A tale of two Koreas...

[DeepIron]

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...O3669420080330

Looks like North Korea has taken a page out of the Hugo Chazev diplomacy, communications and etiquette manual...

The commander of the some 28,000 U.S. troops in South Korea that support the South's military of about 670,000 said on Friday last week the two could easily defeat the North's antiquated army of 1.2 million. "If North Korea should attack ... we will defeat them quickly and decisively and end the fight on our terms," General B. B. Bell said before the reported missile launch.

Hmm, sounds strangely familiar...

[Stealth Hunter]

The American military expects to defeat an army of 1.2 million with 698,000 men when they can't even beat a flock of goat-herders in the Middle-Eastern conflict that they're currently faced with?:rotfl:

Your wit is irreplaceable, General Bell, and your confidence counts for so much in war...

[Trex]

Keep in mind that the US forces did defeat the Iraqis quickly, efficiently and decisively. Winning wars is the strength of the USA. Then they let the opportunity slip away because of incredibly bad decisions. Winning the peace is the weakness of the USA.

[TteFAboB]

Originally Posted by Stealth Hunter

The American military expects to defeat an army of 1.2 million with 698,000 men when they can't even beat a flock of goat-herders in the Middle-Eastern conflict that they're currently faced with?:rotfl:

Your wit is irreplaceable, General Bell, and your confidence counts for so much in war...

It's quite easy when they're all in uniforms and ranks.

[bradclark1]

Originally Posted by Stealth Hunter

The American military expects to defeat an army of 1.2 million with 698,000 men when they can't even beat a flock of goat-herders in the Middle-Eastern conflict that they're currently faced with?:rotfl:

Your wit is irreplaceable, General Bell, and your confidence counts for so much in war...

Yes, they can. It seems the Iraqi military were defeated in days. What our military is now over there is a large police force. If our job was just to kill the goat-herders(your words not mine) we would have been and gone. Not exactly a hard job. More like a 9 to 5 job with three hots and a cot. The hard part would be trying to kill them as they run away.

[Stealth Hunter]

Given the fact the American military has NOT accomplished the simple task of removing the terrorist threat from Iraq (although they managed to defeat the rabble of an army that Saddam had, but that's not much of a surprise given the fact that Saddam's army was not well disciplined and was poorly prepared; funny how when a ruler makes his army professional, they never end up looking professional...), I still find it very unlikely that they could defeat an army of 1.2 million brainwashed and insane Koreans who are the equivalent of the Japanese during World War II or close to it. Ask any of them about the "Great Leader". You are not worthy to see his image. They have benches that he has sat on in glass containers, a spectacle for the entire populace. A blind woman who had doctors fix her sight gave all the credit to Kim Jong, stating that, "The Great One has cured my ailment! Thank him!"

These people would fight you down to the last child. They would NEVER give up, no matter how bleak the situation might become. They would fight you until they were exterminated... IF they were exterminated.

[August]

Originally Posted by Stealth Hunter

I still find it very unlikely that they could defeat an army of 1.2 million brainwashed and insane Koreans who are the equivalent of the Japanese during World War II or close to it.

I don't know about that SH, we managed to do it quite handily in 1950 once we recovered from the initial suprise attack, and if it weren't for the Chinese bailing them out their regime would have been totally defeated. So this brainwashing may not be as effective as you imagine it to be. After all people take great personal risks to escape from North Korea on a regular basis, and i think that says something on how happy life really is in the Peoples Republic.

Brad is right, our army would have little problem defeating their military forces on the battlefield. Whether the US could pacify a factionated and well armed civilian population, and at the same time battle foreign guerillas and other external influences seeking to destabilize the situation for their own ends is another matter.

However in North Koreas case I think it would all depend on South Korea and China. If they both acted as stabilizing forces to the process I think this brainwashing you speak of could be eradicated quite easily. Personally I doubt China would allow unification of the two Koreas unless they can maintain some kind of control.

[Trex]

SH - No argument about the fanaticism, although it did not serve Imperial Nipon all that well in the long run. There's a loverly (albeit un-PC) line in The Sand Pebbles, "Who's afraid of a million gooks on the wrong side of eight machine guns?"

It would be a very nasty war, to be sure, but there is simply no way North Korea could win it conventionally. It is, in my opinion, very unlikely that they would get the massive PRC support they got in the 50s - there has been a seachange in Chinese attitudes and they have too much to lose on the economic front.

What is really scares me is their NBCR arsenal. The western media has beaten alarm bells right and left about their nukes, but few have mentioned what by some accounts is a very strong CBW capability, especially the former. One scenario if His Shortness dies or gets sidelined somehow is a balkanization of North Korea, resulting in maybe a dozen Kim-style warlords, each with his own bottled death.

[DeepIron]

It would be a very nasty war, to be sure, but there is simply no way North Korea could win it conventionally.

For North Korea to win IMO, it would have to mount a massive first strike against the South and then depend on the fanatism of it's army to carry the war forward. NK couldn't afford a long-term war without fiscal support from somewhere else. NK arms and mobile infantry is really outdated and I imagine the war would degrade into a guerilla action as we've seen in Viet Nam and now in Iraq.

It is thought that NK has a substantial stock of chemical weapons...

SK has been the primary fiscal supported of NK for decades. Talk about killing the cash cow...

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by Stealth Hunter

The American military expects to defeat an army of 1.2 million with 698,000 men when they can't even beat a flock of goat-herders in the Middle-Eastern conflict that they're currently faced with?:rotfl:

Your wit is irreplaceable, General Bell, and your confidence counts for so much in war...

...with the leash of PC, we're not going to beat anybody.