Category: Anti-American Crap

Just another example how they support the troops and not the war. 

Here is news you will not see making leading headlines anytime soon:

The Pennsauken man who shot and wounded a member of the U.S. Air Force before killing himself left suicide notes that indicated he was “angry at the government and wanted to make a statement” on Independence Day, one of the man’s relatives said yesterday.

Matthew J. Marren, 22, of Walnut Avenue, drove to a home on Windsor Lane rented by Senior Airman Jonathan Schrieken, 22, at about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Marren got of this vehicle, found Schrieken outside the house, shot him once in the chest with a small-caliber firearm, then turned the gun on himself, said Burlington County First Assistant Prosecutor Ray Milavsky.

[…]

Marren’s aunt, Terina Henderson of Trion, Ga., said she spoke to Marren’s mother yesterday who told her Marren left two notes, one in his home and one in his car, indicating he was upset with the government.

She said she did not know the exact wording in the notes, but said Marren was “mad at the government and wanted to make a statement … that’s why he did what he did on the Fourth of July.”

You can read more about this airman’s condition in the update here.

To paraphrase this great posting, just imagine instead of airman in this article you slipped in the word homosexual or abortion doctor?  Could you imagine the headlines that would make compared to this anti-war loon trying to murder a member of the US military? 

I have expressed this over and over again that the biggest anti-Americans are not Koreans, are not the French, and the other usual suspects, but in fact American themselves.  I have seen some wacky distasteful things from the anti-US movement in Korea for example, but nothing that compares to the anti-American lunacy I have seen personally in America and this is just another example. 

I have been saying this for years that many of the Korean civic groups are nothing more than front groups for their political puppet masters.  Often the purposes for these groups are to spread anti-Americanism.  Well now my thoughts on this are being confirmed even by Korean intellectuals:

On June 28, the Liberty Union released a book on the types of malicious propaganda and the problems involving civic groups which utilized propaganda in the run-up to the 2002 presidential election. Law professor Jeong Seung-yun of Busan National University wrote a book entitled, ‘Civic Groups & Political Maneuvering.’ And former student activist Lee Dal-won, who works for the Liberty Union and runs his own company, Kyungrim R&C, wrote a book entitled, ‘Co-failure, Civic Groups & the Participatory Government.’ The two authors combined their books into a single volume, which is entitled ‘Civic Groups, are they a hope or a drag?’

Here is how the propaganda process by the civic groups work:

Professor Jeong said “Malicious propaganda in the 2002 election was carried out in four steps.”

The first step: spreading rumors through the Internet and minor news outlets; the second step: political parties and civic groups making rumors appear real and affecting public opinion; the third step: collective hypnosis meaning some mainstream media report rumors as established fact; the fourth step: civic groups aggressively incite voters.

This process perfectly describes what happened with the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident.  These same tactics were used even before 2002 with the 2000 Water Dumping Incident and the Kooni Range protests.  The tactics of these groups continues this day with their activities to stop the USFK relocation at Camp Humphreys along with their claims of pollution on vacated USFK camps. 

Expect to see these tactics used over and over again until like the article states, the members of these groups as well as the media are held responsible for spreading rumors and lies:

Regarding this matter, Professor Jeong said, “Civic groups want to get involved with smear campaigns because they know they will not be punished for their involvement.

In fact many of these civic groups and their media allies like OhMyNews are actually funded by the ruling Korean government, so of course they do not fear any prosecution for their rumor mongering and lies. In fact the government has leverage on them with the public funding to set what rumors and lies need to be spread.  Others that aren’t receiving funding from the South Korean government are front groups for the North Koreans. 

Finally some people in South Korea are waking up to the tactics and true purposes of these so called civic groups and their media allies. 

Another sign of the unfairness of the SOFA Agreement from none other than the Hankyoreh.  You can read more here and here. The insignificant and bias story makes headlines at the Hanky, but any bets if Friday’s fifth anniversary of the 2002 West Sea Naval Battle makes headlines in the Hanky as well?

