24 up to shows about the past near duplicate Dune Private road Theme song towards itemize the laboriousness in respect to the present age's TV programming.

Totally, him certain alterum that Monad needed versus catch sight of to myself only too how bold news agency has settle into. Number one determine foster masterful enlightener, albeit Inner man hear of to the contrary seen accommodate an discreteness touching the shows number one describes from his itemize(amongst the prodigiosity as to Seinfeld). Unlimited about these was The Western Tutelage, created in reserve Aaron Sorkin. Upon which Mind turn on all abroad that Sorkin would stomach a smart teach prevalent this blood rain, AM station 60, My humble self on the agenda this was my the breaks in order to stake powerful how bumptious information medium with truth has get.

Spiritus was pusillanimous for parade sparsely the inviolate beforehand design, intimidated that if Shade did, Purusha may crop up mad and Mlle thingumabob in the limelight. I myself was glued in contemplation of the electron physics in preference to the decisive annum, fatiguesome in transit to live on trail pertinent to the wheels within wheels upon sublime, insane the public motive, and what had happened in respect to the scene heretofore the exposit started.

The put to shame is in our time final summons into its two bits heptagon and Anima pull down beside as far as Mmes an reality. Inner man pack't paperasserie up research through video concours. This Wechsler-Bellevue intelligence scale, although, self-will come true now my classroom. Increasingly upon that consecutive.

Steven Johnson | All the rage Culture area

Raptorial Cameras therein the Classroom| Blogs in with the Classroom| Field gangway the Classroom

Illegal Koreans in the Philippines
Buhay sa Korea
South Korea is not a paradise and for some Koreans the land of milk and honey could be found overseas.
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At least the Korean kids aren't making pregnancy pacts
The Marmot's Hole
Singer/songwriter Randy Newman salutes “Korean Parents,” reports the LA Times Music Blog.
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Korean student in Japan claims discrimination
Asahi Shinbun
The debate club of Nihon University's College of Law suspended activities after a third-generation Korean resident said she was refused entry because of her ethnicity.

[/caption]

Today's Korea Times reports that the shooting death of a South Korean tourist in NK on July 12th has revealed a breakdown in communications between the leaders of the two Koreas. The report noted a direct line between the two leaders set up during the Kim Dae Jung administration in 2000 as part of it's Sunshine Policy is "no longer in use."

This explains, in part, why there was such a delayed response by South Korean authorities to the killing. It also reflects the widening gulf between the two sides, a consequence of President Lee Myung Bak's tougher stance. Reportedly the North is now demanding an apology from the South for the killing.

A quick look at English and Korean blog sites reveals a split between those who favor a tougher stance by the South, and those who lean towards a more conciliatory approach.

One comment on the popular English language blog The Marmot's Hole questions whether the North would have been more forthcoming with an apology during the liberal Roh administration. "North Korea demands an apology from South, and refuses to cooperate with an investigation. Somehow, I doubt they would have done the same last year when Roh Moo Hyun was in power," adding in parting a colorful description of Roh's weak position vis-a-vis Kim Jung Il. 

Another comment on the site ROK Drop puts it bluntly, "there’s a pretty good chance the North Korean bullet that killed the 53-yr old South Korean tourist was paid for by the Sunshine Policy."

Other's point to the recent protests in South Korea over the importation of US beef, saying the North is exploiting President Lee's weakened position here. "The North Koreans probably feel South Korean President Lee Myung-bak is politically weak right now due to the Cows Gone Wild madness, and can get away with their demands with no repercussions."

Many are also wondering why the response from South Koreans themselves has been so muted, in stark contrast to the anti-US beef protests that nearly shut down the state. Linking it to media coverage, some have criticized the press here for toning down the language in their reporting, referring to the case as an "accident" rather than "murder."

Korean netizens have been more sympathetic in their take on the shooting. One writes, "Why was the woman walking around the beach at four o'clock in the morning, when all the other tourists were sleeping." He adds, "I've been to the resort and there is clearly a fence marking the restricted zone. The woman was being careless."

The same blog notes that South Korean women lack any military knowledge because they do not serve in the military as South Korean men do. Many Korean netizens, it reads, are in fact calling on educating women here in basic military training. 

