Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Rockin' the Right
The 50 greatest conservative rock songs.

By John J. Miller

EDITOR’S NOTE: This week on NRO, we’ve been rolling out the first five and now all 50 songs from a list John J. Miller compiled that appears in the June 5 issue of National Review . Here’s a look at #1 and get the whole list—complete with purchasing links—here.

On first glance, rock ’n’ roll music isn’t very conservative. It doesn’t fare much better on second or third glance (or listen), either. Neil Young has a new song called “Let’s Impeach the President.” Last year, the Rolling Stones made news with “Sweet Neo Con,” another anti-Bush ditty. For conservatives who enjoy rock, it isn’t hard to agree with the opinion Johnny Cash expressed in “The One on the Right Is on the Left”: “Don’t go mixin’ politics with the folk songs of our land / Just work on harmony and diction / Play your banjo well / And if you have political convictions, keep them to yourself.” In other words: Shut up and sing.


But some rock songs really are conservative — and there are more of them than you might think. Last year, I asked readers of National Review Online to nominate conservative rock songs. Hundreds of suggestions poured in. I’ve sifted through them all, downloaded scores of mp3s, and puzzled over a lot of lyrics. What follows is a list of the 50 greatest conservative rock songs of all time, as determined by me and a few others. The result is of course arbitrary, though we did apply a handful of criteria.

What makes a great conservative rock song? The lyrics must convey a conservative idea or sentiment, such as skepticism of government or support for traditional values. And, to be sure, it must be a great rock song. We’re biased in favor of songs that are already popular, but have tossed in a few little-known gems. In several cases, the musicians are outspoken liberals. Others are notorious libertines. For the purposes of this list, however, we don’t hold any of this against them. Finally, it would have been easy to include half a dozen songs by both the Kinks and Rush, but we’ve made an effort to cast a wide net. Who ever said diversity isn’t a conservative principle?

So here are NR’s top 50 conservative rock songs of all time. Go ahead and quibble with the rankings, complain about what we put on, and send us outraged letters and e-mails about what we left off. In the end, though, we hope you’ll admit that it’s a pretty cool playlist for your iPod.

1. “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” by The Who. The Who - The Kids Are Alright - Won't Get Fooled Again ; buy CD on Amazon.com
The conservative movement is full of disillusioned revolutionaries; this could be their theme song, an oath that swears off naïve idealism once and for all. “There’s nothing in the streets / Looks any different to me / And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye. . . . Meet the new boss / Same as the old boss.” The instantly recognizable synthesizer intro, Pete Townshend’s ringing guitar, Keith Moon’s pounding drums, and Roger Daltrey’s wailing vocals make this one of the most explosive rock anthems ever recorded — the best number by a big band, and a classic for conservatives.

2. “Taxman,” by The Beatles. buy CD on Amazon.com
A George Harrison masterpiece with a famous guitar riff (which was actually played by Paul McCartney): “If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street / If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat / If you get too cold, I’ll tax the heat / If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet.” The song closes with a humorous jab at death taxes: “Now my advice for those who die / Declare the pennies on your eyes.”

3. “Sympathy for the Devil,” by The Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil Remixes - EP - Sympathy for the Devil ; buy CD on Amazon.com
Don’t be misled by the title; this song is The Screwtape Letters of rock. The devil is a tempter who leans hard on moral relativism — he will try to make you think that “every cop is a criminal / And all the sinners saints.” What’s more, he is the sinister inspiration for the cruelties of Bolshevism: “I stuck around St. Petersburg / When I saw it was a time for a change / Killed the czar and his ministers / Anastasia screamed in vain.”

4. “Sweet Home Alabama,” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Then and Now - Sweet Home Alabama ; buy CD on Amazon.com
A tribute to the region of America that liberals love to loathe, taking a shot at Neil Young’s Canadian arrogance along the way: “A Southern man don’t need him around anyhow.”

5. “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” by The Beach Boys. The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys - Wouldn't It Be Nice ; buy CD on Amazon.com
Pro-abstinence and pro-marriage: “Maybe if we think and wish and hope and pray it might come true / Baby then there wouldn’t be a single thing we couldn’t do / We could be married / And then we’d be happy.”

6. “Gloria,” by U2. U2 - Under a Blood Red Sky - Gloria ; buy CD on Amazon.com
Just because a rock song is about faith doesn’t mean that it’s conservative. But what about a rock song that’s about faith and whose chorus is in Latin? That’s beautifully reactionary: “Gloria / In te domine / Gloria / Exultate.”

7. “Revolution,” by The Beatles. buy CD on Amazon.com
“You say you want a revolution / Well you know / We all want to change the world . . . Don’t you know you can count me out?” What’s more, Communism isn’t even cool: “If you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao / You ain’t going to make it with anyone anyhow.” (Someone tell the Che Guevara crowd.)

