The Korean War, A New Poll

[KG_Panzerschreck]

Given the value of the last 53 years worth of hindsight, do you think the UN & or the USA should of expanded the war in Korea? When i say the phrase "Expanded the war in Korea" i mean increase the number of Divisions/Manpower to bring the war to a successful conclusion conventionally. Feel free to speculate all you like on Political and possible social ramifications that could of impacted on the USA if such a move would of been made, especially comming on the heels of WWII and the economic boom it was having on the USA at the time.

[KG_Soldier]

We flirted with starting a 3rd WW. Given the North Korea/China/Soviet connection, I think we did all we could. No one wanted to see another several million more killed.

[KG_Cloghaun]

Under the Truman Doctrine, we had an obligation to stop the spread of Communism throughout the world. We should've given MacArthur free reign to handle the war, but Truman was a wuss. Talk about millions of lives. Think of the millions of lives that would've been spared had the USA defeated the Soviet Union & Red China in the 50's. A "global" Manifest Destiny which would've been realized long ago. Think of the ramifications. Wars like the one we're fighting now would not be happening.

[KG_Jag]

Korea was started by an invasion of the North to conquer and hold the South.

Korea began the practice of not fighting a war to win. Many boomers paid for that in spades in Viet Nam, just as their fathers and uncles paid for it with their blood in Korea. As Veterans Day ends, it is fitting to say that the US should never ask her soldiers to fight in a war that is not important enough to win. We (along with our UN Allies) should have used at least all of our conventional might to win in Korea.

The nuke issue was mostly BS. China and North Korea did not have them. The Soviet Union did, but they would have been the big loser, if nuclear war started and they were certainly not stupid enough to start it. That is especially true because of the UN mandate and forces in Korea, which was made possible only because the Soviets were boycotting the UN for an unrelated matter when Korea come up for a vote. Perhaps even more important is that we had more and a much better ability to deliver them within the USSR than they did to hit us or our forces.

[KG_Soldier]

The Korean War lasted from June 1950 to July 1953.

"The Korean War finally ended in July 1953. Left in its wake were four million military and civilian casualties, including 33,600 American, 16,000 UN allied, 415,000 South Korean, and 520,000 North Korean dead. There were also an estimated 900,000 Chinese casualties. Half of Korea's industry was destroyed and a third of all homes." (Korean War online)

Does anyone really believe we could have beaten China in a land war in their own back yard without using nukes?

Truman a wuss? The only man in the world ever to okay the use of nuclear weapons.

[KG_Jag]

The Japanese, who we had just defeated in their (and China's) own backyard, accomplished it only 10 to 15 years before. China had suffered constant war for a very long time. Even under Mao's "enlightened" leadership, that takes a toll.

We certainly had little chance of defeating China when Truman would not let us attack the Chinese bases and infrastructure at the same time that its troops were attacking us. A variation of that foolish continued in Viet Nam.

[KG_Soldier]

The Japanese did not face a China backed with Soviet weapons.