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Posted on 07/27/2013 10:15:24 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Obama: 'Korea was a win' By Peter Schroeder - 07/27/13 11:19 AM ET
President Obama hailed veterans of the Korean War Saturday, saying their sacrifices ensured that millions of Koreans could live safely in a democracy.
Speaking on the 60th anniversary of the Korean War's armistice, he noted that some had expressed their dissatisfaction with the war's resolution, which resulted in the establishment of a demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea and did not end with a definitive truce. He noted that many dismissed the conclusion with the phrase "die for a tie."
But he argued that, decades later, those efforts have proven fruitful.
"That war was no tie. Korea was a victory," he told those gathered in Washington at the Korean War Memorial. "When 50 million South Koreans live in freedom, a vibrant democracy…a stark contrast to the repression and poverty of the North, that is a victory and that is your legacy."
Obama also noted that Korean War veterans did not receive the praise and thanks upon returning home, and "deserve better."
"Unlike World War II, Korea did not galvanize our country, these veterans did not return to parades," he said. "Unlike Vietnam, Korea did not tear at our country, these veterans did not return to protests.
"Among many Americans tired of war, there was, it seems, a desire to forget, to move on," he added. "Here in America, no war should ever be forgotten, no veteran should ever be overlooked."
The president also noted that the Korean War offers lessons for the U.S. even today. He said that war taught the U.S. to be ever-vigilant, noting that the rapid withdrawal of troops after World War II allowed the conditions for Communism to spread, sowing the seeds for the Korean conflict. And as the U.S. withdraws its troops from Afghanistan, the president vowed to maintain a fierce fighting force.
"Our allies and adversaries must know the United States of America will maintain the strongest military the world has ever none, bar none," he said.
Obama was joined at the event by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who hailed veterans of the war who "stepped forward at a defining time in our history."
"We acted out a belief that peace and security among nations must depend on the rule of law, not the rule of force," he said. "The Korean War teaches us an important lesson, that alliances and international institutions are extensions of our influence, not constraints on our power."
Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell also attended and spoke, as well as envoys from South Korea.
Roughly five thousand people gathered for the event, according to a pool report.
It was not a win as win used to be defined. Win has to dumbed down along with everything else or there would never be another one.
Keep dreaming if you think the Korean War was fought to keep the Chinese out of South Korea. It was the failure to properly execute the Korean War that resulted in the creation of a North and South Korea.
I doubt that any resident of North Korea thinks that the US won that war. They have been the true losers.
It’s a win for Obama ,whens the people are divided
After WWII, the Korean peninsula was divided into two occupied zones in 1945, with the northern half of the peninsula occupied by the Soviet Union and the southern half by the United States. A United Nations–supervised election held in 1948 led to the creation of separate Korean governments for the two occupation zones: the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the north, and the Republic of Korea in the south.
After Korea was divided by the UN, the two Korean powers both tried to control the whole peninsula under their respective governments. This led to escalating border conflicts on the 38th parallel and attempts to negotiate elections for the whole of Korea. These attempts ended when the military of North Korea invaded the South on 25 June 1950, leading to a full-scale civil war. With endorsement from the United Nations, countries allied with the United States intervened on behalf of South Korea.
Stop listening to this guy and printing his crap. He’s just doing it to agitate us.
He seems to be upping the ante to something off the wall on a daily basis including weekends and holidays. He may be about to go off the deep end.
I agree it was a win also. Not a total success, but still a win.
In the movie Stripes, Bill Murray said we were “10-1”, actually it’s more like “9-1-1”.
“No veteran should ever be overlooked.” He should be reminded of the four heroes in Benghazi.
we could call her va jay jay as the meaning is appropriate
Am I wrong or is a truce not a victory for either side? It means they are still at war but have decided to declare a truce.
On this one, I’ll cut Obama some slack.
I’m afraid how one regards the outcome of the Korean War depends on at what point you start “keeping score”: if you start when the Norks invaded the south, it was a very bloody draw, ending in essentially the status quo ante; if you start when the U.S. (and U.N.) intervened, it was a win, since we got the Norks out of the south.
The latter point of view is a bit insular, and accords with the strategically naive mental set that most American have, dividing all the engagements of WW III (a.k.a. the Cold War) into separate “wars”.
Let me again take the opportunity to thank all you FReepers who fought in WW III, whether your campaign was won, lost (always in Washington, rather than on the battlefield) or drawn.
I am not expecting any of those defending or agreeing with Obama’s remarks to address your very true final sentence-—
I doubt that any resident of North Korea thinks that the US won that war. They have been the true losers.
The Obama administration is an Ineptocracy.
Ineptocracy- a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.
Obama is on a roll this week in regards to history.
Whoever taught him history should be arrested.
We won in Korea?
Those Islamic railroads and our communist founding fathers made that possible!
hahaha
We're gonna take you back, to the year 1939 when Charlie Chaplin and his nazi regime enslaved Europe and tried to take over the world... Narrator: ...But then an even greater force emerged, the "un"
...and the "un" un-nazied the world - forever.
Well, SK has only had real "vibrant democracy" for less than a generation.
Anyone who taught history to Obama needs to be arrested for fraud
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