I have seen USFK accused of a lot of ridiculous things in Korea, but this one takes the cake.  I was walking through Myeongdong the other day and in the middle of this busy Seoul shopping district was a group of what appeared to be college aged students who were collecting signatures for a petition to stop pig slaughtering.  Apparently a veteran’s group and some local politicians slaughtered a pig during a recent protest.  The petitioners weren’t happy about it and to show their displeasure they hoped to have people sign their petition after reading this flyer:

Normally I would hardly care about something like this and just walk on by.  However something immediately caught my attention.  To help make their case the group had a large scale blow up of pictures from the pig slaughter and were making anti-military statements.  Here is what caught my eye, in the first blow up picture, there appeared to be a USFK soldier participating in the pig slaughter:

I was immediately suspicious of this because I just found it absurd that anyone in USFK would be involved in a veteran’s protest much less involved in slaughtering a pig.   The petitioners didn’t have the signs labeled with anything anti-USFK but their comments as well as the intent of prominently displaying this photograph like they did was clear, they were linking USFK to this pig slaughter.

My wife and I were standing there within a large crowd of people who had gathered around the pictures and my mother in law who was with us asked me why USFK was involved in a pig slaughter?  Probably everyone else in the crowd was thinking the same thing.  You can actually see pictures of the crowd around their booth in Myeongdong on the group’s website here and then scrolling to the bottom of the page.

After looking closely at the picture I could tell whoever was wearing the American Army Combat Uniform (ACU) was not a USFK soldier.  The person in the picture if you look closely is wearing tennis shoes.  Even further more the person is wearing non-military issue gloves.  You can’t tell to well from the quality of the picture I took, but the gloves in the original picture definitely had name brand markings on them and were not military issue gloves.  Also notice how the picture was cropped in order to not see the head of the supposed USFK soldier.  These inconsistencies lead me to greatly doubt any involvement of USFK.

However, the damage has already been done and who knows how many thousands of people are now walking around thinking USFK was involved in the slaughter of some pig that USFK actually had nothing to do with.  Just another incident to feed the low level hum of anti-Americanism as well as the ever increasing anti-ROK Army sentiment in the country.

Today is the 5th anniversary of the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident that killed two 13 year old Korean school girls Shim Mi-son and Shin Hyo-sun. This tragedy would ultimately end up being a singular event that has impacted the US-ROK Alliance forever. For those that know little about this accident I highly recommend you read USinKorea’s round up and analysis of the reporting on the accident by the Korean media and the follow on xenophobic behavior by the Korean public. I also highly recommend you read this account of what happened that day by then SPC Josh Ray who was driving the vehicle just ahead of the armored vehicle that was involved in the accident. Contrary to all the propaganda put out by the Korean media and NGOs the soldiers involved in that accident had a very human response to an undeniable tragedy that I’m sure none of them will ever forget.

With that said I did decide recently to drive out to the scene of the accident and take a few pictures of the area and the memorial that was established the 2nd Infantry Division in remembrance of Shim Mi-son and Shin Hyo-sun:

The memorial is quite nice and sits just on a slope of the hill overlooking the scene of where the accident took place on Highway 56 in rural northern Kyeongi Province. Here is the inscription in the memorial in both English and Korean:

As you can see this is quite a nice memorial rightfully constructed by the 2nd Infantry Division in remembrance of what happened. However, what is sad to see, but what I am quite frankly not surprised about, is that the memorial has been hijacked by the anti-US groups who have put up their own plaques and markers to promote their own anti-US causes at a place that should be a memorial and not a place for politics:

The SOFA related plaque above is one of my favorites and if I was as disgusting and as insensitive as the anti-US groups I would put up my own plaque right next to this one asking why when ROK Army soldiers commit accidents or crimes while on and even off duty they are not tried in civilian courts but in ROK Army courts? Compare this to the fact that US soldiers are tried in Korean courts for crimes or accidents committed while off duty and tried in military courts for crimes and accidents that happened while on duty. I would also ask why when the ROK Army deploys soldiers over seas why they have a SOFA Agreement that gives their soldiers full immunity from any civilian courts of that host nation?  A perfect example of this is in Iraq when a ROK soldier accidently shot and killed a Kurdish Peshmerga soldier when fooling around with his weapon. No Kurdish courtroom for him. Then also in Iraq a Korean soldier had a vehicular accident that killed a Kurdish governmental official, once again it was handled by the ROK military according to their SOFA agreement.

