Posted on 07/16/2004 11:41:05 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Today: July 16, 2004 at 22:17:42 PDT
By HANS GREIMEL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Around-the-clock train and truck convoys are moving military hardware from the tense border with North Korea as the U.S. Army prepares to redeploy 3,600 troops to Iraq.
The massive logistical feat began July 7 and is moving hundreds of Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, Humvees and artillery pieces to the southern port city of Busan to be shipped out under tight security.
About 3,600 troops from the U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division, dug into encampments between Seoul and the heavily fortified border with North Korea, will follow their equipment to Iraq.
The division's entire 2nd Brigade would begin pulling out of South Korea next week, and the entire unit would be in Iraq by the end of August, Gen. Richard Cody, the Army's vice chief of staff, said at the Pentagon on Friday. It is expected to operate in western Iraq with Marine Corps units, Cody said.
The redeployment - one of the biggest realignments in a decade along the Cold War's last frontier - was announced in May and signals the first significant change of U.S. troop levels in South Korea since the early 1990s.
It underscores how the U.S. military is stretched to provide enough forces to cope with spiraling violence in Iraq while also meeting its other commitments.
The equipment is arriving around-the-clock at the Busan port, where soldiers are working two 12-hour shifts, U.S. Army spokeswoman Maj. Kathleen Johnson said.
"This is a very intensive operation, involving a large amount of equipment," Johnson said. "The scale of this operation is about five times that of what we ordinarily do."
The 2nd Infantry Division's 14,000 troops form the mainstay of the 37,000 U.S. troops in South Korea.
For decades, the U.S. troops have buttressed South Korea's 650,000-member military in guarding against the communist North's 1.1 million-member military, the world's fifth-largest.
Since announcing the redeployment of the 3,600 soldiers to Iraq, Washington also has said it plans to withdraw about a third of the remaining troops by the end of 2005 as part of a global realignment.
Talk of reducing the U.S. military presence is sometimes unsettling in South Korea, which still has painful memories of the North Korean invasion that triggered the 1950-53 Korean War.
Many South Koreans fear that a reduction in U.S. troops might shake the delicate military balance on the peninsula amid tensions over the North's nuclear weapons program. It also has prompted President Roh Moo-hyun to say his country is ready to play a bigger role in defending itself.
U.S. troops led U.N. forces during the Korean War, defending South Korea from North Korea, which was backed by China and the former Soviet Union. The U.S. troops have since stayed on.
--
fyi
Dangerous work. Hopefully there are no accidents during deployment.
I personally think "It's about time."
I am sure our naval forces in Japan could bloody the nose of North Korea though. And hasn't the South Koreans been asking us to move troops away from the border for the last few years?
Does the Bush administration know something we don't? Could this be a way of avoiding massive casualties to our troops? Between North Korea and Iran, I sense big things coming sooner rather than later.
I don't believe this is the reason.
Well, the acting head of the CIA did warn about something BIG and bad coming....
Thats true. I suppose thats because in times of peace they don't need as much of certain things. And those things get shipped off to the reserves.
Naw, his sources are the same as yours and mine. : )
I agree.
X gets the square and the win!!
Yes it has been an ongoing discussion between the two of us for quite some time.
I agree too. AP has to get their digs in to support the current "Urban Legend" amongst the News Types....
X and wins?
What do I win???
I'm still working on figgerin' your reply last night referencing Barney Frank, and ya' threw me another one! : 0 LoL's!
ping
Its sort of about Joe Wilson, skip the story and go to the posts, its funny.
EATB- I noticed how partisan the media is this year, much worse than normal. They aren't even attempting to hide it and many articles have no balance and they never challenge even the most outrageous claims. Take this, its my post, as an example
Around-the-clock train and truck convoys are moving military hardware from the tense border with North Korea as the U.S. Army prepares to redeploy 3,600 troops to Iraq. The massive logistical feat began July 7 and is moving hundreds of Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, Humvees and artillery pieces to the southern port city of Busan to be shipped out under tight security. About 3,600 troops from the U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division... would be in Iraq by the end of August, Gen. Richard Cody, the Army's vice chief of staff, said at the Pentagon on Friday. It is expected to operate in western Iraq with Marine Corps units, Cody said... The 2nd Infantry Division's 14,000 troops form the mainstay of the 37,000 U.S. troops in South Korea. For decades, the U.S. troops have buttressed South Korea's 650,000-member military in guarding against the communist North's 1.1 million-member military, the world's fifth-largest... Talk of reducing the U.S. military presence is sometimes unsettling in South Korea... Many South Koreans fear that a reduction in U.S. troops might shake the delicate military balance on the peninsula amid tensions over the North's nuclear weapons program. It also has prompted President Roh Moo-hyun to say his country is ready to play a bigger role in defending itself.The ****-heads who currently run Korea (a.k.a. South Korea -- the Pyongyang regime is an illegal secessionist dictatorship that has deteriorated into an hereditary monarchy) have been verbally anti-American. This move by the US (plus the beheading of the Korean by the Arab/Moslem terrorists in Iraq) will probably result in an alteration of attitude and/or electoral loss in favor of pro-US politicians.
George W. Bush will be reelected by a margin of at least ten per centNOT A PING LIST, merely posted to: AdmSmith; Boot Hill; blam; Cap Huff; Coop; Dog; EGPWS; Ernest_at_the_Beach; endthematrix; GeronL; Grampa Dave; jeffers; NormsRevenge; nuconvert; Positive; WestVirginiaRebel
I'll retire then, as soon as I get Paul Lynde of my mind!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.