8. “Bodies,” by The Sex Pistols. Sex Pistols - Filthy Lucre Live - Bodies ; buy CD on Amazon.com
Violent and vulgar, but also a searing anti-abortion anthem by the quintessential punk band: “It’s not an animal / It’s an abortion.”

9. “Don’t Tread on Me,” by Metallica. buy CD on Amazon.com
A head-banging tribute to the doctrine of peace through strength, written in response to the first Gulf War: “So be it / Threaten no more / To secure peace is to prepare for war.”

10. “20th Century Man,” by The Kinks. The Kinks - The Kinks' Greatest: Celluloid Heroes - 20th Century Man ; buy CD on Amazon.com
“You keep all your smart modern writers / Give me William Shakespeare / You keep all your smart modern painters / I’ll take Rembrandt, Titian, da Vinci, and Gainsborough. . . . I was born in a welfare state / Ruled by bureaucracy / Controlled by civil servants / And people dressed in grey / Got no privacy got no liberty / ’Cause the 20th-century people / Took it all away from me.”

11. “The Trees,” by Rush. Rush - Rush: Spirit of Radio - Greatest Hits 1974-1987 - The Trees ; buy CD on Amazon.com
Before there was Rush Limbaugh, there was Rush, a Canadian band whose lyrics are often libertarian. What happens in a forest when equal rights become equal outcomes? “The trees are all kept equal / By hatchet, axe, and saw.”

12. “Neighborhood Bully,” by Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan - Infidels - Neighborhood Bully ; buy CD on Amazon.com A pro-Israel song released in 1983, two years after the bombing of Iraq’s nuclear reactor, this ironic number could be a theme song for the Bush Doctrine: “He destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad / The bombs were meant for him / He was supposed to feel bad / He’s the neighborhood bully.”

13. “My City Was Gone,” by The Pretenders. Pretenders - Learning to Crawl - My City Was Gone ; buy CD on Amazon.com
Virtually every conservative knows the bass line, which supplies the theme music for Limbaugh’s radio show. But the lyrics also display a Jane Jacobs sensibility against central planning and a conservative’s dissatisfaction with rapid change: “I went back to Ohio / But my pretty countryside / Had been paved down the middle / By a government that had no pride.”

14. “Right Here, Right Now,” by Jesus Jones. buy CD on Amazon.com
The words are vague, but they’re also about the fall of Communism and the end of the Cold War: “I was alive and I waited for this. . . . Watching the world wake up from history.”

15. “I Fought the Law,” by The Crickets. The Crickets - The Crickets and Their Buddies - I Fought the Law ; buy CD on Amazon.com
The original law-and-order classic, made famous in 1965 by The Bobby Fuller Four and covered by just about everyone since then.

16. “Get Over It,” by The Eagles. Eagles - The Very Best of the Eagles - Get Over It (Remastered) ; buy CD on Amazon.com
Against the culture of grievance: “The big, bad world doesn’t owe you a thing.” There’s also this nice line: “I’d like to find your inner child and kick its little ass.”

17. “Stay Together for the Kids,” by Blink 182. Blink-182 - Blink-182: Greatest Hits - Stay Together for the Kids ; buy CD on Amazon.com
A eulogy for family values by an alt-rock band whose members were raised in a generation without enough of them: “So here’s your holiday / Hope you enjoy it this time / You gave it all away. . . . It’s not right.”

18. “Cult of Personality,” by Living Colour. Living Colour - Living Colour: Super Hits - Cult of Personality ; buy CD on Amazon.com
A hard-rocking critique of state power, whacking Mussolini, Stalin, and even JFK: “I exploit you, still you love me / I tell you one and one makes three / I’m the cult of personality.”

19. “Kicks,” by Paul Revere and the Raiders. Paul Revere & The Raiders - Paul Revere & The Raiders: Super Hits - Kicks ; buy CD on Amazon.com
An anti-drug song that is also anti-utopian: “Well, you think you’re gonna find yourself a little piece of paradise / But it ain’t happened yet, so girl you better think twice.”

20. “Rock the Casbah,” by The Clash. The Clash - The Essential Clash - Rock the Casbah ; buy CD on Amazon.com
After 9/11, American radio stations were urged not to play this 1982 song, one of the biggest hits by a seminal punk band, because it was seen as too provocative. Meanwhile, British Forces Broadcasting Service (the radio station for British troops serving in Iraq) has said that this is one of its most requested tunes.

21. “Heroes,” by David Bowie. David Bowie - Heroes - Heroes ; buy CD on Amazon.com
A Cold War love song about a man and a woman divided by the Berlin Wall. No moral equivalence here: “I can remember / Standing / By the wall / And the guns / Shot above our heads / And we kissed / As though nothing could fall / And the shame / Was on the other side / Oh we can beat them / For ever and ever.”

