Excellent question posed by CNN’s Jack Cafferty:
There are 1,200 National Guard troops deployed along the U.S. border with Mexico.
The troops were scheduled to leave June 30th, but an extension is likely.
To be fair, there are about 20,000 border agents also on patrol along the 2,000 mile long U.S.-Mexican border.
That’s about 1 agent or soldier every 10 miles.
In comparison, there are 28,000 U.S. troops stationed along the South Korean border with North Korea.
The border between North & South Korea is only about 150 miles.
So, there are almost 200 U.S. soldiers per border mile in North Korea.
And, that’s not counting the highly regarded South Korean army.
Does that make sense to you ?
Hmmm …
The Homa Files 
June 28, 2011 at 2:09 pm |
Well this one is pretty easy actually: We are defending against a greater economic threat to the U.S. in South Korea than we currently face in most of the area adjacent to the Mexican border. To wit:
1) North Korea has the world’s largest artillery force, some 13,000 pieces of which are deployed at the DMZ
2) The Korean People’s Army (aka the bad guys) has ~1.1 MM soldiers (plus a reserve of 8 MM) with 70% of that active force within 100km of the DMZ
3) Seoul, South Korea is just 50 from the DMZ and produces ~$210 billion in GDP (Hong Kong is ~$225 billion)
4) Any enduring attack on Seoul would create global supply-chain chaos – much of which would disproportionately impact the U.S. and its allies
5) The most effective deterrant known to the world are U.S. men and women in uniform alert, aware, and armed to the teeth
Q.E.D.
June 29, 2011 at 6:44 am |
[…] The Homa Files Professor Ken Homa, Georgetown University « Why are there more U.S. troops on South Korea’s border than on our own border? […]