On Korea, Here We Go Again!

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Intro: "If American journalism should have learned one thing over the years, it is to be cautious and skeptical during the first days of a foreign confrontation like the one now playing out on the Korean Peninsula. Often the initial accounts from the 'US side' don't turn out to be entirely accurate."

An anti-North Korea protester threatens police trying to extinguish burning icons of North Korea during a demonstration, 11/26/10. (photo: Wally Santana/AP)

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+3 # billy bob 2010-11-27 21:34

Just think. This may be one of the last articles we ever read.

It's really too bad too! I have children!

I'm beginning to think the 2012 gloom-and-doome rs were being optimistic. 2012 still seems pretty far off. I'm already beginning to take stock of what's left of our freedoms and enjoy them while I can. Maybe we won't have to worry about the future much longer.

+5 # rock 2010-11-27 23:26

Try getting the DPRK version from one of their websites [probably still made in Japan] . . . then you'll have the true story, for sure!

+4 # brenda 2010-11-27 23:58

I've heard a few years back that it was an article published in Time Magazine that forced the Chinese government to take action with troops and side with North Korea, thus causing the American troops to become overrun and thus initiate the Korean war. You are right about speculative and non confirmed journalism. At this point we need to get involved like we need to get a gigantic hole in our heads. I hope that cooler minds preside and not be dragged into another world war by hot headed leaders.

+3 # rock 2010-11-28 07:59

You are partly right, Brenda. I believe you are referring to an article which appeared in TIme less than a month before the invasion - it referred to U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson's statement to the effect that the U.S. defensive perimeter in Asia did not include Korea. I've never heard a satisfactory explanation of what he was thinking, but the North Koreans took him at his word and, with some encouragement from the Chinese, decided the time was ripe to take over the south. The Chinese did not "cause the American troops to become overrun" until MacArthur had pulled off his Inchon operation and UN troops under his command had pushed the North Koreans all the way back to the Yalu River . . . the border with China. This was evidently not a satisfactory outcome for the PRC, who then sent hundreds of thousands of "volunteers" through the mountains into Korea. Consider reading the biography "Mao" for insight into the Chinese strategy. The real lesson is, as soon as we say we cannot be bothered to defend our friends, the door is left open to welcome aggression against them.

+1 # genierae 2010-11-29 06:23

rock: This is the same thing that happened when Iraq invaded Kuwait. The US ambassador to Iraq told Saddam Hussein that we didn't get involved in border disputes, and he took this as a green light to invade. I think he was set up; maybe N.Korea was too, and it backfired.

+5 # rock 2010-11-29 08:02

Hey, you could be right about Kuwait, but I think Korea was more of a case of just plain incompetence.

+3 # maddy 2010-11-28 00:53

The Bush Regime tried to provoke a war with N. Korea like Iran. for years. The important issue here is for the MAIN Media get the word out that the US was no doubt behind the start of the conflict,- just like in 1950.

+8 # ritaague 2010-11-28 01:53

Speaking as an old (67) former journalist, I swear to how, even in the mid 60's, I was told by an editor (who, previously, been given an order on what to report and how to report it) what kind of a "slant" (a.k.a. spin) to put on a story.

My point is, real McCoy journalism, which does not merely, a la Faux News, claim to be fair and impartial, but truly is that and that alone, is essential to a real McCoy democratic society, which the U.S. has claimed and still claims to be. But, in reality, real McCoy journalism has been slipping into the toilet, and is now on the verge of being flushed away.

It all has to do with who now owns and controls the huge majority of over the air and written press, and what those owners' intents are. Ethical journalism? Not. Means of spinning, manipulating, distracting we the sheeple into, for example, lied into but oh so profitable wars for the villianaire rulers, now owners of nearly all the 'mess' media? You betcha!

+12 # Nick DeVincenzo 2010-11-28 03:36

American journalism should have learned that domestic confrontations like 9/11 should have been viewed with caution and a skeptical eye... It was clearly a false flag operation like that in the Gulf of Tonkin... The terrorists reside in high places within our own government, intelligence agencies and think tanks, like that of PNAC...

-2 # Gus St. Anthony 2010-11-29 10:45

Major newspapers in the United States are owned by a few pro-war right leaning publishers. They will always present the news in a way that forwards the interests of the military/indust rial/congressio nal complex. It's a given.

