Free Republic

ABOARD THE U.S.S. CARL VINSON -- As North Korea ups the ante in its nuclear brinkmanship, U.S. forces across North Asia are mobilizing to try to keep Kim Jong Il's regime at bay. In few places is this more apparent than here in the waters off Japan, where the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Carl Vinson and four accompanying warships train night and day amid a steady stream of North Korean missile tests and nuclear threats. Indeed, U.S. airmen here voice fears that North Korea could ultimately eclipse Iraq as a security threat if tensions in the region continue to mount."Our ultimate...

CAMP UDAIRI, Kuwait -- This may surprise the folks back home, but the U.S. Army forces massing across the Iraqi border are largely unarmed. Even though all U.S. soldiers deployed to the six main Army camps in northern Kuwait must carry their rifles at all times -- even to the latrine in the middle of the night -- few are carrying any bullets.This is not an oversight, or a lame-brained cost-saving measure ordered by the Pentagon, or an indication that American military leaders believe they can take Iraq without firing a shot.Rather, it's an effort to stave off the sad...