22. “Red Barchetta,” by Rush. Rush - Rush: Spirit of Radio - Greatest Hits 1974-1987 - Red Barchetta ; buy CD on Amazon.com
In a time of “the Motor Law,” presumably legislated by green extremists, the singer describes family reunion and the thrill of driving a fast car — an act that is his “weekly crime.”

23. “Brick,” by Ben Folds Five. Ben Folds Five - The Best of Sessions at West 54th, Vol. 1 - Brick ; buy CD on Amazon.com
Written from the perspective of a man who takes his young girlfriend to an abortion clinic, this song describes the emotional scars of “reproductive freedom”: “Now she’s feeling more alone / Than she ever has before. . . . As weeks went by / It showed that she was not fine.”

24. “Der Kommissar,” by After the Fire. buy CD on Amazon.com
On the misery of East German life: “Don’t turn around, uh-oh / Der Kommissar’s in town, uh-oh / He’s got the power / And you’re so weak / And your frustration / Will not let you speak.” Also a hit song for Falco, who wrote it.

25. “The Battle of Evermore,” by Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin Tribute - Tribute to Led Zeppelin IV - Battle of Evermore ; buy CD on Amazon.com
The lyrics are straight out of Robert Plant’s Middle Earth period — there are lines about “ring wraiths” and “magic runes” — but for a song released in 1971, it’s hard to miss the Cold War metaphor: “The tyrant’s face is red.”

26. “Capitalism,” by Oingo Boingo. Oingo Boingo - Boingo Alive - Celebration of a Decade 1978-1988 - Capitalism ; buy CD on Amazon.com
“There’s nothing wrong with Capitalism / There’s nothing wrong with free enterprise. . . . You’re just a middle class, socialist brat / From a suburban family and you never really had to work.”

27. “Obvious Song,” by Joe Jackson. buy CD on Amazon.com
For property rights and economic development, and against liberal hypocrisy: “There was a man in the jungle / Trying to make ends meet / Found himself one day with an axe in his hand / When a voice said ‘Buddy can you spare that tree / We gotta save the world — starting with your land’ / It was a rock ’n’ roll millionaire from the USA / Doing three to the gallon in a big white car / And he sang and he sang ’til he polluted the air / And he blew a lot of smoke from a Cuban cigar.”

28. “Janie’s Got a Gun,” by Aerosmith. Aerosmith - Young Lust: The Aerosmith Anthology - Janie's Got a Gun ; buy CD on Amazon.com
How the right to bear arms can protect women from sexual predators: “What did her daddy do? / It’s Janie’s last I.O.U. / She had to take him down easy / And put a bullet in his brain / She said ’cause nobody believes me / The man was such a sleaze / He ain’t never gonna be the same.”

29. “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” by Iron Maiden. Iron Maiden - Live After Death - Rime of the Ancient Mariner ; buy CD on Amazon.com
A heavy-metal classic inspired by a literary classic. How many other rock songs quote directly from Samuel Taylor Coleridge?

30. “You Can’t Be Too Strong,” by Graham Parker. Graham Parker - Master Hits ; buy CD on Amazon.com
Although it’s not explicitly pro-life, this tune describes the horror of abortion with bracing honesty: “Did they tear it out with talons of steel, and give you a shot so that you wouldn’t feel?”

31. “Small Town,” by John Mellencamp. John Mellencamp - Words & Music - John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits - Small Town ; buy CD on Amazon.com
A Burkean rocker: “No, I cannot forget where it is that I come from / I cannot forget the people who love me.”

32. “Keep Your Hands to Yourself,” by The Georgia Satellites. Georgia Satellites - Georgia Satellites - Keep Your Hands To Yourself ; buy CD on Amazon.com
An outstanding vocal performance, with lyrics that affirm old-time sexual mores: “She said no huggy, no kissy until I get a wedding vow.”

33. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” by The Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus - You Can't Always Get What You Want ; buy CD on Amazon.com
You can “[go] down to the demonstration” and vent your frustration, but you must understand that there’s no such thing as a perfect society — there are merely decent and free ones.

34. “Godzilla,” by Blue öyster Cult. Blue Öyster Cult - Then and Now: Blue Öyster Cult - Godzilla ; buy CD on Amazon.com
A 1977 classic about a big green monster — and more: “History shows again and again / How nature points up the folly of men.”

35. “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle, Vol. 1 - Who'll Stop the Rain ; buy CD on Amazon.com
Written as an anti–Vietnam War song, this tune nevertheless is pessimistic about activism and takes a dim view of both Communism and liberalism: “Five-year plans and new deals, wrapped in golden chains . . .”