Then I would also put on the plaque that despite popular opinion US soldiers have been tried in South Korean courtrooms since the 1960’s. Though US soldiers have been tried in Korean courts for decades after this accident most Koreans thought the SOFA Agreement allowed US soldiers to get away with crimes in Korea and fly back to America which is absolutely not the case. I have argued with Koreans before about the SOFA issue and not one can explain the inconsistencies I have listed above because such facts are completely not reported in the Korean media while rumor and innuendo are.

Here are a few more signs for everyone to look at:

Here is what the view over Highway 56 from the memorial looks like:

As you can see this is a busy road that used regularly by both civilian and ROK Army vehicles. The vehicle in the far left of the picture is a ROK Army vehicle. This road leads to the primary military training area in Kyeongi province known as Twin Bridges. It was this training area that the convoy of vehicles involved in the 2002 accident were heading towards. When looking at the above picture it is important to realize that this is not what the road looked like in 2002. This is what it did look like:

Walked down to ground level from the memorial and took this picture looking towards the west:

Then I took this picture looking towards the east:

As you can see the road has been significantly widened by cutting out the hillside on each of side of the road and then most importantly installing a sidewalk. The simple installation of a sidewalk along that highway in 2002 would have prevented the accident that happened. This is a fact that is completely overlooked and ignored. It is easier to completely blame the two soldiers involved in the accident instead of the Korean government sharing in some of the responsibility of what happened. I have always felt that the 2nd Infantry Division was partly responsible for what happened and has done everything possible to make amends for this tragic accident. To this day to division sends soldiers to help the families with the harvest of their crops or any other needs the families have. What has the anti-US groups or the Korean government done for these people? Nothing, accept in the case of the NGOs where they have hijacked these two girls memorial.

The Korean government has never accepted responsibility for creating an environment that was literally an accident waiting to happen. Back than many of the roads in northern Kyeongi province where military traffic (both ROK & US) travel on to training areas were extremely narrow, filled with traffic and pedestrians, and had no sidewalks. Heck where the accident happened there was hardly even a shoulder on the road. Since then the government has improved many of the roads in the area, but still to this day many of the roads are still inadequate for military traffic. Even on Highway 56 there are still many areas in need of sidewalks that have not been installed yet.

A perfect example of the current poor infrastructure is on road 364 that leads to a military training area that is not far from where the 2002 accident took place:

This road is extremely dangerous due to its narrow size, traffic, and pedestrians. I pulled off onto a dirt road leading to a rice paddy to take this picture. I had to because there was no shoulder to park on. Here is a picture looking at a turn on the road:

Notice the mirror that is needed to traverse the corner. Now try to picture military traffic trying to traverse this road much less this corner. Than not only do you have a difficult road to drive on but you also have civilians walking and parking their vehicles along the road:

What you see on this road today is similar to what the soldiers in 2002 were driving on with Highway 56 plus those soldiers had been out in the field for two weeks with little sleep combined with a radio problem in the AVLB involved in the accident. There was definitely leadership issues on the US military’s responsibility for this accident which lead to commanders and other leadership being relieved and their careers being ended, but to this day the Korean government has never accepted responsibility for their own part in this accident and to this day has not improved all the roads in the area used by military traffic.

Additionally the Korean government also has responsibility in improving basic safety for civilians in general in Korea as the country continues to be the most deadly OECD nation to drive in. Traffic accidents in Korea are especially deadly for children. Unfortunately no NGO felt like putting up a plaque at the memorial site to advocate for improved road safety in Korea, but instead felt compelled to put up pro-North Korea plaques instead.

