No to U.S. War Hysteria
• Hands Off Korea!
• DPRK Condemns U.S. Warmongering and War Exercises in Korea
• KPA Orders All Its Soldiers to Be Fully Combat Ready — Korea Central news Agency (KCNA)
• South Koreans Oppose U.S. War Games
• Cancel the Aggressive U.S. War Exercises! U.S. Troops Must Be Withdrawn!
• No U.S. Troops in Mexico
• Admiral Mullen Visits Mexico to Increase Military Cooperation
The U.S is currently conducting a massive war game in south Korea and the surrounding areas. According to the Marine Corps Times, Key Resolve/Foal Eagle (KR/FE) 2009 is taking place from March 9 - 20 at locations throughout the Republic of Korea. As the Generals involved bring out, they war games serve “combat readiness,” despite the fact that there is no threat of war on the peninsula from the Koreans. Said General Walter Sharp, Combined Forces Command commander in Korea, “These exercises are designed to help teach, coach, and mentor military members from both the Republic of Korea (ROK) and U.S. while exercising senior leaders’ decision-making capabilities.” He said, “The primary goal is to ensure the command is ready to defend the ROK in the event it becomes necessary.” U.S. Army General B.B. Bell, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, said the war games “provide an excellent opportunity to improve ... combat readiness.”
Why is “combat readiness” key in a peacetime situation? Far from engaging in such war games, the U.S. should withdraw all its troops from Korea now.
These war games are part of the growing U.S. war hysteria and preparations for actual war. In addition to the 30,000 U.S. troops already occupying south Korea, 13,100 more troops are to be involved in KR/FE. About 50,000 south Korean troops are involved. In addition, the nuclear-powered carrier George Washington and the Stennis task force of the U.S. imperialist navy, made up of four Aegis cruisers, seven destroyers and nuclear-powered subs are present. An extra 12 F-16 fighter-bombers and more than 400 air force personnel have been brought to the U.S. Suwon air force base in south Korea. Dozens of overseas-based aircraft, including fighter-bombers, pursuit assault planes, electronic jamming planes and refueling tankers were also brought to the U.S. bases of Osan and Kunsan in south Korea.
The numbers of troops and military capacity assembled are larger than usual, and the repeated discussion of “combat readiness” in a situation where there is no war threat from the Koreans shows that there is in fact a war threat from the U.S. The claim that KR/FE is “a routine training exercise” serves only to underline that the U.S. now considers it “routine” to have a show of force of its military in a situation where military force is not only uncalled for but increases the danger of war.
The Korean peoples desire peaceful reunification and pose no threat. The DPRK has never invaded any other country. The U.S. has no business blocking the efforts at reunification and must end its war games and occupation now! This is the anti-war stand of the peoples for peace and security.
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DPRK Condemns U.S. Warmongering and War Exercises in Korea
Should the U.S. and the south Korean warmongers perpetrate even a slight provocation in the sky, the land and seas, they will not escape resolute and merciless retaliatory blows, warned a commentary in the DPRK’s daily Minju Joson on March 9. The paper blasted the U.S. and south Korean governments for kicking off the “Key Resolve” and “Foal Eagle” joint military exercises throughout south Korea on March 9.
All of south Korea has turned into a huge ground for war exercises. The danger of a military conflict is increasing more than ever before on the Korean Peninsula because of the U.S. saber rattling. The exercises involve armed forces huge enough to fight a war. The commentary goes on:
The prevailing situation clearly indicates who is the biggest criminal bringing the danger of a new war, a nuclear war, to the Korean Peninsula. The commentary cites facts to prove that the claim of the U.S. and the puppet warmongers that the military exercises are “annual ones and ones for defense” is nothing but sophism intended to mislead the public. The on-going war maneuvers are aimed at invading the DPRK.
Now that there are no legal and institutional mechanisms for deterring any accidental case from developing into a war on the Korean Peninsula, even a slight accident that may occur in the course of the war maneuvers could trigger off a new war, a nuclear war. It is as very clear that in that case, such a war is bound to spill over into neighboring countries.