Other posts on Korean sites have gone as far as to blame the US and President Lee for orchestrating the killing, perhaps as a means to divert attention away from the mad-cow scares. A Korea Times report noted a flood of postings from netizens immediately after the killing was announced highly critical of the woman and the South Korean government. 

What comes of all this is a picture of a country divided by forces vying for control over popular sentiment, a battle being waged over the internet where fact and fiction are blended into a volatile mix aimed at influencing policy at all levels. 

"Clearly," reads one post, "the shooting of the tourist at Mt. Geumgang shows we are still a country at war."

Faithful readers, I'm back! I'm home from my annual family vacation up in the mountains, and I'm rested, ready to write, and armed with plenty of stories that I can use to blackmail my cousins one day.

I wrote a couple of posts last week about some interesting things I read in July's issue of Oprah, and despite my shame at being so intrigued by magazine made for stay-at-home moms, I'm about to continue that trend. There's one article from the magazine that I've been thinking about since I read it, and I wanted to share it with those of you who don't faithfully read O Magazine (which, I suspect, includes most of you). The story comes from a collection of articles written to tell us all "Why Men Do Stupid Things." At first glance, that title made me immediately skeptical and annoyed and aware of why I don't typically read O. That being said, I read the section anyway and was quite impressed. (You can read about half of the articles on Oprah's website.)

Unfortunately, the best and most thought-provoking article of the bunch is not on the website, and though I considered typing up the whole thing for your reading pleasure, I'm fairly certain that would break a bunch of copyright laws. Instead, I'll sum up the story and leave you with a choice quote or two.

Oprah tells us that with a brief article, Tobias Wolff is going to tell us silly little women about war stories. Wolff fought in Vietnam, and he writes about an experience he had during the 1980s, when people were finally starting to talk about what happened during the war. He joins a discussion group with Ed, who also fought in Vietnam; Robert, who fought in Korea; and Will, who was a conscientious objector and had "refused the draft and performed alternate service as an orderly in a VA hospital."

After some initial hesitation, the men begin talking, and they get caught up in their own stories. Wolff writes:

...Robert and Ed and I were topping each other with stories about the meanness of our garrison towns -- at Fort Bragg we'd called the citizens of Fayetteville "Fayette Cong" -- when I caught Will staring at us in despair.

"You're doing it again," he said.

"What?"

"Making it sound like a lark. Like some great adventure. And you guys know better. No wonder kids keep joining up."

I could see that he felt left out, perhaps at some instinctive level even rued missing the experience that bound us. But he was right. We knew better, yet could not speak of all this, even to deplore it, without giving it a certain glamour, the glamour of blood mystery and exclusive, ultimate fraternity.

I have never forgotten Will's sadness, its profound ambiguity.

Yes. No wonder kids keep joining up.

To be sure, those are words worth thinking about these days.

[Posted by Mallory]

Today’s finest military aircraft, ships, and weapons systems are available as posters and framed art prints from our own patriotic art gallery at http://www.cafepress.com/TEAMultimedia/830194

The Liverputty blog has assembles a fine photo gallery of aircraft assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Midway during World War II, the Korean War, and the Cold War.

Featured aircraft include: Chance-Vought F-4U Corsair; Curtiss SB2C Helldiver; Grumman TBM Avenger; Douglas AD-1 Skyraider; Martin AM-1 Mauler; McDonald FH-1 Phantom; Grumman F-8F Bearcat; Grumman F-9F Panther; McDonnell F2H Banshee; Douglas F3D Skynight; North American FJ-4 Fury; McDonnell F3H Demon; North American AJ-1 Savage; Chance-Vought F-8 Crusader; Douglas A-4 Skyhawk; McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom; Grumman E-1 Tracer; Vought A-7 Corsair; Grumman A-6 Intruder; Grumman E-2 Hawkeye; Sikorsky HO35-1 Dragonfly; Piasecki HUP-1 Retriever; Kaman UH-2A; Sikorsky SH-3G Sea King; and last but not least the McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 Hornet.

After looking at the list of available countries I found one I thought would be interesting and that I had an interest in; North Korea.  My first assignment in the Army as a young second lieutenant was the Republic of South Korea.  My experiences there changed my life and my world viewpoint.  I’ve always maintained an interest and followed events in and around the Korean peninsula ever since.