36. “Government Cheese,” by The Rainmakers. buy CD on Amazon.com
A protest song against the welfare state by a Kansas City band that deserved more success than it got. The first line: “Give a man a free house and he’ll bust out the windows.”

37. “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” by The Band. The Band - The Band - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down ; buy CD on Amazon.com
Despite its sins, the American South always has been about more than racism — this song captures its pride and tradition.

38. “I Can’t Drive 55,” by Sammy Hagar. Sammy Hagar - Sammy Hagar: Unboxed - I Can't Drive 55 ; buy CD on Amazon.com
A rocker’s objection to the nanny state. (See also Hagar’s pro-America song “VOA.”)

39. “Property Line,” by The Marshall Tucker Band. The Marshall Tucker Band - Long Hard Ride - Property Line ; buy CD on Amazon.com
The secret to happiness, according to these southern-rock heavyweights, is life, liberty, and property: “Well my idea of a good time / Is walkin’ my property line / And knowin’ the mud on my boots is mine.”

40. “Wake Up Little Susie,” by The Everly Brothers. The Everly Brothers - Everly Brothers: The Very Best of the - Wake Up Little Susie ; buy CD on Amazon.com
A smash hit in 1957, back when high-school social pressures were rather different from what they have become: “We fell asleep, our goose is cooked, our reputation is shot.”

41. “The Icicle Melts,” by The Cranberries. The Cranberries - No Need to Argue - The Icicle Melts ; buy CD on Amazon.com
A pro-life tune sung by Irish warbler Dolores O’Riordan: “I don’t know what’s happening to people today / When a child, he was taken away . . . ’Cause nine months is too long.”

42. “Everybody’s a Victim,” by The Proclaimers. The Proclaimers - Persevere - Everybody's a Victim ; buy CD on Amazon.com
Best known for their smash hit “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles),” this Scottish band also recorded a catchy song about the problem of suspending moral judgment: “It doesn’t matter what I do / You have to say it’s all right . . . Everybody’s a victim / We’re becoming like the USA.”

43. “Wonderful,” by Everclear. Everclear - The Best of Everclear - Wonderful ; buy CD on Amazon.com
A child’s take on divorce: “I don’t wanna hear you say / That I will understand someday / No, no, no, no / I don’t wanna hear you say / You both have grown in a different way / No, no, no, no / I don’t wanna meet your friends / And I don’t wanna start over again / I just want my life to be the same / Just like it used to be.”

44. “Two Sisters,” by The Kinks. buy CD on Amazon.com
Why the “drudgery of being wed” is more rewarding than bohemian life.

45. “Taxman, Mr. Thief,” by Cheap Trick. Cheap Trick - Cheap Trick - Taxman, Mr. Thief ; buy CD on Amazon.com
An anti-tax protest song: “You work hard, you went hungry / Now the taxman is out to get you. . . . He hates you, he loves money.”

46. “Wind of Change,” by The Scorpions. Scorpions - Box of Scorpions - Wind of Change ; buy CD on Amazon.com
A German hard-rock group’s optimistic power ballad about the end of the Cold War and national reunification: “The world is closing in / Did you ever think / That we could be so close, like brothers / The future’s in the air / I can feel it everywhere / Blowing with the wind of change.”

47. “One,” by Creed. Creed - My Own Prison - One ; buy CD on Amazon.com Against racial preferences: “Society blind by color / Why hold down one to raise another / Discrimination now on both sides / Seeds of hate blossom further.”

48. “Why Don’t You Get a Job,” by The Offspring. The Offspring - Americana - Why Don't You Get a Job? ; buy CD on Amazon.com
The lyrics aren’t exactly Shakespearean, but they’re refreshingly blunt and they capture a motive force behind welfare reform.

49. “Abortion,” by Kid Rock. buy CD on Amazon.com
A plaintive song sung by a man who confronts his unborn child’s abortion: “I know your brothers and your sister and your mother too / Man I wish you could see them too.”

50. “Stand By Your Man,” by Tammy Wynette. Tammy Wynette - Tammy Wynette: Tammy's Greatest Hits - Stand by Your Man ; buy CD on Amazon.com
Hillary trashed it — isn’t that enough? If you’re worried that Wynette’s original is too country, then check out the cover version by Motörhead.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Well its now 2008 and its time for another X-Files movie and this one is different.
The X-Files: I Want to Believe. If you are a fan of the move then the film will be easy to follow, If you are not, then this film will not make a lot of sense for you.

The plot of the film is simple, Its now 8 years later and Mulder Fox has been exiled from the FBI and lives in a quiet life. His former partner Dana Scully has moved on and is now working in a Catholic Hospital trying to save the live of a young child. The FBI has has an Agent go missing and FBI needs Fox and Scully to once again try and save the day.