However, the U.S. and the puppet warmongers started the nuclear war exercises targeting the DPRK. This is an undisguised challenge to the Korean nation and the world’s peace-loving people. It is a serious provocation intended to seize the DPRK by force of arms and a deliberate criminal act of straining the situation in Northeast Asia.
The U.S. and its puppets seek to pressure and browbeat the military forces and people of the DPRK by demonstrating their military “alliance” and “strength” and endless saber rattling. They are attempting to find a way out of the daily deepening internal and external crises the U.S. and its puppets face. This effort is, however, a foolish daydream. It is the spirit of the armed forces and people of the DPRK to respond to aggression with a thousand-fold retaliation.
The U.S. and the Lee group had better bear this in mind and stop the war maneuvers, urges the commentary.
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KPA Orders All Its Soldiers to Be Fully Combat Ready
The Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army released the following report on March 9 regarding the “Key Resolve” and “Foal Eagle” aggressive war games kicked off by the U.S. imperialist gangsters and the warmongers of the puppet military of south Korea:
The joint military exercises to be staged from March 9 to 20 will reportedly involve more than 26,000 U.S. imperialist aggression troops present in south Korea and overseas and hundreds of thousands of additional troops, including the super-large nuclear-powered carrier George Washington and the Stennis task force of the U.S. imperialist navy, made up of four Aegis cruisers, seven destroyers and nuclear-powered subs. Additional south Korean forces include the army corps, fleet command, and units of the Air Force. Prior to the exercises, the U.S. imperialists brought 12 F-16 fighter-bombers and more than 400 air force personnel to the Suwon air force base in south Korea. This was done ahead of schedule. The U.S also deployed dozens of various overseas-based aircraft, including fighter-bombers, pursuit assault planes, electronic jamming planes and refueling tankers to the U.S. bases of Osan and Kunsan in south Korea. B-52Hs, B-2As and F-22As have been deployed on Guam and other places around the Korean Peninsula to be ready to promptly go into action.
The U.S. imperialists and the warmongers of the south Korean puppet military more than doubled the length of the exercises as compared with that last year. This year’s war games are unprecedented for the number of U.S. and south Korean forces involved and in their duration. They are extremely adventurous, as they are characterized by arms buildup, infiltration into the rear, ground attack, coastal landing and surprise attack operations on the Korean Peninsula. They are, a test for actual war, including nuclear war, and put in place the forces needed for a surprise preemptive attack on the DPRK from the land, sea and air.
A war will break out if the U.S. imperialists and the warmongers of the south Korean puppet military use the huge troops and sophisticated strike means to mount an attack on the DPRK while staging the war games.
“Key Resolve” and “Foal Eagle” are extremely adventurous and dangerous military provocations that can only be seen as an undisguised military threat to the DPRK and a sort of a declaration of a war.
The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK have grown stronger thanks to the Songun politics. They will never remain a passive on-looker to the prevailing situation now that dark clouds of war are gathering to hang over the homeland and armed clashes are imminent.
The KPA Supreme Command issued an order to all the servicepersons to be fully combat ready and follow every move of the aggressors with vigilance in view of the grave situation prevailing in the country. The called on all to deal merciless retaliatory blows, should they intrude into the sky and land and seas of the DPRK even an inch.
This is a just measure for self-defense, for protecting the sovereignty and dignity of the nation and Korean-style socialism. Koreans are as firm as an iron wall and the resolute stand and firm will of the strong revolutionary armed forces will cope with any moves by the U.S. and the south Korean puppet warmongers to start a new war.
The army and people of the DPRK love peace and do not want confrontation and war. Whenever the U.S. and the south Korean puppet authorities stage joint military exercises targeted against the DPRK, the DPRK drew their attention to the danger of these war exercises and served them warnings to help them understand, repeatedly urging them to stop their reckless preparations for a war. They, however, responded to our sincerity with blatant challenges and now starting the madcap exercises aimed at launching a second Korean war.