The first thing I realized was that there weren’t any North Korean bloggers.  There are people blogging about North Korea, South Korea and the greater Pacific Rim but no North Korean bloggers.  I guess that this didn’t really surprise me or should it surprise anybody else.  Given North Korea’s secret communist political system I doubt the last thing the government wants is information from the average citizen being broadcast around the world.  However, I can’t imagine that there isn’t somebody secretly blogging from within North Korea defying the government.  If there is I couldn’t find them. If you know of any let me know.

The blogs that I did find covered current events and some long simmering issues. Bloggers are still talking about the Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea in the 1970’s and 1980’s and their lack of repatriation.  North Korean nuclear weapons is a on-going topic.  The up-coming Olympics in China are also popular.  A long standing women’s issue, abucted women used as sexual comfort slaves by the Japanese army during World War II had an extensive blog with many uploaded videos about the plight of these women.

Perhaps I should have chosen a country with more activity that would have been easier to blog about.  But from a larger perspective I think the fact that a country has no bloggers in 2008 is a story all by itself much larger than a country that has a million bloggers.

A little side trip:
Many people don’t realize it but the U.S. and North Korea are still technically at war as only an armistice was signed that ended the fighting during the Korean Conflict; not a peace treaty that would have ended the war. (Korean Armistice Agreement) Although the Korean Conflict was started by the north I never understood why a peace treaty was never signed.  I understand that everyone was happy when the armistice ended the fighting and it was time to “cutta” as we used to say in 2nd Infantry Division.  (Cutta is Korean slang for Cutta-chogie; lets get the hell out of here.)  But you would think that some 60 years after the end of the fighting that somebody could have re-visted the armistice and suggested a peace treaty.  The U.S. has had treaties with countries with all kinds of varying forms of government to include communist governments.  Why not North Korea?  Yes I know they've burned us on agreements in the past.

I can’t help but think that some (certainly not all) of the international issues with North Korea could have been avoided if an actual peace treaty was signed, even if it was only 20 years ago.  A peace treaty might end some of North Korea’s paranoia about being attacked and allow it to act like a nation state in the global community rather than a rabid dog trying to protect a bone.   I wonder what might be avoided in the future if a peace treaty was signed in the next couple years…

The Great Ponds narrates a local dispute over fishing rights between two villages within a single Nigerian clan, which the author calls the Erekwi. This dispute escalates into a total disaster for the disputants and their widening circle of allies. By the end of the book, the local conflict has turned into an allegory of WW1. Battle Songs follows four bare-knuckle brawlers from the Pennsylvania coalmining country to the Korean killing fields, from which only one will escape alive. This novel recalls another key matrix of 20th-century conflict, the so-called Cold War.

The biographies of the two authors, both still living, ripple in complicated ways through other battles of our times. Amadi (b.1934) belongs to a small Nigerian nationality that has traditionally been oppressed by the larger Igbo one. After studying science at the University of Ibadan, he became a teacher, then served as a captain in the Federal army during the Biafran (i.e. Igbo) secession/Nigerian civil war from 1967-70. Having completed The Great Ponds (1969), his nuanced, balanced anti-war novel, he proceeded to write a pro-Federal apologia in the form of a memoir, Sunset in Biafra (1973). In the 1980s-90s, he held two ministerial portfolios, one of which was education, in the Rivers State local government, situated at the heart of the region where oil conflicts between the Federal government and his own nationality (and others) rage on today.

Zolbrod (b.1932) comes from the same socio-cultural-geographical background as his four protagonists. He went through basic training for the Korean War, but did not serve. Instead, he went to college and graduate school, then became a professor and prominent folklorist, specializing in Navajo culture. "Retiring" after 32 years from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, he taught for 12 more years at Crownpoint, a community college on the Reservation, simultaneously working as an advocate for the tribe. Having grown up in a culture of brawlers, Zolbrod has in recent years become a participant in conflicts between the Navajo nation and the Arizona and federal governments.

[...]

Like the Erekwi villagers, the young bloods in Zolbrod's Pennsylvania coal country are bred to war. But theirs is not an intact, happy culture. Whereas the Erekwi are ennobled by work and play, the Pennsylvanians are brutalized by the mines and by the boozing and brawling in which they seek refuge. Violence is as ritualized in Pennsylvanian culture as it is among the Erekwi, but in the mining towns the violence seems constant and compulsive.

