I really hope some other people start posting some history stuff here...

Anyway, below is a reprint of a blog entry I did for today.

It looks at how things looked in SK in March 1961 - 16 years after we first entered and 46 years and counting since then with the US still in Korea...

I ask those with such itchy pants concerning "how little progress" has been made in Iraq to consider these things....

And think ---- how much has the eventual growth in democracy and economic strength in East Asia - in two authoritarian regimes (Japan and South Korea) that were not even connected to the development of Western society (like the Greek social/philosophical/political tradition democracy grew from) -----

how much has the end result in South Korea and Japan been good for the US? How much could a democratic, steady Iraq do for us (and others) in that crucial region of the world???

The post:

With March 1904 being a quiet before the storm of the Russo-Japanese War, I went looking around for this week's news in other key moments in Korean history. Nothing on Kwangju 1979 or 1980. Nothing on Yushin 1972 or 71. Nothing on 1968 except some Pueblo spy ship stuff I didn't want to cover...


But, I hit pay dirt in 1961...


In relation to Iraq War II, I've been repeating often how we stuck it out in South Korea - despite some bloodshed, despite major political/social upheaval, and despite pessimism.


That is what I got today from a 21 March 1961 outlook article in the NY Times. Here are some highlights to keep in mind about how "good" of shape the US position occupied in Korean society:


1945 we come in. 1948 we leave washing our hands of South Korea believing the amount of unrest and problems are too great and it will surely fall to the communists.


1950 Pres. Truman reverses course and throws us back in. 37,000 GIs were killed (and many more missing) ---- (and we've lost 3,500 or so thus far in Iraq War II....)


1960 - 10 years after the Korean War began - and 15 years since we first entered Korea fully ---- we are still there ---- NK skirmishes happen from time to time ------ and South Korean society is so screwed up --- the president is forced out of office due to massive protests.
Now, the outlook as viewed in 1961:





(Iraq has oil - so I would say economic well-being isn't as gloomy as it was in Korea --- 16 years after we arrived in that nation)





Iraq 4 years in -- doom-n-gloom -------- 16 years in Korea - same-same. No car bombs. No daily shootings...so....not a perfect parallel, but something worth considering...









So, by 1961, we had spent a heck of a lot more blood, sweat, and tears in South Korea, and what did we have to show for it?


....What did we expect out of Iraq in 4 short years?


Below is a further brief outline of how the situation in South Korea looked bad far beyond 1961........and we stuck it out (rightly or wrongly you can decide for yourself....)


*1963 - 10 years after the end of the Korean War - we're still there. Things are still incredibly ****ed up. Park Chung Hee is made president after his coup in 1961 took a couple of years of power-solidification.


*He remained the authoritarian ruler in Korea until the CIA chief blew his head off in 1979.


-----at which time----US troops were still in Korea, despite Pres. Carter's 1976 idea of getting us out.


*1980 has the Kwangju Massacre. 8 years later, we have the massive Olympic time frame protests against the authoritarian government (and the US).


*1993 the society moves toward real democracy. The global cold war is over. US troops still there.


*2000 - Historic NK-SK Summit and Sunshine galore ----- US still there.
*2007 and counting ---- we're still there.....


37,000 KIA in a war later. 1,500+ killed via clashes with the North since the war ended. Trillions of dollars later........we're still there.....


4 years into Iraq.......????..........We expected what???........????......