some folks....just have to much time on their hands and think to much....



He stands about 15 feet high, trademark corncob pipe held across his chest, thoughtful gaze looking north, toward the enemy. Since 1957, the statue of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur has stood in Freedom Park in Inchon, South Korea, a tribute from the grateful citizens of the Republic of Korea to the liberator who saved them from the fate of their fellow Koreans stuck in the horrid “workers and peasants paradise” of their northern neighbors. It was MacArthur’s audacity and bold vision, exercised on this very field, the unlikely battleground harbor of Inchon, which was singularly responsible for turning the tide of the Korean War. Now, North Korean spies and ungrateful South Koreans wish him to be toppled.

Upwards of 4,000 demonstrators armed with iron pipes, rocks, eggs, and the requisite signage (“f---ing U.S.”; “Yankee go home”) recently gathered to protest the existence of the statue and demand its removal. The protestors were composed according to Chung Ki-hwan of the Joongang Ilbo, of the usual suspects: “Progressives” including “members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union, members of Hanchogryon [an ultra-Left, banned student organization], and the Democratic Labor Party,” along with the usual street thugs hired for such occasions. The DLP is a splinter leftist group of politicians who favor a soft line, if not a merger with – read surrender to – Kim Jong Il’s regime, as well as immediate expulsion of American military forces from the peninsula.



Removal of the statue according to demonstrator Kim Su-nam would rectify “the vestiges of colonialism and our distorted history must begin with removing the MacArthur statue, which is a symbol of imperialism.” North Korean authorities agreed, calling the general an “unrivaled war enthusiast” and “a nuclear extremist” who wanted to “use atomic bombs to exterminate the Korean people.” Keeping the general’s image in South Korea according to Pyongyang is “a shame to the Korean people.”

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We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile....

Wasn;t he fired by the President?

If they really want "Yankee to go home" then just ask us.

Hell, China, Russia, N. Korea, and Japan, with good friendly neighbors like that why would they want to be friends with the US?

I don't think this reflects the opinion of most South Koreans, the population of which is huge. As for these radicals, I wonder if they would have felt the same way about 'Yankees go home' on, say, June 5, 1950. I somehow doubt it. These types are just good for making noise, and unfortunately they get the press. I'd just treat it as the noise it is.

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James Hoban. Irish Architect. Member of the Royal Dublin Society. Hoban designed and built the White House and based it upon the top exterior and interior two floors of Leinster House, then known as Kildare House, which is now the current Irish Parliament building. He was also a supervisory architect of the US Capitol Building.

maybe we should leave. South Korea surely is a big boy and can handle the North. Perhaps those 30,000 American servicemen would be better off at home with their families, rebuilding the Gulf Coast, or even in Iraq--rather than protecting these arrogant bastards.

I think you are all glorifying the wrong man!

Or perhaps it's the Hollywood version of MacArthur, starring Gregory Peck, that has you enamoured.

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Lucky is he (sic) who has been able to understand the causes of things
Virgil

Macarthur was a brilliant man. A war hero. Yes he wanted to do some stupid things regarding china. But He is An American hero.

Was he a hero in Washington DC during the 1930s when he fired on unarmed WWI soldiers who were penniless and wanting the bonuses they were promised? Was he a hero when he and his men set fire to their peaceful camp, against the orders of the President of the day? Was he a hero when people, including a baby, died during the conflagration?

Ted, you have a lot to learn about your own country, in particular its 'heroes'!

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Lucky is he (sic) who has been able to understand the causes of things
Virgil

No hes a hero for his speech "I shall return." his brilliant mind how he saved Korea with his landing on inchon. He is war hero. Napoleon is a hero of the french im sure you would not have to look very hard at all to find some terrible things he did.

I knew that already enigma why assume i am not familiar with that?

The direct command of that was under patton who is also considered a hero for the United States. But the statue is not outside DC, the statue is in South Korea. What he did in the US, and the black marks he has on his record, has little to do with what he did in South Korea.

Well, as long as you are aware of these things and still find him admirable then it's nothing to do with me. However, it would be fair of you all to give the South Koreans who may object to his statue being on their soil, for whatever reason, freedom to choose.

If the majority of Koreans are happy then sobeit!

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Lucky is he (sic) who has been able to understand the causes of things
Virgil

You appear to be unfamiliar with much of yr country's history. However, it was wrong of me to assume.

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Lucky is he (sic) who has been able to understand the causes of things
Virgil

good point..Cox's army.....and a "dashing" well appointed officer helped lead the cavalry charge that scattered them....Patton.

__________________
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile....

ooooppps missed the reference to patton.....my bad...and another blurb......Eisenhower was McArthurs chief of staff....

__________________
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile....