[EDITORIAL]Security for Korean troops (2004.10.27)

[EDITORIAL]Security for Korean troops Some 500 Army troops are heading to Iraq to replace medical and engineering personnel who were among the first non-combatants dispatched to the embattled country and later joined the Zaytun Unit now deployed in the Kurdish region of Irbil. Another several hundred soldiers will soon be sent to Iraq to raise the total Korean troop strength there to 3,600 men and women, the target figure the Korean government committed to the United States. As the presence of Korean forces in Iraq has grown, there have been ominous threats of harm unless they leave Iraqi soil immediately. Following a warning to "burn Seoul and make it crumble" in a message carried on an Arab Web site last week, another Internet letter called for terror attacks on the Korean unit in Irbil. Through consultations with U.S. military authorities, the Seoul government accepted the area in the Kurd-dominant Kirkuk province for stationing Korean forces in view of its relative safety away from the main resistance activities by Iraqi militants. But the latest Internet threat claimed Irbil is "not outside the capability of mujahedeen (warrior) attacks." In maximum security precautions for the troops on the overseas mission, the National Security Council decided not to publicize the departure of additional forces to Iraq. Military authorities last week raised the threat assessment level for the troops in Irbil from green to amber and upgraded measures to deter possible terrorism. The safety of the troops has become the first objective of the Korean forces in Iraq. But the Zaytun Unit cannot remain confined to its compound and soldiers will have to go out for its humanitarian rehabilitation work. Exposure to the Iraqi people means increased possibility of terrorism from anti-foreign occupation elements, be it a car bomb attack, sniper shots or rocket or mortar fire. Under whatever circumstances, Korean officers should be extremely cautious against any overreaction that could cause civilian casualties. Insurgent activities are getting increasingly vicious, as is seen in the massacre of some 50 American-trained Iraqi army recruits on Saturday night 95 miles east of Baghdad, attributed to followers of Jordanian-born terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who abducted and beheaded Korean translator Kim Sun-il. Al-Zarqawi is known to be headquartered in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, but the U.S. military only conducts sporadic air attacks on the city, causing deaths and injuries to Iraqi civilians and meager damage to insurgents. While the political battle rages in the United States in the final week of the presidential race, no major campaign takes place in Iraq, perhaps put off to until after Nov. 2 or beyond the Iraqi elections scheduled for January. But regardless of who wins the U.S. election, the shape of the war will not develop in a way that may drastically raise the U.S. death toll, now way beyond the 1,000 mark, the pre-war limit for the success of the campaign. We are seeing and unfortunately taking part in a very unique war with no parallel in modern history. The primary justification for the war - Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction has been quashed squarely, with international support rapidly dwindling except for countries that value alliance with the United States such as Korea and Britain. The local populace is severely divided religiously and ethnically but united in their abhorrence of foreign occupation. Here, both the military and civilian communities share the belief that the Iraqi conflict does not deserve the spilling of Korean blood. But the National Assembly will have to pass a motion to extend the overseas military mission by another year and the whole nation will have to swallow the incongruity just for one reason: to save the alliance with the United States. Our request to Zaytun Unit's commanding general is just to ensure the maximum security of men and women under his command. 2004.10.27