General Casey: US could fight an old fashioned war with North Korea

[thewiseguy]

WASHINGTON — The United States could fight an old-fashioned war against North Korea if necessary, even while newer forms of conflict against terrorists and extremists continue, the Army’s top officer said Thursday.

Asked whether the United States would be prepared to fight if war broke out between South Korea and North Korea, Gen. George Casey replied, “The short answer is yes,” then added that “it would probably take us a little bit longer to shift gears” away from the type of counterinsurgency fighting that now occupies the Army.

Casey said his usual rubric for how long it would take the Army to gear up for a new “conventional” war is about 90 days. That doesn’t mean it would take 90 days for the U.S. to effectively fight the North’s million-man army, he said.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/05/ap_army_casey_nkorea_052809/

Why do we exactly need to fight an old fashioned war with North Korea? :shrug:

[msongs]

1. an old fashioned war: getting the erections going in the pentagon lol nt

[vadawg]

5. i guess the US could sit back and watch an ally being overun by her enemy

its a no win situation but if the US dosent standby S Korea then probuably Taiwan would be the next ally to be probed then no one would trust the US ever again.

[montanacowboy]

7. BOOOOOO

is that kinda like the domino theory?

[vadawg]

8. nope, not at all, different enemies, but all that protects some places is the allaince

they have with bigger powers, if those bigger powers are seen to be unwilling to aid their allies then whats to stop an enemy from trying it on, if you dont know this ask people who were around for the run up to WW2.

[virgogal]

2. 50,000 American troops were killed in the last "conventional" war

with North Korea.

It wasn't a war,it was a UN Police Action.Tell that to the kids who died.

Madness !!!!!

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. so you want a nuke or two

that said Casey is talking a good game...logistics... sea-lift...

[babylonsister]

4. Who is Casey speaking for? This is what Gates said:

Gates: No reason to build up US troops in Korea

LARA JAKES | May 28, 2009 07:28 PM EST | AP


ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY JET — While worrisome, North Korea's nuclear and missile tests have not reached a crisis level that would warrant additional U.S. troops in the region, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.

Gates, flying to Singapore to meet with Asian defense ministers, said he has not seen any moves by North Korea's military that would prompt the United States to add to the roughly 28,000 troops already in South Korea. He said any military actions would need to be decided upon, and carried out, by broad international agreement.

"I don't think that anybody in the (Obama) administration thinks there is a crisis," Gates told reporters aboard his military jet early Friday morning, still Thursday night in Washington.

"What we do have, though, are two new developments that are very provocative, that are aggressive, accompanied by very aggressive rhetoric," he said. "And I think it brings home the reality of the challenge that North Korea poses to the region and to the international community."

Gates appeared to try to tamp down some of the tough rhetoric that has flown between Washington and Pyongyang this week, since North Korea said it successfully detonated a nuclear device in its northeast on Monday and followed with a series of short-range missile launches.

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20090528/as-gates-nkorea/

[Captain Hilts]

6. Yes. And win. We'd be doing them a favor. nt

[Mari333]

9. another world policeman jaunt?

christ. we sure like to kill our own troops dont we.

[Metta]

10. Pointless and unnecessary saber rattling. How is this helpful?

Happy karma, general.

[NightWatcher]

11. old fashioned meaning thousands of soldiers with M1 Garand's and bayonets?

what, are we going to dig up MacArthur?

[Best_man23]

13. Perhaps swords and shields

Like in Roman days, now that would be old fashioned.

[NNN0LHI]

12. Any old fashioned war we have with North Korea will also be with China again

http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/kw-chinter/chinter.htm

The Chinese Intervention

3 November 1950-24 January 1951

They came out of the hills near Unsan, North Korea, blowing bugles in the dying light of day on 1 November 1950, throwing grenades and firing their "burp" guns at the surprised American soldiers of the 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. Those who survived the initial assaults reported how shaken the spectacle of massed Chinese infantry had left them. Thousands of Chinese had attacked from the north, northwest, and west against scattered U.S. and South Korean (Republic of Korea or ROK) units moving deep into North Korea. The Chinese seemed to come out of nowhere as they swarmed around the flanks and over the defensive positions of the surprised United Nations (UN) troops. Within hours the ROK 15th Regiment on the 8th Cavalry’s right flank collapsed, while the 1st and 2d Battalions of the 8th Cavalry fell back in disarray into the city of Unsan. By morning, with their positions being overrun and their guns falling silent, the men of the 8th Cavalry tried to withdraw, but a Chinese roadblock to their rear forced them to abandon their artillery, and the men took to the hills in small groups. Only a few scattered survivors made it back to tell their story. The remaining battalion of the 8th Cavalry, the 3d, was hit early in the morning of 2 November with the same "human wave" assaults of bugle-blowing Chinese. In the confusion, one company-size Chinese element was mistaken for South Koreans and allowed to pass a critical bridge near the battalion command post (CP). Once over the bridge, the enemy commander blew his bugle, and the Chinese, throwing satchel charges and grenades, overran the CP.

Elements of the two other regiments of the 1st Cavalry Division, the 5th and 7th Cavalries, tried unsuccessfully to reach the isolated battalion. The 5th Cavalry, commanded by then Lt. Col. Harold K. Johnson, later to be Chief of Staff of the Army, led a two-battalion counterattack on the dug-in Chinese positions encircling the 8th Cavalry. However, with insufficient artillery support and a determined enemy, he and his men were unable to break the Chinese line. With daylight fading, the relief effort was broken off and the men of the 8th Cavalry were ordered to get out of the trap any way they could. Breaking into small elements, the soldiers moved out overland under cover of darkness. Most did not make it. In all, over eight hundred men of the 8th Cavalry were lost—almost one-third of the regiment’s strength—in the initial attacks by massive Chinese forces, forces that only recently had been considered as existing only in rumor.

[bemildred]

14. How did that work out last time? nt

[McCamy Taylor]

15. You mean old fashioned like Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

:nuke: