Senator Duckworth is Worried that the US Military Is Training to Go to War In Korea
|Here is what US Senator Duckworth had to say recently about her trip to South Korea:
When Senator Tammy Duckworth returned from a recent trip to South Korea and Japan, she brought back a sobering message: “Americans simply are not in touch with just how close we are to war on the Korean peninsula.” In a speech at Georgetown University, she laid out the U.S. military maneuvers over the past several months—including a nuclear–powered submarine heading to South Korea, the movement of three aircraft carriers to the Western Pacific, and the Army testing out “mobilization centers” for deploying troops and training soldiers to fight in tunnels like those beneath North Korea—that inform this worry. In an interview with me, she said the U.S. military seems to be operating with the attitude that a conflict “‘will probably happen, and we better be ready to go.’”
The Illinois Democrat believes this is primarily a response to the rhetoric coming out of Washington, where members of the Trump administration have repeatedlythreatened to use force if diplomacy fails to prevent North Korea from acquiring the capability to strike the United States with nuclear missiles. And even though the administration continues to emphasize its preference for a diplomatic solution, “I feel like the military hears the war-mongering tendencies coming out of the executive branch and many in the legislative branch and have seen the writing on the wall and they said, ‘Holy cow. We’re more likely to be called on now than we were two years ago,’” Duckworth said.
“I know that the military’s job is to be fully ready for any contingency, and I commend them and support them for continuing to prepare for war. I’m not saying that they’re going to war,” Duckworth said at Georgetown. “But it’s painfully clear from my visit to the [Korean Demilitarized Zone] and these movements that I am seeing that we shouldn’t ignore the signals that our military is sending with these actions. We know that the North Koreans and our allies in the region are certainly paying attention.”
Duckworth, a retired lieutenant colonel who lost her legs during the Iraq War when insurgents downed her helicopter, took the trip along with Ruben Gallego, a Democratic congressman from Arizona and a fellow Iraq War veteran, earlier this month. The two met with top South Korean and Japanese diplomats and defense officials as well as commanders of U.S. forces in South Korea. Duckworth said that she found “all three of the major military actors—American, Korean, and Japanese—…more ready [for war] than they’ve ever been.” [The Atlantic]
You can read more at the link, but I find it interesting that Senator Duckworth is more worried about the rhetoric coming out Washington, but makes no mention of the rhetoric and actions backing it up coming out of Pyongyang that is firing missiles over Japan, setting off nuclear bombs, threatening to destroy Guam and other US cities, and even murdering someone with a nerve agent weapon in a busy international airport.
Considering all of this the US military would be derelict in its duties if it did not train for a possible military contingency in response to North Korean actions. However from reading the article it appears that Senator Duckworth would prefer to have an untrained military so the Trump administration could not use it as an option to stop North Korea’s nuclear and ICBM programs if needed.
Trump is a wuss. He will not order a pre-emptive attack on the DPRK.
Borderline traitorous comments. These comments directly aide nK, no other way to say it.
I feel better knowing our military is prepared to do what they have to do. Better than getting caught with our pants down like the first time on the Peninsula.
Senator Duckworth is a veteran but she seems to be pandering to her constituents more than her military.
I respect the hell out of anyone who’s been in combat. I never had the opportunity to experience that nightmare during my time in, but, As J6J said, it sounds as if the Senator from Illinois is pandering to her constituents and knows that if she says anything else the mainstream media will ignore her. It is election year. We are bound to hear more of this garbage.
This senator and the other dems would also be the first to critisize Trump if the North lobs a missile our way. Then they would blame him for not being prepared and allowing this to happen. I live in Illinois and I’m ashamed at the way the democrats have ruined this state!
Senator Duckworth isa combat veteran.Bully for her.
However, that doesnot give her the right to make these statements. One assumes it’s a hormonal reaction to being a pregnant Democrat in the same State that allows Bill Ayers to teach at a University.
She’s like the poster girl for preventing women from serving in combat or Congress.
She’s PREGNANT?!?
Seriously? She’s almost 50 years old. 😳
Wrong emoticon.
Not sure how that happened…Wanted a gaping in shock one.
How can she not be pregnant?
I’d hit that like a SAM up the exhaust port of an attack helicopter.
I’d put her ankles behind her ears and… uh…
…nevermind.
The feats of modern fertility medicine.
When it comes to anything Military, she’s plain old stumped.
IHOP is hiring!
IHOP is hiring!
Do they offer LQA?!?
😆
Not in Area I! 😮
Before forming an opinion, she really needs to do more legwork.
I don’e want to belittle Duckworth’s service; but she acts like she wants to undo any good she did in uniform.
That’s not a nice thing to say, Setnaffa.
I think you two just got off on the wrong foot.
Yeah, probably not. I think she’s a female John McCain ,without all of the Hanoi Hotel baggage. Instead, she’s trying to overcompensate for not being Audie Murphy.
Yeah, the puns are too easy. She’s not worth the effort. She now hates everyone that walks on two legs. And she probably did before she lost hers.
I feel sorry for what she has become mentally and spiritually. I would never wish that on any veteran.
I expected better from a fellow vet in a place that she could do some good for all the services.
The US is preparing for war in Korea…the horror! Hey, Tammy, that’s what they’re supposed to do. I guess they didn’t teach you that in OBC, or War College.
How did she get to be a field officer?
“I expected better from a fellow vet in a place that she could do some good for all the services.”
Then you don’t know about her career as the head of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.
She is Chicago Democrat all the way through.
“Then you don’t know about her career as the head of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.”
Ah, so that’s what gave the political career a kick start.
Sounds like she wants to be like another one term Senator from Illinois.
OMG NO!!! One day a real “LAME DUCK!”
^^@OleTanker 😆 😆
Did she leave photos as precious as Nancy Pelosi during the SOTU?
Well… if it quacks like a duck and walks like a… uh… nevermind