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Remember the Pueblo ((( "The Middle Finger" )))
NYT ^ | 7/19/05 | Nicholas Kristof

Posted on 07/18/2005 8:01:19 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection

...The Pueblo is the Navy ship that North Korea seized in 1968 in waters off the country's east coast, setting off an international crisis. One American sailor was killed and 82 others were imprisoned for nearly a year and tortured into writing confessions. To signal that the confessions were forced, the sailors listed accomplices like the television character Maxwell Smart.

When forced to pose for a photo, some crew members extended their middle fingers to the camera, explaining to the North Korean photographer that this was a Hawaiian good luck sign. After the photo was published and the North Korean guards realized they'd been had, the sailors suffered a week of particularly brutal torture.

As the first Navy vessel to surrender in peacetime since 1807, the Pueblo was a humiliation for America. And it has become a propaganda trophy for North Korea, with ordinary Koreans paraded through in organized tours to fire up nationalist support for the Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il.

Then Mr. Kim decided the propaganda would be even better if the ship was moved from the east coast to the capital. So the Korean Navy disguised the Pueblo as a freighter, ran up the North Korean flag and sailed it for nine days through international waters around South Korea to the west coast of North Korea, and then up a river to Pyongyang. In 1999, the Pueblo opened triumphantly to crowds in Pyongyang.

"When this ship left Wonsan port [on the east coast], Japanese ships mobilized to check it," said Col. Kim Jung Rok, who as a 28-year-old sailor helped storm the Pueblo and is now in charge of it. "But then they saw it was an ordinary freighter and withdrew."...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial
KEYWORDS: navy; news; northkorea; usspueblo
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To: sofaman

Right incident...wrong people...


21 posted on 07/18/2005 10:13:04 PM PDT by sofaman
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To: cavanman

Yes, that's it. Thanks.


22 posted on 07/18/2005 10:57:20 PM PDT by 1066AD
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To: cavanman

yes thats him


23 posted on 07/19/2005 3:56:41 AM PDT by phuzman (n)
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To: phuzman

Please pass along thanks to your Uncle, not just for his service, but also for showing his grit and courage in that picture. It sounds like a terrible time for him.

You wrote that he still suffers today. He will be in my prayers.


24 posted on 07/19/2005 6:07:31 AM PDT by chgomac
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To: SandRat
One of the famous pics


25 posted on 07/19/2005 6:12:41 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: LibFreeUSA

Should have scrolled down the thread first, I guess!


26 posted on 07/19/2005 6:13:19 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: Larry Lucido
Well, then, here's Cmdr. Bucher.


27 posted on 07/19/2005 6:15:52 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: chgomac

Thankyou for your prayers his a good man that suffered for his country.Its a shame that we never got the ship back.He was not in the picture above but I have a news paper clip with him and other officers giving the bird.


28 posted on 07/19/2005 4:13:11 PM PDT by phuzman (n)
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Comment #29 Removed by Moderator

To: Mears

" God what a year 1968 was !"

Uh-huh. I was 6. My hometown Tigers beat the St Louis Cardinals in the World Serious. I can still remember the big tiger float in the Thanksgiving Day parade in downtown Detroit. It was huge and had red 'cardinal' feathers in its' mouth. I can see it in my minds eye to this very day.


30 posted on 07/19/2005 6:04:39 PM PDT by chief_bigfoot ("isn't THAT amazing?" - Ron Popiel)
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To: cavanman

yep sure is, to bad we can get her back from those bastards
or at least sink it so they can not use it as a museum.maybe take some of them with it.


31 posted on 07/19/2005 6:29:36 PM PDT by phuzman (n)
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To: cavanman

yep sure is, to bad we can get her back from those bastards
or at least sink it so they can not use it as a museum.maybe take some of them with it.


32 posted on 07/19/2005 6:37:26 PM PDT by phuzman (n)
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To: chief_bigfoot

I'll be darned----I'm a Red Sox fan and we kinda beat The Cardinals too.


33 posted on 07/19/2005 7:28:03 PM PDT by Mears (Keep the government out of my face!)
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To: Mears

" I'll be darned----I'm a Red Sox fan and we kinda beat The Cardinals too."

That's what you get when your mascot is a stupid red bird. It's not exactly the most fearsome thing in the world, unless you play for the Scanectaty Sunflower Seeds (AA minor league?)....


34 posted on 07/20/2005 3:11:13 AM PDT by chief_bigfoot ("isn't THAT amazing?" - Ron Popiel)
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To: chief_bigfoot

I have a very nice turtleneck (I'm a woman)with 2 red Cardinals embroidered on the neck.I've had it for a long time.

I wore it here in Massachusetts once during the series last fall (not thinking,of course) and I got quite a few comments. Pretty funny!


35 posted on 07/20/2005 10:08:27 AM PDT by Mears (Keep the government out of my face!)
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To: phuzman

That was my uncle monroe goldman .

He was your Uncle?? His brother Don is my uncle.


36 posted on 07/20/2005 10:12:55 AM PDT by Lovergirl (Proud member of the Pajama Brigade.)
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To: Mears
I'm a Red Sox fan and we kinda beat The Cardinals too.

Not in 1967, though :(

37 posted on 07/20/2005 10:30:21 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Deadcheck the embeds first.)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets

Nope---it took a long time but it was worth it.Oh what a year 2004 was for Sox fans,Pats fans,and Republicans.

It doesn't get much better than that(except for the poor Bruins fans).


38 posted on 07/20/2005 10:34:30 AM PDT by Mears (Keep the government out of my face!)
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To: joesnuffy
We should have ...imo

The F4C's which were scrabbled should have been allowed to do their mission.

39 posted on 07/20/2005 10:40:15 AM PDT by ASA Vet (Ignore all silly tag lines.)
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To: Lovergirl

ok who is this?don was my dad who just passed away last year.this is his son phil


40 posted on 07/20/2005 4:33:09 PM PDT by phuzman (n)
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