All facts go to clearly prove that “stability” and “peace” on the Korean Peninsula touted by the U.S. imperialists are nothing but sophism and they are war maniacs seeking to escalate tension and the threat of war. The U.S. is the biggest criminal prodding the north and the south into armed conflicts.
This clearly proves once again that the pro-U.S. conservative group and warmongers of the puppet military of south Korea are a group of traitors seized with confrontation and war hysteria, staking their fate on outsiders in utter disregard of reconciliation and unity among Koreans, in disregard of peace and reunification.
War maniacs should be dealt with using arms, not with words. There is no limit to the retaliatory measure of the KPA and no one can predict or evade it. If the warmongers dare launch a war of aggression defying our repeated warnings, our revolutionary armed forces will counter it with resolute and merciless just war for reunification.
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South Koreans Oppose U.S. War Games
South Korean university students condemned the U.S. war games being organized in south Korea, using unprecedented numbers of troops, planes, ships and armaments. The Action Headquarters of the south Korean Federation of University Student Councils called for protests against the U.S. war games, saying they were increasing the danger of war on the Korean peninsula.
The appeal by the students brought out that Koreans favor reunification and the war games were serving to further threaten development of inter-Korean relations by increasing the possibility of an attack on the DPRK. The students opposed the dangerous moves by the U.S. They said the participation of the south Korean military in the war games was pushing inter-Korean relations to an extreme point and they demanded an immediate end to the games. They emphasized that if a war breaks out in Korea, it is bound to drive all Koreans into the holocaust of a nuclear war. The appeal called on all south Koreans to come out in protest against the war games and to defend peace on the peninsula.
Reunification Forces Denounce War Games
Organizations in south Korea working for the ardent dream of all Koreans to achieve reunification also opposed the U.S.-organized war games and organized to strengthen reunification efforts. The South Headquarters of the Pan-National Alliance for Korea’s Reunification and Solidarity for Implementing the South-North Joint Declaration both issued statements denouncing the U.S. war exercises, aimed at starting a war of aggression against the DPRK. The statements opposed U.S. efforts to claim the exercises were only “for defense” and exposed their aggressive and dangerous nature. There is broad opposition among Koreans on the peninsula and abroad to any attempt to unleash another aggressive war against the Korean people. Serious concerns that any such war will be a nuclear war have been emphasized.
The statements demanded a prompt halt to the war games, as they are a grave challenge to all Koreans striving for peace and reunification on the Korean Peninsula.
On March 9, various organizations, including the People for Achieving Peace and Reunification, the Confederation of Trade Unions and the Solidarity for Progress held a rally denouncing the U.S. and its provocative joint military exercises with huge troops of the U.S. forces and the south Korean army and sophisticated war hardware including nuclear-powered carriers. Participants emphasized that they will carry forward the struggle for peace and reunification and demanded that the U.S. get out of Korea.
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Cancel the Aggressive U.S. War Exercises! U.S. Troops Must Be Withdrawn!
The Coordinating Committee of Friends of Korea (Britain) on March 4, 2009, issued the following statement:
We protest very strongly the decision of the U.S. and south Korean authorities to stage the “Foal Eagle” and “Key Resolve” exercises in south Korea from March 3 to March 20.
These exercises are being held at a time when tension on the Korean peninsula has increased owing to the anti-reunification moves of the [south Korean] Lee Myung Bak puppet clique. Also, they are being held at a time when the U.S. imperialists and some others have become hysterical about the prospective satellite launch of the DPRK and have gone so far as to talk about “pre-emptive strikes.” We believe that it is very dangerous and irresponsible to hold such exercises at this time as they could easily turn into a real war.
These exercises are aimed at intimidating the DPRK and stop it from fully exercising its sovereign rights, as well as to stifle its socialist system by force of arms.