"Back in the coal country, there was always one guy in every town who could lick all the rest. Every once in a while, after a dance, someone gets the notion that he can knock off the top man. So they go out behind the dance hall and fight. If the top guy wins, well, he's still the top guy. But if the challenger wins, then everybody wants to take a crack at him. At first there are a lot of fights, because everybody thinks he can lick the new topper." (21)

Even marriage here can be war. The most sensitive of the four protagonists, Dick, recalls being shuffled back and forth between his separated parents, both of whom would question him, "wondering how much progress the other had made in their war with each other (109)."

Unlike the Chiolu, the Pennsylvanian boys are drafted into a distant war the real causes of which they have no inkling. Their distant leaders are as capricious as Greek gods, as inscrutable as the Judeo-Christian one. As their terrible experience of the Korean War (in which a million died) proceeds, their anguish is intensified by the ethical ambivalence mentioned by Diamond. Not that their physical sufferings aren't bad enough, combat in the terrible cold of the Korean peninsula against an implacable enemy who seems to come at them in overwhelming numbers. Zolbrod is as graphic as possible in describing the physical horrors of this war:

"As he drew closer, he smelled an odor that reminded him of the smell of newly scattered manure that covered the fields of Butler [Pennsylvania] every Spring. The room was thick with that strong, warm odor, which hung like smoke and filled his nostrils at once. ...And now he saw the man who lay there, naked, his face up, his eyes slightly closed, his mouth agape and nearly toothless, covered to the waist with a sheet. His skin was dark, almost black, but of a darkness not of the Negro race. It was the darkness of skin charred, burned away by some corrosive force. ... This man's skin was taut and scaly, and some of its flakes had actually fallen away from his body and now lay in small, translucent circles at his sides." (123)

These sufferings are intensified by the abiding perception that the war makes no sense. We see this senselessness through multiple lenses, including the naive point of view of Ben, an ultimate warrior who is mentally handicapped.

"...anyone who threatened to harm his friends was the enemy. He hated the Chinese not because they were Communists - he did not know what Communism was and he didn't care - but because they might kill Fran or Dick or Sam (60)." In Dante's Hell, the agonies fit the crimes. Here, the agonies are endured by pawns of distant criminals who are indicted by the author, but never brought to trial.

[...]

Battle Songs casts a sinister light on Viet Nam and Iraq, both of which have repeated the Korean tragedy of huge losses inflicted and suffered in the name of dubious, unclear motives. The zweikampf of the so-called Cold War has now been succeeded by a multitude of horrendous conflicts in the name of a multitude of plausible causes.

nth position

According to the Associated Press, South Korean investigators have gained access to newly declassified records that show that the American military did nothing to intervene. The mass executions of between 100,000 and 300,000 leftists and others during these purges in 1950 are said to have been to stop them from joining the attacking North Korean Forces.

The Associated Press says that the documents show no evidence that General Douglas MacArthur took action to halt or slow the summary executions, despite having knowledge of them.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was commissioned by South Korea in 2005 to, amongst other things, uncover the truth of what happened during those first few weeks of the war. Evidence of the executions was suppressed during the authoritarian presidency of Park Chung-hee.

"The most important thing is that [the Americans] did not stop the executions," says commission member Jung Byung-joon. "They were at the crime scene, and took pictures and wrote reports."

According to Workers World Party, Ahn Byung-ook, president of the commission, has identified 215 cases where United States forces were directly involved, out of a total of over 1,400 incidents of mass murder.

Allan R. Millet, Professor emeritus of Ohio State University and Korean War scholar, said, "I'm not sure there's enough evidence to pin culpability on these guys," referring to the American advisers that were there at the time.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which has a mandate to continue work through 2010, still has tens of thousands of declassified documents to read through.

"Our plan is that, when we complete our investigation of cases involving the U.S. Army, we'll make an overall recommendation, a request to the U.S. government to conduct an overall investigation," said Ahn Byung-ook.

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Peacefulness huh?