+1 # genierae 2010-11-28 05:55

I wonder if MSNBC's Schultz, Olbermann, Maddow, and O'Donnell, will give us straight, unbiased coverage of this international incident? I will be watching them with interest tomorrow night.

The incident involving the sinking of the S.Korean boat was never publicly resolved, and I got the impression that this might be the work, not of N.Korea, but of some unknown entity, (CIA? Mossad?), in order to further its secret agenda. It seems to me that the CIA has become a rogue organization that makes up its rules as it goes along. It operates in almost total secrecy, which gives it carte blanche to commit black ops that never see the light of day.

-2 # Gary1 2010-11-29 10:32

genierae - The sinking of the SK ship was investigated thoroughly by a team of engineers from several countries after the boat was lifted off the bottom of the sea and brought ashore. The PRK torpedo parts inside the torn hull were fairly convincing evidence. But hey, that was probably from one of those CIA submarines firing a torpedo that they stole from the PRK because they were bored...

Don't be bothered by facts since they are always just an international conspiracy... Maybe watching a little bit too much James Bond??

+1 # genierae 2010-11-30 11:01

Gary1: I am the kind of person who keeps an open mind, and considers all possibilities. You are saying that "a team of engineers from several countries", "investigated thoroughly" and came up with "fairly convincing evidence" that N.Korea was the culprit. I am saying that I need more than "fairly convincing evidence" to assign blame that would provoke a hostile country, and I see no "facts" to be bothered by. As for the CIA, I put nothing past them, and if you do, you need to wake up. PS: I think that James Bond movies are a guy thing, I never much cared for them.

-2 # DaveW. 2010-11-28 09:25

genierae, Good morning friend! You're analogy could be correct. My wife asked me "what does N.Korea have that we would want?" I told her "they're evil" and she punched me in the arm! Seriously, this could be yet another excuse or as another post indicated, a "false flag" operation just to get us into another conflict. War generates ENORMOUS profits for those providing the materials back home. We learned that as far back as Spanish-America n War. J.P.Morgan was urging president Wilson in 1915 to "get involved" in WW1 for "economic reasons." Mainstream media is virtually wholly owned subsidiary of info-tainment spin masters more concerned with Bristol Palin's dancing than the all to real tragedy of war. I too, will be watching MSNBC tomorrow. I always do anyway. It will be interesting and telling what they say, or, conversely, what they don't.

-1 # genierae 2010-11-29 06:47

Hi DaveW! I think that your assessment is correct. Its obvious that Bush's "Axis of evil" countries were meant to be future ATMs for the military contractors, and big oil, and of course, that is what modern-day war is all about. The most powerful country on earth, militarily speaking, has to demonize small countries so that we can invade them, or else we will be seen as the aggressors that we are. The more we wake up, the worse our country looks, and we realize just how essential the work of those such as WikiLeaks is. Let's continue to pour the bright light of day into the dark crimes of our government, until all of the unknown is known, and we can begin a new day of transparency. Bravo, Julian Assange!

+2 # Ricardo 2010-11-28 09:40

You say the DPRK "overreacted." Maybe. What would you call Israel's response to the bottle rockets from Gaza? The U.S. government and corporate media were gung ho on that massive perpetration of war crimes.

+1 # BigD 2010-11-28 12:58

And let's not forget that the alleged North Korean torpedoing of a South Korean Korean warship earlier this year followed South Korean military vessels firing on North Korean ones in disputed waters in September 2009, leaving the North Korean ship in flames and with casualties.

-3 # genierae 2010-11-29 06:49

Ricardo and BigD: Amen and amen!

+1 # Gere 2010-11-29 10:12

With freedom of the press comes responsibility. Publishing propaganda to exacerbate volatile conditions between North and South Korea is called “shedding false light". Freedom of the press is about writing facts and honest debate. For example, there is no way to calculate the damage being done telling lies to discredit accurate climate change science.

Stated before a House Subcommittee of Homeland Security on May 26, 2010 the ACLU accepts reasonable freedom of expression but also attacks where there is an obvious overstepping of reasonable limits. Those limits include restrictions on intimidation, libel, and information related to National Security if it would result in "direct, immediate, and irreparable" harm to the nation.

ACLU activities are not only confined to the US. The ACLU is now defending private citizens in Pakistan against drone attacks.
It's time to deal with corporate-spons ored propaganda such as Korea misinformation and climate change denial.

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