It is the inviolable sovereign right of the DPRK to conduct space research and to launch satellites for this purpose. No one should interfere in this. Moreover the development of space technology by the DPRK, which has been subjected to more than 50 years of sanctions and blockades by the U.S. and Western powers, is a great achievement.
We applaud this achievement, which is the proud fruit of the socialist independent national economy and self-reliance.
We demand that the “Foal Eagle” and “Key Resolve” exercises be cancelled forthwith and that the U.S. troops be withdrawn from south Korea.
We express our full solidarity with the DPRK at this time.
Coordinating Committee of Friends of Korea, Britain
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The U.S. is currently preparing to send troops into Mexico in direct violation of her sovereignty and the strong demand of the Mexican people to keep the U.S. military out. President Barack Obama is “very interested in exploring military capabilities” by the U.S. in Mexico. Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen, on a recent visit to Mexico said the “drug war” in Mexico is an “enormously serious problem that has grave implications.” He also emphasized that, “I think because the leadership in Mexico has opened the doors and has a strong desire to connect, I’m encouraged by the change in engagement and the exchanges between our militaries.” He emphasized that the “military-to-military relationship with Mexico” is in the best ever.
The “change in engagement” reflects U.S. demands for the Mexican government to allow U.S. troops into the country and to cooperate with the U.S. military. It includes the blackmail of $1.3 billion over three years to fund U.S. training of Mexican forces and for “intelligence sharing,” and equipment for spying. The funding and training, initially designed for use in the southern most area of Mexico, may now be used in other areas, including along the border with the U.S.
In addition, the Pentagon is also claiming Mexico and Pakistan are the “world’s two most crucial states in danger of failing.” Military and government officials add that Mexico may become a “narco state,” where the government “cannot protect its citizens.” Such “failure” to “protect” is then used by the U.S. to justify intervention, as it is already doing in Pakistan.
The indication is that the U.S. will be stepping up its intervention, including the use of aerial drones for bombing inside Mexico, as is occurring against Pakistan, and sending troops in, as is occurring in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Pentagon reports that military forces and National Guard are now being prepared for use on both sides of the border “to make sure they are ready when the time comes.” Clearly it is the U.S. that will dictate when that time is and it is the U.S. that will continue fomenting and organizing the “drug wars” so as to justify such intervention.
The peoples of the U.S., Mexico and all Latin America are well familiar with U.S. use of “drug wars” to generate instability, violence and justify repression and military intervention. It is the U.S. government that organized and fostered the flooding of Los Angeles with crack cocaine in the 1980s and the organizing of gangs in Los Angles and Colombia and now Mexico. The government has repeatedly been exposed for funding, organizing and providing weapons for these gangs and insuring massive amounts of drugs are brought into the country at great profit. For Mexico alone these profits are estimated at $25 billion.
The “drug wars” were used to impose the mass incarceration of African Americans, not only in Los Angeles but across the country. They have been used to justify years of U.S. intervention in Colombia, beginning with “training” and escalating to use of U.S. troops, openly and covertly, to target resistance and further justify U.S. military intervention. Now the same is being used against Mexico and very likely to greatly militarize both sides of the border. The aim is increased military dictate by the U.S. to block resistance and secure a larger “home front” for the U.S. war machine that includes Mexico and her peoples and resources.
The U.S. has a long history of annexing Mexican lands and attempting to repress and control her people. Mexicans have a long history of fierce resistance to all such invasions and of continued rejection of U.S. troops inside the country. There is also a long history of cooperation and unity between Mexicans and Americans, especially along the border. This has been seen recently in the growing opposition to the death wall being constructed along the border, including the spy cameras and use of killer drones. It can also be seen in the mass May Day actions and others where workers of all lands have stood together as one to demand immigrant rights and the rights of all.
It is not military cooperation that is needed, but people to people cooperation and united action against U.S. military intervention. Voice of Revolution stands with the people of Mexico in demanding, No U.S. Troops in Mexico and in strengthening common efforts to build relations of mutual respect and benefit. This requires an end to the death wall, an end to militarization of the border and legalization now for all immigrants!
