Can you compare Iraq to our occupation of South Korea?

Question

Since no one has stated when we will leave then does that mean will be there as peace keepers indefinatly similar to South Korea?

Answer 1

No, the continued technical state of war between the geographically DPRK and ROK, and the continued presence of a small (and shrinking) number of American military personel in the south to deter the north from breaking the long-standing cease-fire is in no way comparable to the chaos currently engulfing Iraq.

Obviously, it would be wonderful if, eventually, Iraq became as stable and prosperous as South Korea, though.

Answer 2

South Korea and Iraq have some obvious differences. In Korea we fought with local citizens on one side defending our shared interests. The other side hds the support of the Communists and really it was a battle between two ideologies fought on a foreign battlefield. So it really is more like Vietnam. In Iraq, there was no opposition to our troops by a similar world power. The war has never official ended in Korea but a long truce has been in effect. Is the war in Iraq OVER? How would we know? Who would surrender? it is not a classic land war like Korea.

In Iraq we invaded unilaterally, overthrew the sitting government and installed our own government. We then allowed the people to establish a government but this is not seeming to go so well. The resistance we are against is guerilla in nature and it is hard to determine who all the factions and where their loyalty lies. It is breaking down into ethnic and tribal fights. Korea has many people of the same family that were separated by the hasty borderline established. They are all ethnically the same. So the battle was over ideology not religion or ethnic background.

So I think really there are many differences.

Answer 3

After the conflict winds down (if it does) there is a strong possibility of a peacekeeping force remaining, either from the US, the UN or a coalition of countries.

The occupation of Iraq is much different from Korea. In Korea, the enemy wore uniforms, used standard tactics, typically followed the Geneva conventions and the lines were clearly drawn. There was the north, they were our enemy, and they were primarily above the 38th parallel. The south were our allies, primarily below the 38th parallel

In Iraq, there is no 1 enemy faction, their are no boundary lines, the enemy does not wear a uniform and they do not follow Geneva conventions. Frankly, you can't even consider insurgents an army, really.

Answer 4

Sure. First of all, we didn't enter the Korean conflict to depose the government of Sygman Rhee. We were part of a UN Peace Enforcement Mission ordered up by the UN Security Council under Chapter Seven (Peace Enforcement) of the UN Charter. Our offensive military operations in Iraq were authorized by Public Law #107-243, a U.S. law.
Our troops remain in South Korea under UN command because the conflict was never settled completely. Although the UN mission had restored the state of things before North Korea's invasion of South Korea, only a ceasefire came out of it and negotiations continue at Pamunjon. That force is not a peacekeeping force organized under Chapter Six (Peace Keeping) of the UN Charter. It continues to be a Peace Enforcement force. That UN Command extends southward to the U.S. bases in Japan as well.
Iraq has freely elected a post-Ba'athist government. And many of the woes they face are similar to those we experienced in the first ten years of our independence from Great Britain before we drew up the current U.S. Constitution to correct that situation. U.S. forces might be stationed in Iraq for the next decade in the role of training and building up the armed forces of Iraq as a counterbalance to any growth of Al Queda or the other Salafist Jihadist groups in the area.
The regime in North Korea will fall under its own weight because of its stupid adherence to the doctrine of "Ju Che" (self-reliance) which is unsustainable, given the lack of agricutural and other resources within North Korea.
The reasons you won't hear any of the above from the esteemed "journalists" of the U.S. media are:
1. Most of them can't find Korea or Iraq on a map.
2. None of them speak one word of Arabic or Korean.
3. None of them know the first thing about the UN Charter.
4. None of them know the details of the first ten years of our republic.
5. None of them ever bother to really read the laws which Congress passes and the President enacts.
6. Most of them think that "Patience" is only a character in Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible".

Answer 5

A War far from the shores of America is being fought for some abstract reasons not associated directly with risk to America.
Lots of words, concepts and often God being thrown around as a reason for the war, and most of the justifications are emotional blackmail like, "If we don't fight them there, we will have to fight them here!" Poppycock!
I spent my short tour of duty in South East Asia to save Vietnam for the American exploitation. And guess what, I have not noticed any Vietnamese Armies landing on our shores because we cut and ran.
Iraq was run by a strongman because it was an unmanageable gathering of humans who hate each other and don't mind dying to get there father's way.
When is America going to stop fooling itself about our selfish, greedy, careless exploitation of other people's resources and human life? When is America going to grow up?
We may be in Iraq for fifty years, but the Middle East is a tough neighborhood, and I think we are beginning to realize that people are truly different out there in the world, and they are as dangerous and death defying daily as we are at our worst moment.
Are we going to act like Rome, or our we going the "listen to the better spirits of our nature," and give peace a chance in this Century.

Answer 6

No. There is no Civil War occurring in South Korea. South Korea has a stable government. South Koreans are not targeting US soldiers.

Answer 7

Since when are we occupying South Korea? We may have a very small presence there but that's it, nothing even comparable to Iraq.

Answer 8

We are certainly NOT occupying South Korea. There is little to compare between Iraq and South Korea.

Answer 9

The US does not occupy South Korea. No one can predict the future of Iraq. They are not the same. Iraq does not have a communist neighbor trying to take over the country.

Answer 10

One, we don't occupy South Korea. They asked us to stay and help protect their border and enforce the cease fire. We will have troops in Iraq/Middle East for a very long time, so we should all get used to it.