As someone who watched the TV show off and on, it was easy for me to catch back up with the characters. For the new viewer, this will be impossible. I have made this review as spoiler free so you will not have any of this film ruined for you.

If you liked the X-Files TV show, then please watch the movie. I think that it is worth a turn at the local cinema. If you have never watched the TV Show, then you should pass on this one and wait for the DVD.

Grade C+

Fox Mulder: Scully, I need you in this with me.
Dana Scully: That's what scares me.

Extra Sceen at the end of the film Yes.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Movie Review. Sunny



Well it was another week of seeing the so-called, "New Korean Wave Film" Sunny and once again I must ask the question, "Where can this film play, besides Korea?"

For those who have not heard of this film, the story goes like this, Old-fashioned Soon-yi marries into a family in the country without love. But when her husband abandons her by enlisting into the Vietnam war, she wants to show that she is capable of loving him. She uses her vocal talent to join a band heading there and sings for the restless soldiers in hopes of meeting her husband while on tour.

I had a very bad feeling as I went into the theater and sad to say, the feeling was correct.

Every time the US Army is featured in this film, I kept counting all of the errors with the uniforms and just about everything else. It was a total waste of even trying to be correct and to me the film horribly fails on this part. The acting for the US military roles were just as bad and I never believed any of them.

I never believed the actress Soo-Ae for a moments as a lady in love with her husband. She came across, to me, as a lady who was horribly mis-cast and each time the screen is on her,she can not deliver. This film ultimately fails because of her.

Overall the film is another bad attempt of Korea trying to be a world player in cinema. Please pass on this film at all cost.

Grade D-

How I saw it. CGV Digital Screen

Opened in Korea on July 24th 2008
The Forensics of No Gun Ri

nogunri-12.JPG

Background

In 1999 the Associated Press writers Charles Hanley, Martha Mendoza, and Choe Sang-hun made international headlines with their publication of the article “The Bridge at No Gun Ri” that alleged that the US Army’s 7th Cavalry Regiment massacred South Korean refugees underneath a bridge during the opening weeks of the Korean War. The article was sourced with interviews of Korean refugees that survived the alleged massacre along with a host of ex-GI witnesses. The allegations in the article were truly shocking and reverberated around the world’s media outlets. The allegations caused anti-American protests in Korea along with demands for a $400 million dollar compensation package from the alleged victims. The trio of AP writers would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism, but lost initially in the furor over No Gun Ri was whether the allegations were true or not?


AP journalist Charles Hanley

It took sometime for critics to research the allegations, but in May 2000 reports of the AP using testimony from fraudulent GI witnesses who could not have possibly been at No Gun Ri were first published[i]. More reports critical of the GI witnesses[ii] used by the AP followed and eventually culminated in a book written by then Army Major and West Point historian Robert Bateman that strongly challenged much of the witness testimony and documentary evidence that the AP presented in their article. The AP to this day continues to defend their witnesses and accuses the US military of committing war crimes during the Korean War.

Unsurprisingly the controversy over what happened at No Gun Ri expanded into a major issue of contention between the US and South Korean governments. In order to determine exactly what did happen that day in 1950, a joint investigation was launched by both governments to settle the No Gun Ri issue. The report from the investigation that was released in January 2001 was long and detailed, but it did not offer a definitive conclusion on what happened and how many people were killed due to differences between the Korean and US investigators.

The AP writers have consistently stated that “hundreds” died at No Gun Ri while the Korean claimants say four hundred people died that day under the bridge. The Korean government investigators put the number at one hundred and fifty people killed while the Pentagon review determined that an “unknown” amount of people died at No Gun Ri, but the review team also determined the number was not “hundreds” as the AP and the Koreans claim. Determining the accurate amount of people killed is important to uncovering whether what happened at No Gun Ri was a deliberate war crime or the actions of a few jittery soldiers responding to what they perceived as an enemy threat from within the refugee column.

Determining if there was an enemy threat from within in the refugee column is key to analyzing what really happened that day at No Gun Ri. The fact that North Korean soldiers disguised themselves as civilians to infiltrate the frontlines of American and allied forces is well documented. Another fact that is also well documented is the amount of South Korean communist guerrilla activity that was present before, during, and even after the Korean War. Were any of these forces present that day in the refugee column underneath the bridge at No Gun Ri? This is an important question in need of an answer.


Photo of 7th Cavalry soldier during the Korean War.

All the Korean witnesses say there was no enemy forces integrated with the refugees, however multiple 7th Cavalry soldiers offer convincing testimony that there was in fact enemy forces firing at them from the refugee column that caused some soldiers to return fire. One US soldier even explained how he went under the bridge to investigate after the soldiers returned fire and says he saw 4-9 bodies in the culvert along with some grenades and a machine gun.[iii] Uncovering whether enemy forces fired from the refugee column would go a long ways towards determining the motivations behind why the 7th Cavalry soldiers fired at the refugees in the first place.