No U.S. Troops in Mexico!
No to the Border Death Wall!
Build People to People Relations of Mutual Respect and Benefit!
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Admiral Mullen Visits Mexico to Increase Military Cooperation
Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen recently visited Mexico to discuss strengthening cooperation between the U.S. and Mexican militaries. He met with Mexican Secretary of National Defense General Guillermo Galvan and Secretary of the Navy Admiral Mariano Francisco Saynez. The trip took place at a time when drug wars have been fomented in Mexico, fueled by U.S. weaponry and U.S.-organized and funded drug cartels.
Mullen said the “drug war” in Mexico is an “enormously serious problem that has grave implications.” He added, “We have shared responsibilities for the cause and shared responsibilities for the solutions.” He said, “How we work those shared responsibilities is very important.” Mullen praised the readiness of Mexico to “cooperate militarily,” saying the “military-to-military relationship with Mexico” is in the best shape ever. “I think because the leadership in Mexico has opened the doors and has a strong desire to connect, I’m encouraged by the change in engagement and the exchanges between our militaries,” he explained.
Mullen emphasized that the combined capabilities and military cooperation between Mexico and the U.S. can defeat the “drug wars.” Mullen also said that the tactics the U.S. has learned in the “war on terrorism” could be utilized in the “drug war.” These include intelligence sharing, various spying methods and equipment, use of unmanned aerial killer drones, indefinite detention, and more.
Mullen also said that while the military has a role to play, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Agency are also involved. “There are fairly far-reaching areas of cooperation, and these are very much ongoing,” Mullen added.
The visit to Mexico culminated a trip to Latin America, where Mullen also visited Brazil, Chile, Peru and Colombia. The main purpose of the visits was to connect with military leaders and foster military relations. Speaking to U.S. plans to further dominate the Americas, Mullen said, “I have been and will be a proponent of focusing on Latin America – the relationships, the strengths and the challenges,” Mullen said. “None of us can do it alone. The challenges continue to grow, and they must be addressed collectively.”
The U.S. is spending $1.4 billion over the next three years to bring U.S. troops and equipment into Mexico to train the Mexican military and strengthen U.S. command over it. The plan is similar to that imposed on Colombia, also in the name of the “drug war,” which has further destabilized that country and increased U.S. interference.
On returning home, Mullen briefed President Barack Obama. Military officials said Obama was “very interested in exploring military capabilities” that the U.S. has that could help Mexican forces. Defense Secretary Robert Gates also said the Pentagon may help train Mexican forces and provide intelligence and other resources.
Inside Mexico, the people are forced to contend with mounting violence. The government has already mobilized 45,000 military personnel. In Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, there are about 7,000 soldiers patrolling a city of 1.4 million people. That is one soldier for every 200 civilians in a city with a population density of more than twelve thousand people per square mile, or sixty soldiers per square mile.
At the same time, the Texas governor has asked the federal government to bring in 1,000 more National Guard troops, and Arizona’s governor is asking for 250 more, in addition to the 150 already patrolling the state’s border with Mexico.
While Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials have said use of military personnel will be a “last resort,” they also emphasized that DHS and the Pentagon are making preparations to deploy the National Guard “to make sure they are ready when the time comes.” The government is also promoting hysteria about Mexico to justify such intervention. The Pentagon’s Joint Forces Command called Mexico and Pakistan the world’s two most critical states in danger of failing. Attorney General Eric Holder called the situation in Mexico a “national security threat.” The State Department issued a travel warning telling Americans it was too dangerous to travel to Mexico. This promoting of a “failed state,” and the military preparations and demands for “military cooperation,” all indicate that the U.S. is preparing to send troops into Mexico. While claiming the aim is to “end the drug wars,” actual experience, in the U.S. and Colombia, is that the U.S. military fosters and funds the drug cartels to foment instability and violence and justify U.S. military intervention.