Dastardly Hegemonistic Brilliance
How to get South Korea ready to accept its president’s demand for wartime control of its forces? Why, an aggressive schedule of military exercises, of course!
An official with the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday Washington proposed a series of combined military training drills before Korea obtains independent wartime operational control. “The training would be tiered and occur over three years, including the actual transfer period,” he said. In other words, two years before the handover, whether that is the U.S.’ preferred date of 2009 or Korea’s of 2012, combined drills will begin and one year ahead, Korea will start taking the lead and the U.S. Forces Korea rehearse their future supportive role.
“In the designated year, the Korean military will run independent tests of intelligence operations, observation, reconnaissance, and the C41 system [command, control, communication, computers and intelligence] and the U.S. will be there as an observer,” the official said.
Naturally, regularly scheduled exercises like Ulchi Focus Lens, Foal Eagle, and RSOI would go on as usual. If something about this sounds vaguely familiar to you, then you’re obviously heard of OPLAN 5030:
Under the draft plan, US Forces Korea would conduct pre-conflict maneuvers to draw down North Korea’s limited military resources. This might place such stress on the North’s military that it might provoke a military coup against the country’s leader, Kim Jong Il.
According to Auster and Whitelaw, options available under OPLAN 5030 include flying RC-135 surveillance aircraft closer to North Korean airspace, provoking the DPRK to wear out scrambled interceptor aircraft and burn up jet fuel. Under another gambit, US commanders might stage a surprise or short-notice military exercises, provoking North Korean forces to disperse to [or from] bunkers. This could disclose details of DPRK war plans, and deplete reserse of food, water, and other materiel.
The initial draft of 5030 included a variety of operations not included in traditional operational war plans, such as disrupting financial networks and strategic disinformation activities. Indeed, the entire OPLAN 5030 story might be part of such offensive information operations, creating a bewildering wilderness of mirrors for the historically paranoid North.
Emphasis mine. Now, I have to admit something to you. I have nanoseconds where I overestimate my own powers of perception, but fortunately, they never last. Had one this morning, in fact. Spent that nanosecond wondering if I should blog Operation Devious Brilliance for fear of alerting our foes, and then it became apparent that the North Koreans had things pretty well figured out on their own:
“The U.S. is employing every conceivable means and method and resorting to dastardly moves to stifle the DPRK,” Kim said in a report carried by the North’s Korean Central News Agency. DPRK stands for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the North’s official name.
Kim also claimed the U.S. is tightening sanctions on the North and attempting a new war on the peninsula by staging ceaseless military training and amassing sophisticated weapons and troops in South Korea.
… and you know the rest of it: too-confident bluster about ruthlessly smashing dastardly hegemonistic schemes, yada yada, [click to insert computer generated text]. So what’s Roh supposed to say now? That he wants his generals to have wartime command but opposes letting them prepare to assume it? That he’s positively disinterested in allowing his generals to learn just how the Americans had planned — and his generals will need to plan — to control Korea’s forces on the field of battle? Without discounting the possibility that Roh will do exactly that, it’s starting to sound like he’s played into Rummy’s hands perfectly.
Here’s to the hegemonistic schemes of the imperialists!
Map: Global Security