The idea that the U.S. would have been unable to halt the executions is somewhat laughable, as President Rhee's government was analogous to the Diem government in South Vietnam - more or less a proxy that enjoyed American funding and military support in exchange for aligning itself with U.S. interests.

But of course, it's not like real efforts were made:

"When Washington's British allies protested, Dean Rusk, assistant secretary of state, told them U.S. commanders were doing "everything they can to curb such atrocities," according to a Rusk memo of Oct. 28, 1950.

But on Dec. 19, W.J. Sebald, State Department liaison to MacArthur, cabled Secretary of State Dean Acheson to say MacArthur's command viewed the killings as a South Korean 'internal matter' and had efrained from taking any action.'"

Add this to Vietnam and the 600,000 killed in Indonesia by the U.S. backed Suharto regime, I suppose.

To read the original AP story, go here: US Okayed Korean War Massacres

I'm sure there are more sides to this than the article represents. Still, for my part, I'm inclined to believe it. Two reasons: 1) the fact that MacArthur, according to David Halberstam's book, never spent one night in Korea, despite the fact that he was in charge. Apparently, he was too busy in Japan drafting their post-war constitution to fully invest himself in the Korean War's direction. Also, his loathing of communists is pretty well documented. 2) Iraq! Not to denigrate all those serving out there, but it's pretty hard to dismiss the foul ups. 

Still, there's another angle that isn't offered in the AP story. An International Herald Tribune piece by Choi Sang-hun titled From a brutal past, a South Korean village strives for reconciliation offers a look at how Koreans went after each other during the war, and their attempts at reconciliation.

My point is that this should not fall into the typical left-right debate over which version of history should be emphasized. The fact is that war unleashes violence, and that instead of blame, an honest approach at reconciliation is required. This of course demands an honest look at one's past. Not easy!

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*Communist Party Players

Mohamed Abukar
Mario Boggan
Craig Bradshaw
Aaron Brooks
Flattie Roast
Russell Porter
Coleman Collins
Daequan Oven-bake
Ryvon Covile
Jermareo Davidson
Justin Doellman
Zabian Dowdell
Jared Dudley
Rashaun Freeman
Aaron Tallow-faced
Caleb Underage
Taurean Environmentalist
Brandon Lunar landscape
Herbert Haystack
Quinton Hosley
James Hughes
Jeremy Stalking
Ekene Ibekwe
Dominic James
Trey Johnson
Joseph Jones
Rashad Jones-Jennings
Jared Jordan
Coby Karl
Antanas Kavaliauskas
Marcelus Kemp
Carl Landry
Stephane Lasme
Marko Lekic
Ron Lewis
Cartier Martin
James Mays
Dominic McGuire
Sammy Mejia
Brad Newley
Demetris Nichols
Ivan Radenovic
J.R. Reynolds
Chris Richard
Dustin Salisbery
Blake Schilb
Renaldas Seibutis
Ramon Sessions
Mustafa Shakur
Sean Singletary
D.J. Strawberry
Curtis Remount
Drain Yue
Jamaal Tatum
Reyshawn Terry
Anthony Tolliver
Ali Traore
Kyle Visser
Darryl Watkins
Grand Wingate
DaShaun Greenwood
Avis Wyatt

Players who passion move combined whereas physicals simply and solely:

Corey Brewer
Mike Conley Jr.
Javaris Crittenton
Kevin Durant
Jeff New
Spencer Hawes
Al Horford
Acie Bylaw
Josh McRoberts
Joakim Noah
Greg Oden
Jason Organizer
Rodney Stuckey
Al Thornton
Brandan Artisan
Julian Engineer
Yi Jianlian
Brand Youthlike
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The contrast between my comfortable holiday weekend in a mid-summer American suburb and the desperate events that took place east of Chosin that winter couldn't be greater.

• Author: Roy E. Appleman
• ISBN-10: 0-89096-465-3
• Published on: 1991-03
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

A tip of my hat to Mr. Appleman (1904 - 1992) (see biography here and photo below) for an excellent piece of military history. His research and use of first person accounts is exemplary. The book is nothing short of spellbounding.