The Case for Physical Evidence

The best way to determine what happened at No Gun Ri is not with witness testimony, but with forensic evidence. Arguing over whose fifty-year old memories to believe is a battle that neither side in the No Gun Ri issue will ever win. Though much debate has raged over the witness testimony and documentary evidence, no one including the AP has looked strongly at the forensic evidence of No Gun Ri. As has been shown in an increasing amount of legal cases over the years, witnesses’ memories can be faulty even though they believe what they say to be the truth, while others just flat out lie. Critics of the AP authors have already exposed a number of flat out liars and distortions, while the belief that much of the remaining witness testimony may be inaccurate is not far fetched. Forensic evidence on the other hand, does not lie. Forensic evidence has solved many criminal investigations that would not have been solved otherwise and should be used to settle the No Gun Ri debate as well.

nogunri-14.JPG
View of the creek underneath the railway bridge.

If forensic evidence can prove that “hundreds” of people died at No Gun Ri, without a doubt a war crime occurred that day because killing four hundred civilians in response to a perceived North Korean threat from small arms fire coming should be considered an inappropriate amount of force used. If such a scenario did happen, it can only mean one of two possibilities: either the soldiers were ordered to continue firing on the refugees by their officers or their officers failed in their duties to control the actions of the soldiers underneath their command. Either way the officers of the unit were negligent in their duties and the killings were indeed deliberate and should be recognized as such.

As part of the joint American and Korean governmental investigation into what happened at No Gun Ri, it was agreed upon between the two governments that a Korean forensics team would be formed to recover and most importantly analyze any possible evidence that could draw any firm conclusions of what happened and how many people died at No Gun Ri that day. Even though it had been fifty years since the tragedy at No Gun Ri, the area should have still provided a wealth of forensic evidence, considering the AP and the Korean witnesses estimated that “hundreds” of people were killed there.

In the North Korean newspaper article that the AP used to verify their original No Gun Ri reporting, the newspaper stated that North Korean soldiers:

“encountered… indescribably gruesome scenes under the railway tunnels and in nearby fields… About 400 bodies of old and young people and children covered the scene so that it was difficult to walk around without stepping on corpses.” [iv]

Additionally, the Korean witnesses claim that animals such as oxen were killed by the aerial strafing and firing from soldiers:

“dirt and gravel rained down. Oxcarts were burning… Dead bodies and cows were everywhere, spewing blood.”[v]

Also the Korean witnesses claim that they were not only strafed by US aircraft, but bombed as well:

“the planes came, raining down bombs and big bullets. The planes shrieked past repeatedly. People ran for the shrubs and trees. A lot of people died.”[vi]

If the Korean witnesses and the North Korean newspaper that the AP quotes to corroborate their version of events is taken as fact, than it is reasonable to expect that even after the passing of fifty years huge quantities of bullets, bomb fragments from the aerial attack, and bones from people and animals that supposedly died during the attack would be recovered. Additionally, the area should also be littered with artifacts from the victims themselves such as remains from the ox carts, buttons from the victims’ clothes, decomposed sandals and boots, tin cans, bowls, coins, and other personal effects. The amount of physical evidence left over from four hundred people killed along the railroad tracks and the tunnels should be quite significant.

Prior Cases of Using Forensic Evidence

Finding such evidence after the passage of fifty years is not unreasonable considering Korean War battlefields are routinely excavated by the Korean government in their effort to locate the remains of Korean soldiers still missing from the Korean War. In fact authorities responsible for recovering artifacts from various battlefields display the items occasionally at the Korean War Memorial in Seoul.


Recovered Artifacts from a Korean War Battlefield [vii]

The most recent example of recovering Korean War remains comes from the Korean government’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This commission was established to investigate allegations of war crimes against Korean civilians during the Korean War. In their most recent report published in November 2007 the report claims United States aircraft bombed and killed approximately fifty civilians near the South Korean hamlet of Yecheon[viii]. Though much of the claims of who was responsible for the bombing are dubious, it cannot be denied that a tragedy did happen there with such definitive forensic evidence human bones and items of personal property recovered from the victim’s remains. With such evidence appearing fifty-seven years after the fact, it is not unreasonable to expect similar evidence to be found at No Gun Ri as well.