With all the politics and demagoguery involved over the 2002 accident many people have lost sight of the fact two girls were tragically killed on the side of this road. I sincerely offer the families of Shim Mi-son and Shin Hyo-sun my condolences and hope that some day that these two girls can rest in peace.

From the Stars & Stripes:

Two planned anti-U.S. demonstrations fizzled Wednesday, but the groups may not be done protesting.

Planners from the leftist Democratic Labor Party had planned a demonstration to protest U.S. Forces Korea and U.S. policy Wednesday morning, but none of the protesters showed up, Yangju police said.

So who is the Democratic Labor Party you may ask?  Well they are just the political party that was linked to a North Korean spy ring.  It seems they are quickly loosing any relevance they had if they cannot even get anyone to show up to a USFK protest any more. 

Here is a cartoon from Naver that was linked to by a commenter at the Marmot’s Hole that I found interesting.  My Korean skills are limited but here is my translation, native speakers let me know if I’m off.  The top frame has the American tank running over the names of the two girls killed and GI crimes while above it, it says the US has a culture of excuses in regards to these issues.  In the bottom frame it says that the US is a culture of condolences after the Cho shooting at Virginia Tech. 

Of course this cartoon is nonsense because USFK made apologies for the 2002 armored vehicle accident and made restitution payments to the families involved.  Additionally US president George Bush made an additional apology to the Korean people over the accident.  Now lets compare that to when US Army Major David Berry was murdered in Itaewon in 2000 by a Korean man, no restitution was made, much less an apology from the President of Korea. 

Additionally absurd is that for every GI crime that happens apologies are made from the chain of command even before the offender has even been convicted of anything.  Perfect example is with the recent taxi cab related incident in Kunsan.  The base commander apologized to the victim and locked down the camp before anyone has been convicted of anything.  Heck when I was in 2ID I can still remember when the Assistant Division Commander, General Martz went to apologize to the mayor of Uijongbu for a taxi cab related incident. 

Now let’s compare this to when Koreans have raped on multiple occasions, sexually assaulted, stabbed, assaulted, or kidnapped and paraded on TV, American soldiers.  Koreans are usually not even arrested for crimes against US military servicemembers and on the rare occasions that they are, they serve no jail time.  So which country really has a culture of excuses?

Update: For those coming over from Wikipedia, Key was the first US military member to defect to Canada that served in Iraq, those other two never deployed.  Telling half truths is a common tactic by people on the far left to discredit people. Notice how no where in that Wikipedia entry were the lies I exposed by Key ever disputed.

Make sure to read this updated posting about Joshua Key, especially if you clicked over to this posting from Wikipedia.

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I walked into a book store today and happened to notice a book that was standing prominently on the main book rack with what looked like an American soldier on the cover. I picked up the book and it was titled, The Deserter’s Tale, by Joshua Key. I knew instantly that this book was a hit job of the likes of Jessie Macbeth and Jimmy Massey on our hands. Fortunately the other two were exposed before they could publish books, but this latest pawn of the left has a book out sitting prominently in the front of bookstores spreading probably the same lies and hate of Macbeth and Massey.

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From the Stars and Stripes:

U.S. Forces Korea issued a warning Friday about two dissident groups that plan to physically halt or interfere with two upcoming exercises.

Participants in the upcoming Reception Staging Onward Movement and Integration and Foal Eagle training should be wary of possible demonstrators, according to a force protection advisory posted on www.usfk.mil.

U.S. troops from Japan, Okinawa and stateside bases will be in South Korea to participate in the training.

The HanChongRyun and Pyontongsa dissident groups will target the March 25 to March 31 exercises, according to the advisory.

For those that don’t know Hanchongryun is a North Korean sponsored, anti-US hate group who’s leader is allowed to regularly go to North Korea by the South Korean government to receive her marching orders to protest USFK.  Any bets if these anti-US hate groups will physically attack the Marines participating in the exercise like they did last year?