Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Why the situation in Iraq is not the same as Korea

Gates and Bush fail to see the difference between Iraq and Korea. As someone who lived in Korea for over three and a half years and has become interested in understanding Korean history, I am shocked at the comparisons drawn between the two countries by the Bush Administration.

First of all, the situation prior to our involvement with the two countries were a totally different set of circumstances. The reason we are in Iraq is oil. Even former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan acknowledges that fact in a Washington Post interview about his new book. The difference is that the two Koreas were divided after the end of WWII by the US and Russia to administer (or run) the countries. That became permanent when the type of elections and government could not be agreed upon. The reason we were there (and still are there), had to do with a threat from the Communist North which invaded South Korea in June of 1951.

Second, while there were a small number of "left wing insurgents" in Korea between 1945-1948, they were few in number compared to the large scale insurgency which is causing the sectarian violence in Iraq. The best estimates of violence in Korea is 30,000-100,000 people killed in Korea in the three years before the Korean Government was formed in 1948, compared to around 655,000 based on the Lancet Surveys of Mortality in Iraq.

Third, the administration fails to acknowledge to this day, there is a great amount of animosity toward the US from Koreans in terms of our continued presence there. This is the one area we can draw a comparison. Depending on who you talk to of course, the older generations (for the most part) realize that the US made sacrifices to keep the South free, whereas the younger generation tend to question why we still have troops in their country.

Some of the animosity I referenced above has to do with different incidents occurring US Military personal in Korea. The most famous incident happened in 2003 (prior to my arrival in Korea), when US soldiers stationed at the Youngsan Garrison Base were driving an armored vehicle which ran over two Korean girls. The US Military refused to turn the soldiers over the the Korean authorities, instead opting to put them on trial in military court. Both of the two soldiers were acquitted of manslaughter, the outcome of which caused a huge outrage toward all Americans (military or civilian) by Koreans.

I have to honestly wonder what Gates and Bush are thinking when they make such crude comparisons between Iraq and Korea. The only thing we are done is causing animosity toward the US, instead of helping the Iraq people.

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