The First Forensic Investigation

The Korean government’s first forensic investigation at No Gun Ri was launched in July 2000. The government sent its Defense Investigative Command (DIC) team to conduct a forensic assessment of the No Gun Ri site. Upon the completion of the DIC team’s investigation they determined that marks on the culvert southwest of the bridge site and the bridge site itself were in fact from bullets fired at a close distance. At both the culvert and the bridge they discovered a total of 316 bullet marks with 59 of them still embedded with bullet fragments. The Korean investigators removed 20 of the 59 bullets and determined that all 20 bullets were either US made .30 caliber or .50 caliber bullets.[ix]

forensics-1.JPG
Recovered Bullets from No Gun Ri

Upon the completion of its forensic investigation at No Gun Ri the DIC team sent a report of their findings to the Pentagon review team. The Pentagon review team in turn had forensic experts from both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) review the DIC teams findings. The FBI did not agree with the methods used by the DIC team to determine how far the bullets were fired. The DIC team determined the bullets were fired from weapons at close range because of how deeply embedded the bullets were in the concrete. The FBI experts expressed a view that gunshot residue and the angle from which the bullets were fired are what accurately determines the distance of firing. Additionally the FBI did not agree with the finding that all 316 marks on the walls of the culvert and the bridge were in fact bullet marks because the DIC team did not test for trace amounts of copper and lead that would be left on the wall if they are in fact bullet marks.[x]

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Upclose look at bullets on the railway bridge.

Determining if the bullets were fired at close range or not is important because from the positions the 7th Cavalry soldiers were located at they had to be at close range in order to shoot into the tunnels. Also finding only a combined 316 bullets marks at both the culvert and tunnel seems to be quite a low number considering the thousands of rounds that allegedly were fired at the refugees at both the culvert and the bridge. The Korean witnesses claim that the 7th Cavalry soldiers fired at them for up to four days with both machine guns and small arms weapons for hours at a time. The AP writers in their own original article about the events that transpired at No Gun Ri say that the .30 caliber Browning machine gun fires 700 rounds per minute. If such claims of hours and days and continuous shooting at the refugees are to believed surely more than 316 marks would be left at the scene. The bullet markings left at both the culvert and the bridge should have totaled in the thousands not the low hundreds.

Another oddity is that the bullet markings were said to be a mixture of 30 caliber and .50 caliber rounds by the Korean investigators. American aircraft at the time fired .50 caliber bullets. The .50 caliber bullet markings could just as easily be from a strafing attack by American aircraft. However, no Korean or veteran witness has recalled a strafing attack on the bridge. The claimed strafing attack occurred before the refugees reached the bridge. It is possible many of the bullet markings on the bridge are from an aircraft strafing after the events of No Gun Ri had transpired. Additionally, when you take into consideration that the DIC team did not do a proper investigation to determine if the marks are in fact bullet marks, the actual number of bullet marks on both the bridge could be even lower.

The FBI team also disagreed that all 59 bullets were fired by US weapons because the Korean DIC team only extracted 20 of the 59 bullets. The Korean investigators did a visual inspection of the remaining 39 bullet marks and concluded they were all American bullets. The FBI believes that all the bullets should be extracted and analyzed before declaring them all US manufactured bullets. What is also important to realize is that much US equipment was left behind and captured by the enemy during the early stages of the Korean War including equipment from the 1st Cavalry Division. It is a known fact that North Korean soldiers at times used American weapons.[xi] Due to this fact it is impossible to conclude with absolute certainty that every American round recovered at No Gun Ri, was fired by an American soldier. It is additionally impossible to conclude that every observable bullet mark at No Gun Ri was the result of the 7th Cavalry. How can anyone conclude an alleged bullet mark under the tunnels at No Gun Ri wasn’t made by a Soviet weapon if all the bullets are not extracted? Finally, it is impossible to determine if the marks were made before or even after the events that transpired between 26-29 July 1950.

Personal Observations from No Gun Ri

I have personally visited the site where the alleged massacre at No Gun Ri occurred as part of my research into what happened underneath the bridge that day. Visiting the site makes it much easier to picture where the soldiers and refugees were located and the distances in between. The various bullet markings are still visible on the walls and outlined with white paint. Something I found odd analyzing the bullet marks, is the distribution of the markings on each side of the tunnels. On the east side of the tunnel facing the American frontline positions there are fewer bullet marks then what would be expected for a massacre of the scope alleged.

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The east side of No Gun Ri tunnel.

On the contrary, the west side of the tunnel facing away from the Americans’ frontline positions is littered with more bullet holes than the east side.

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The west side of the No Gun Ri railway tunnel.

The west side of the tunnel has a staircase that was constructed that provides easy access to where the American positions were located. From those positions the soldiers could not have fired and hit the west side of the tunnel, yet the west side of the tunnel has more bullet markings than the east side they were oriented to. To try and determine where the bullet markings on the west side of the tunnel came from I went and walked to the most likely position that the bullets could have been fired from.

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A possible firing position on the east side of the bridge.

I walked along the side of the railway track opposite from the east side of the bridge. I walked as far back as I could on the side of the railroad tracks before the ground gave way to the rice paddies behind me and the actual village of No Gun Ri.