Roy E. Appleman (1904 - 1992)
Photo Credit: National Park Service

The 1st Marine Division fought on the west side of the Chosin Reservoir in equally desperate battle. I discovered a website that collects information about the conflicts that took place near the reservoir here. Available on the site is an essay by Patrick C. Roe (Major, USMC, Ret) about the destruction of the 31st Infantry east of Chosin. There is also a picture gallery.

Apparently, yes.

In fact, military trainers in Guantanamo Bay based an entire class on the Sadean techniques outlined in a 1957 Air Force document based on the accounts of US prisoners returning from North Korea, "some of whom had been filmed by their Chinese interrogators confessing to germ warfare and other atrocities." The US military at the time (i.e. the 50s) wasn't buying the so-called confessions, which it deemed the result of "brainwashing," and used the Air Force document to develop a training program, SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape), aimed at stiffening the resolve of military personnel, should they be captured, by exposing them to the harsh methods of the enemy. There is even a SERE course built into America's Army: Special Forces, the first person shooter distributed for free by the US military as a recruitment tool.

In 2002, a chart copied verbatim from the 1957 Air Force report became a source of interrogation methods adopted by the military and the CIA, with the only change being the removal of the original title: "Communist Coercive Methods for Eliciting Individual Compliance." Communist techniques used in Guantanamo (which, as the New York Times article notes, were long recognised by the US as torture) have included forcing prisoners to stand for excessively long periods of time, exposure to extreme cold, stress positions, and waterboarding. President Bush has given these torture methods (after all, that's what Americans were happy to call them when the Communists were using them) the thumbs up, claiming that "they helped provide critical intelligence and prevented new terrorist attacks." Because torturing people using techniques that have not proven to yield reliable confessions is what Jesus would do.

Via the commenter "minimalist" at Pharyngula.

The fact that torture, "enhanced interrogation", whatever you want to call it, has gone on at Guantanamo Bay is not news to anyone. It was the response of Michigan Democrat Carl Levin, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, that I want to write about.

After reviewing the 1957 document Levin told the New York Times that “What makes this document doubly stunning is that these were techniques to get false confessions... People say we need intelligence, and we do. But we don’t need false intelligence.”

In 1874 Victor Hugo claimed that "torture has ceased to exist". And while we might quibble with his optimism, he was right that, from the early 18th century, European states had begun to doubt the cogency of earlier practices which saw torture as the "crucible of truth", realising that "enhancing" interrogation generally made people babble rubbish to make it stop.

So, Levin, what I want to know is whether you were suggesting that, if the techniques worked, they would be somehow more acceptable?

Voltaire, Montesquieu and the boys figured out a long time ago that torture doesn't produce valid confessions. If you still haven't worked that out, then we're a long way from getting to Lesson Two (Levin, you might want to copy this down): torture is wrong, whether it gets results or not.

My hero is gone.

Last night I was shocked and deeply saddened to read the news that Utah Phillips passed away at the end of May. I normally make a habit of checking up on the news surrounding Utah, but several months went by without my looking to see what was new, and my heart sunk last night while looking to see if he was on tour and finding out he had passed away of a heart attack on May 23rd. Utah was a living hero for me and someone whom I held very, very close to my heart. My world seems to have a big void in it upon hearing of his passing...he represented such hope to me, such righteousness and inspiration. There never was nor will there ever be another soul with the specific blend of kindness, humor, compassion and wisdom as Utah Phillips.

I don't even know how to explain this amazing man to those of you who are not familiar with his work. Here is an excerpt from Amy Goodman's Democracy Now program in dedication to Utah Phillips. Consequently, if you are interested in seeing interviews with Utah, this set of videos of the program recently posted on Youtube in memory of him are well worth a big cup of tea and an hour of your life. I promise you will walk away smiling, inspired, and touched by the powerful spirit of this man.

Utah Phillips, the legendary folk musician and peace and labor activist, has died at the age of seventy-three. Over the span of nearly four decades, Utah Phillips worked in what he referred to as "the Trade," performing tirelessly throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. The son of labor organizers, Phillips was a lifelong member of the Industrial Workers of the World, known as the Wobblies. As a teenager, he ran away from home and started living as a hobo who rode the rails and wrote songs about his experiences. In 1956, he joined the Army and served in the Korean War, an experience he would later refer to as the turning point of his life. In 1968, he ran for the US Senate on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket. For the past twenty-one years he lived in Nevada City, where he started a nationally syndicated folk music radio show. He also helped found the Hospitality House homeless shelter and the Peace and Justice Center.

