Korea 1994
Retired U.S Colonel David Hackworth was one of the most decorated soldiers in the Korean and Vietnam wars. As Newsweek’s contributing Editor on defense, between 1990 – 1996 he covered the first Gulf War, peacekeeping battles in Somalia, the Balkans, and Haiti.
In 1994 the Washington Beltway was rife with talk of an imminent North Korean invasion of the South. Hackworth flew to Seoul to be there for the action.
This is what he found.
“The North Koreans like ceremonies, rituals, auspicious dates. June 25 was the anniversary of their hell-for-leather attack on the South in 1950 and as the summer of 1994 approached, a lot of people were afraid they might try it again. The director of the CIA and the Secretary of Defense were saying the North Koreans had the bomb and were in Pearl Harbor state of mind. The pulse of Washington was fluctuating wildly.
It got harder and harder to read the true temperature of the crisis. Finally, at the beginning of June I asked “General” Parker to send me to Seoul as Newsweek’s forward observer. I new I had to get over there right away. The weather late in June would offer the North Koreans perfect conditions for an attack. So I grabbed my basic weapon, my trusty laptop, and headed for Seoul.
Everything I read in the papers, seen on Larry King, heard on the radio and television, was so hot I thought I might have to fight my way of the airplane and run to the bunker, like landing at Sarajevo.
On June21 1994, I walked out of Kimpo airport. Wasn’t this a bubbling pot? So where were the blackout curtains? Everything seemed calm.
I came back to my old battlefield prepped by the Clinton administration and a lot of tag-along analysts who were forecasting real trouble. About the same time the head of the CIA was wailing that the North Koreans had the bomb, spooks from the Company were leaking word that the North had tested and deployed a new missile called Rodent. The implication was that the North Koreans only had to strap their nuclear warhead to that missile and goodbye Seoul, goodbye Tokyo, goodbye San Francisco.
The minute I got onto the ground I could see signs we were involved in a serious military buildup. I saw augmentation teams everywhere. Out on the airfields I saw Air Force squadrons that weren’t supposed to be in Korea, fighter aircraft from Japan and the United States. We were deploying Apache gunships and other new weapons systems. Munitions were pouring into the theatre. The war drums were thumping and the braves were starting to put on the war paint.
Early on I thought, If these guys are for real, wer’re going to be bringing in a lot of stuff by ship. So I took the train down to Pusan, where I found the harbor filled with vessels unloading new artillery pieces, tons of ammo, and other kinds of gear. After checking out the port, I made the rounds of the bars where the merchant sailors hang out. They told me their ships were filled with munitions and war goodies. No question. The Pentagon wasn’t just huffing and puffing, it was bringing in whatever it needed to blow Kim’s house down.
Once again we were deploying Patriot missiles. I thought, Okay, here goes another fortune into the toilet. But the Patriots at least looked like a big chip on the table.
Every time I phoned the United States, I could tell nerves were getting tighter than the slack on a hair trigger.
Some people were expecting big tank battles. I didn’t see it that way. Korea isn’t tank country; its infantry country, crosshatched with forests, rugged mountains and deep valleys.
It did not take long in the field to see the South Koreans had assembled an enormously powerful force. Their officers were gung ho, dedicated, well trained, highly disciplined. The units were made up mainly of conscripts. They were not very happy about being there, but they were disciplined, well trained and knew how to fight.
Forty years ago, most of their units were raggedy and badly disciplined. What I was seeing now represented a 10,000 percent improvement in their army.
After a few weeks on the ground, I started to think, Wait a minute. Something was wrong, very wrong. It didn’t grab me at first. Now my peripheral vision began sending me signals, little blips through the blur.
What the hell was going on?
I did not know how to read it. Were we really expecting a fight or were we shadow boxing in the dark?
By now I was feeling confused. So I decided to return to Go. I began by taking stock of our armour and what I found surprised me. One day I saw a trouper washing out an M1 tank. After he finished, I opened up the commander’s hatch and there was a puddle of water. We were up against an enemy with a powerful capability to go NBC – nuclear, biological, chemical. If water can get inside a tank, you do not have to be a Bill Gates to figure out that all those little germs and nerve gas could wriggle right in there too.
I spent about a week with the 2nd Infantry Division, checking out their tanks and artillery units. I discovered they all had fifteen year old M1 tanks – the same ones that flunked the course in Desert Shield – and older pieces.
Why do we have the old stuff here if the threat is so hot? Why does the hottest theatre get the coldest priority?
The tube artillery was all self propelled and at least thirty years old.
I spent a lot of time in the field with the infantry watching them attack simulated enemy positions with their vintage M-60 machine guns constantly jamming. Here again we were spending billions of dollars on Patriot missiles and other stuff that might not be worth beans, but the guys who do the real fighting still had hand-me-downs gear from the 1960s, stuff that was flat worn out. The defense contractors and lobbyists for the big ticket items were getting rich, the generals who collaborated with them were getting promoted, and our warriors were about to enter the arena with broken swords.
I also spent a lot of time with retired Korean officers. They were well connected to division and corps commanders and others in high places. I said, “Look, there’s got to be something going on here. I’m looking at it and I’m beginning to think there’s more smoke than fire.” They nodded and said the talk was all hype.
Then I ran into a spook whose job in-country was to track the North Koreans.
“They don’t have the bomb,” he said. “It’s bullshit.”
I got together with my logistics guy. “Our depots are in no shape to fight a major war.” He said. “We can’t move a lot of munitions because we don’t have enough forklifts. The transportation system is lousy. We have millions of rounds for the 106mm recoilless rifle, but the rifle itself is no longer in the inventory.”
I met my truth teller from the Army. “The supply system here is broken.” He said. “We ain’t got the trucks, cargo handling gear, and the rail and air facilities to move the stuff that’s needed when its needed.”
While Admiral Crowe was Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff he said. “South Korean forces are capable of defending themselves.” Well I say, “Why the hell don’t they?” While I was there one serving Army colonel told me the answer to my question was that South Korea was a jobs program for the U.S. military and the U.S defense industry. Amen. The Korea crisis was a buildup against an illusory threat.
Why should those warriors be there? The only reason they are there is to serve as a trip wire – policy geeks love trip wires – and as a pipeline for the military industrial complex.
The South Koreans are going full tilt to build a stronger military. They’re buying the latest Apache-type choppers, F-16 jet fighters, night vision devices, global positioning satellites systems, secured communications systems, radars, new artillery missile systems.
While we beat the war drums, they are saying, We better buy a lot more equipment.
Whom do they buy it from? From the same guys who are doing the beating of the war drums.
Which is why we had our phony little war.”
Excerpted from: Hazardous Duty. Colonel David H. Hackworth, with Tom Mathews. Harper 1996. ISBN 0-380-72742-0.
This and other books by David Hackworth are available from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/David-H.-Hackworth/e/B000AP7Z5S/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1324629041&sr=1-1
Hackworth, who died in 2005, was an active advocate for military reform.
His work is carried on by Stand For The Troops: http://sftt.org/
Post Script 2012
The USA is the worlds largest exporter of weapons, military technology and equipment.
The fourth biggest customer is South Korea.