Free Republic

US forces will regain control over a major annual military exercise with South Korea amid rising tensions with the North following the sinking of one of Seoul's warships, officials said on Thursday. Seoul's defence ministry said the Combined Forces Command led by US General Walter Sharp will retake control of the computerised war game called Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) from this year. In 2008 and last year the South's military took control of the exercise, to prepare for a scheduled transfer of wartime command in the military alliance. UFG, which is due to start in mid-August, is the world's largest...

President Barack Obama has directed the U.S. military to coordinate with South Korea to "ensure readiness" and deter future aggression from North Korea, the White House said on Monday. The United States gave strong backing to plans by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to punish North Korea for sinking one of its naval ships, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement. The White House urged North Korea to apologize and change its behavior, he said. "We endorse President Lee's demand that North Korea immediately apologize and punish those responsible for the attack, and, most importantly, stop its belligerent...

GIs Can Be Ordered To Wear U.N. Beret BY JOSH GERSTEIN - Staff Reporter of the Sun December 24, 2004 URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/6763 A federal judge in Washington has upheld the right of the American military to place its personnel under United Nations command and force those soldiers to wear insignia designed by the world body. The ruling from Judge Paul Friedman came in the case of a former Army specialist, Michael New, who resisted orders that he serve in a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Macedonia nearly a decade ago. He also refused, during unit muster in 1995, to wear the...