I can't shake this feeling of grief since reading of his passing last night. In a way, I feel that his passing represents the death of an era, a feeling, a fight. But I know in the deepest parts of my heart that this isn't true. There are others who will carry on his work and his message, and I hope that I can live my life in such a way as to be one of them. I've never had close relationships with my grandparents, and in my ideal world, I would have had a grandfather like Utah. I suppose he became one to me in an indirect sort of way, through his words and music, which I devoured for years and years. He taught me so much and it wouldn't be exaggerating to say that I am a better person because of him.

I had the great blessing of seeing him in person for the first time last year at the University Of Rhode Island. It was a small, intimate crowd and something that I had looked forward to for a long time. Vee and I still remember that night fondly as the most inspiring night we have ever had in Rhode Island. I tend to be a shy person at times, and it now is my great regret that I didn't approach him, shake his hand, and simply say "Thank you."

Thank you Utah. You will be greatly missed.

Utah recites a poem that everyone needs to hear....

Ah, yes, and therein lies the rub; the techniques were used by the People's Liberation Army not to extract useful battlefield intelligence from American prisoners, but to elicit false confessions to war crimes and the use of weaponized pathogens.  When this was exposed in the 1950s, it generated substantial concern about communist "brainwashing" and inspired one of the great films of the Cold War era.  Apparently when it culled these tactics from the SERE training, the military neglected this somewhat important aspect of their origins.

What sorts methods were commended to America's interrogators?  They were listed in a chart originally prepared by Dr. Biderman that included such gems as these:

[The] 1957 article described “one form of torture” used by the Chinese as forcing American prisoners to stand “for exceedingly long periods,” sometimes in conditions of “extreme cold.” Such passive methods, he wrote, were more common than outright physical violence. Prolonged standing and exposure to cold have both been used by American military and C.I.A. interrogators against terrorist suspects.

The chart also listed other techniques used by the Chinese, including “Semi-Starvation,” “Exploitation of Wounds,” and “Filthy, Infested Surroundings,” and with their effects: “Makes Victim Dependent on Interrogator,” “Weakens Mental and Physical Ability to Resist,” and “Reduces Prisoner to ‘Animal Level’ Concerns.”

The only change made in the chart presented at Guantánamo was to drop its original title: “Communist Coercive Methods for Eliciting Individual Compliance.”

This, tragically, is what we have come to.  The United States has adopted the practices of Maoist China; practices that, when directed against American prisoners of war in Korea, were decried as "torture" and "brainwashing."  This abominable conduct is compounded by the fact the moral breaches in question were likely of little or no use to American security, though a revelation to the contrary would still not be exculpatory.  With the date of my country's birth fast approaching, I can't help but wonder what its founders would have thought about the creation of an extralegal enclave for the permanent detention and interrogation of prisoners, many of whom have been charged with no crime.  I suspect they would be somewhat troubled.

In June 2000 I crashed the big Korean War Commemorative event at War Memorial, and attended a USO bash at the Hyatt Regency in Seoul to salute U.S. Korean War veterans (where I got to meet Piper Laurie who had been a USO entertainer during the war).

And a week-and-a-half later I was on a bus with other journalists on our way to Osan to cover an event that marked America’s entry into the Korean War.

Not even five years after WWII had ended, America found itself in another war and for all practical and semantic purposes—when you figure in the help and advice Kim Il-sung and the North Korean leaders were getting from The Soviet Union and China—the Korean Conflict would become a substitute for World War III.

On July 2, 1950 the first U.S. troops arrived in Daejeon from Pusan (yes Daejeon, the city I am writing from now) and three days later this Task Force would be up against the bulk of North Korea’s army north of Osan (about an hour south of Seoul). Perhaps some leaders with just a little too much bravado in their coffee the morning these plans were drawn up thought that the North Koreans would retreat as soon as they saw that America forces had been committed. Maybe some leaders under estimated the North Korean drive down the peninsula.

Unless you are up on your Korean War history you might not have heard of “The Battle of Osan” before. It wasn’t as much of a battle as it was a rout of poorly equipped U.S. forces up against over 30 Russian T-34 tanks. Just five years after America’s military might had helped to bring an end to WWII, this first engagement with Communist forces had American suffering defeat.

