Tourism Flourishes
The Iron
Triangle Observation Platform shown above is
in front of the war
truce line. It is a four-story
building built in 1988. It is a 300-person
capacity building with 8 high power
telescopes. It provides a view of the DMZ
and parts of North Korea. |
On
June 25, 1950, North Korea
announced a formal declaration of war and what is known as
The Korean War officially
began. On July 27, 1953, the US-led coalition
agreed to a armistice. The two sides have been at a stand-off ever
since. There is no peace treaty between North & South Korea. |
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According
to recent
statistics, a total of 29,557
US warriors from all services
died in battle or from battle-related injuries during the Korean
War. Non-combat deaths were 4184.
The number wounded in action seriously
enough to be evacuated was 92,934.
That does not include
warriors lightly wounded and
treated at battalion/regimental aid stations and returned to duty.
The Prisoner-of-War
count was 7,245 service members. |
|
The
US has manned the DMZ since July, 1953. Hundreds-of-thousands of
military personnel have stood prepared to defend the DMZ every day
since 1953. Tens-of-thousands stand ready to defend the DMZ today.
There is no end to this stand off in sight. Millions of warriors
have served on this DMZ over the decades. |
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North
Korea today is led by a demagogue who appears capable of doing
whatever he may devise to justify and validate his regime. |
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There
remains today a stand off in Korea which has military risks, ongoing
financial costs, and multiple potentials for conflict to erupt. This
situation is the result of quitting before the job is done. |
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South
Korea has built itself into a grand-scale democratic global economic
force. North Korea is an impoverished dictatorship whose people
starve. |
|
Iraqis
have demonstrated that they are not capable of accomplishing in Iraq
anything close to what the Korean people did in South Korea following the
1953 armistice. |
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So
what do today's "Just end the war in Iraq now" critics expect will
happen after the US quits and leaves? Iraqis have so far
demonstrated an inability to peacefully govern themselves. They will
likely require several more years and they may not ever be capable
of democratic self-government. |
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Before
Iraqis can stand alone it is likely they will be over-run by forces
including those from Iran and Syria. An open Iraqi civil war is also
likely. |
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Most
plausible alternatives will result in a Middle East controlled by
Iran and its theocratic demagogic fanatics. |
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If
Iraq falls, it would mean that all US and allied warriors will have
died in vain. It will mean that the world will be held hostage by
fanatical demagogues who live so they may die and then exist in
their contrived heaven. |