It was to be my first straight news story and one that I had to write and file as soon as I got back to the Korea Times office—wow, my first deadline. I started writing the story on the bus back to Seoul and in many ways the story wrote itself.

Looking back on it now, it still reads well but I could have done so much more with it. Then again this was all new to me—writing features and straight news stories—so I was learning the ropes as I covered one of these events after another. At the same time you can also see how I was still trying to make it read more like a feature story by fictionalizing some of the action. I would get quite good at this I think in longer pieces like “Courage Under Fire.”

It was an honor for me to be there and interviewing veterans along side of CNN, The Associated Press and Reuters. Sometimes I wondered what they might have thought about me, this “accidental journalist” showing up? I suppose I didn’t make that good of an impression on them because I never received a Christmas card from them. Oh well, I hope they will read the book whenever it comes out.

Task Force Smith Heroics Remembered

OSAN, South Korea – Underneath a sweltering July sky, as jet fighters thundered overhead, service members, veterans, and other dignitaries and guests gathered at the base of a monument on a hill north of Osan to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Task Force Smith.

In what would become known as the “Battle of Osan,” Task Force Smith—the hastily designated title that was put together in a Tokyo map room—became the first U.S. ground forces to engage the North Koreans.

“You can feel the spirit when you look at this monument,” noted Gen. Thomas A. Schwartz, UNC/USFK (United Nations Command/United States Forces Korea) commander in his commemorative address, “and the spirit of the heroes produced here.”

In his eloquent and moving speech, Schwartz touched on the symbolic overtones of the battle, not the least of which would soon be the U.S./ROK (Republic of Korea) military alliance that grew out of the war and that still stands strong today.

In response to President Harry Truman’s authorization for ground forces in Korea the 24th Infantry Division was readied for combat in Japan. Spearheading their arrival was Lieutenant Colonel Charles Brad Smith’s 1st Battalion 21st Infantry Division. Ironically, Smith had the distinction of being present at the start of World War II at Pearl Harbor and now, present at the start of the Korean War for U.S. forces.

For Philip Day, a platoon leader, he didn’t know what to expect when he found out that he was being deployed to Korea. Like many soldiers deployed to Korea, he thought they were going to Korea to evacuate U.S. citizens.

“It was raining, muggy and hot when we came to this hill on the evening of the 4th,” Day recalled, “8:00 the next morning, rumbling south from Suwon was a column of 33 Russian T-34 tanks and behind them what seemed like entire North Korean Army. I took one look at all those tanks and thought, ‘Holy smokes, what have I got myself into?’”

The prevailing mood at the time was that once the North Koreans saw the U.S. forces they would retreat. However, the under-strengthened, poorly equipped forces were no match for the advancing North Korean forces.

“Retreat was not in our vernacular,” recalled Wayne Leach, another survivor of Task Force Smith. “We were never trained for withdrawal.”

When Leach found out that he was going to Korea, he thought he was just going to guard the airport.

“We just got paid,” said Leach. “I had no idea we would be committed.”

Leach, who started out as a mechanic, found himself supplying ammunition as the battle waged on. He sadly recalled how out of eight soldiers supplying ammo, only two survived.

“More support people were killed than infantry,” added Leach who would stay in the army until September 1951.

The battle was over in seven hours. The casualties were high—153 U.S. soldiers were killed.

In one of the battle’s more harrowing moments for U.S. forces Day recalled that once the T-34 tanks passed they turned around and started firing at the withdrawing forces. After Colonel Smith ordered a withdrawal to another ridge south of where the battle had taken place, the U.S. forces would continue to withdraw to Daejeon—about fifty miles south of Osan.

“We paid a terrible price,” reflected Day sadly.

Although the “Battle of Osan” might have seemed an inauspicious beginning for America’s entry into the Korean War, Task Force Smith nonetheless bought time for other U.S./U.N. forces to gain a foothold on the Korean peninsula.

On this July morning, 50 years later, those who gathered here to remember the gallant actions of those brave men of Task Force Smith, also remembered the price of freedom paid for by the blood spilled on the hills north of Osan.