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The rice paddies adjacent to the village of No Gun Ri.

These same rice paddies existed back in 1950 and thus no firing position would have been beyond the mud of the rice paddies. Thus the bullet markings had to come from somebody firing from the side of the railway tracks from where I was standing. The first question that came to mind was why would you set up a firing position here that is within the engagement area of the soldiers positioned on the hillside opposite from the position? Vice versa, why would you set up a position that is firing back at the soldiers on the hillside? It doesn’t make sense. What does make sense is that the bullet markings came from a possible strafing attack or an engagement later on in the war. To suggest that these bullet markings on the west side of the tunnel came from the soldiers of the 7th Cavalry between 26-29 July, 1950 I find to be unlikely.

What I do find likely is that the bullet markings on the east side of the bridge did in fact come from the time period in question. Notice how on the east side of the tunnel the bullet markings are much lower compared to the bullet markings on the opposite side. You can almost imagine someone trying to escape from under the bridge by running through the creek bed and using the road as cover. The bullet marks indicate aimed shots towards the creek bed since only a few of the marks are half way up the wall while none of the bullet marks are on the top of the wall. Could civilians at No Gun Ri fifty-seven years ago have been killed by the guns that left these bullet marks? It is impossible to say for sure, but this theory cannot be discounted either. Either way, the overall low numbers of marks does not support the body count mythology of “hundreds” of people killed underneath the bridge.

Key Physical & Imagery Evidence

The most interesting thing the DIC team disclosed in their report was that they unearthed 193 items around the culvert and the bridge. The items included .30 caliber empty cartridges, bullets, unfired cartridges, one M1 rifle cartridge clip, one light machine gun link, and other fragments. Interestingly enough the DIC team also found Soviet material located on the north side of the bridge that included empty cartridges and bullets for the Soviet made Mosin-Nagant rifle and DP/DT machine gun.[xii] This is an important discovery because US witnesses say that they came under fire from the north side of the bridge. If one is to believe that the American manufactured bullets found at the scene confirm the Korean witnesses testimony of taking fire from 7th Cavalry soldiers, one has to also believe that the Soviet bullets found at the scene confirm the GI witnesses testimony of fire being directed at them from among the refugee column.

To further determine what happened at the double railway tunnel at No Gun Ri, the Pentagon review team requested that the Defense Intelligence Agency research their photographic archives for any imagery taken during the timeframe of the No Gun Ri incident. DIA was able to locate two sets of aerial reconnaissance missions that were flown in the vicinity of No Gun Ri on August 6, 1950 and September 19, 1950. Upon the discovery of this film, the Pentagon review team had the Department of Defense’s National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) analyze both sets of film. Additionally the Pentagon review team had aerial imagery experts from the South Korean 39th Tactical Reconnaissance Group analyze the film as well.

Considering that the film is from 1950 the quality is actually quite good. The NIMA imagery analyst that was tasked with analyzing the film concluded that the film was “good quality” and that bodies 4-6 feet in height would be easily visible.[xiii] Obviously the August 6th imagery would prove to be the most interesting imagery since the pictures were taken only one week after the events that transpired at No Gun Ri.

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The double overpass in the middle of the image is where the No Gun Ri incident occurred.

After a careful examination of the film, the lone NIMA analyst made some key findings. First of all, the analyst was able to confirm that the film was in fact of the Yongdong-Hwanggan corridor that included the area in question, No Gun Ri. The analyst was also able to confirm that the No Gun Ri area was the scene of military operations. He identified various fighting positions in the vicinity of the railway track along with evidence of bomb craters in the vicinity of the openings of the tunnel.

Additionally, the analyst concluded that there were signs of a probable strafing in two locations along the railroad tracks. The first location was approximately two hundred meters southwest of the No Gun Ri railway bridge in question. The second probable strafing location was located 1,200 meters southwest of the No Gun Ri bridge. The length of both the probable strafing areas was approximately 50 meters. The NIMA analyst ruled out the possibility that mortars, artillery, or aerial bombs caused the marks due to the density of craters and the size of soil disruption in both locations. The analyst also ruled out that the markings were the remains of refugee belongings because any such belongings would leave a gray tone instead of a white tone on the image.[xiv]

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The first probable strafing area located 200 meters southwest of the No Gun Ri bridge.

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A close up look at the first probable strafing area.

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The second probable strafing area located 1,200 meters southwest of the No Gun Ri bridge.

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A close up look at the second probable strafing area.

In the September 19th footage the marks remained, but appeared more weathered. The analyst also commented that the rails in the strafed area “appeared intact”[xv]. This is a significant finding because Korean witnesses claimed that not only were they strafed, but also that they were bombed. During an interview with a Korean reporter Korean witness Chung Gu-shik said the refugee column was bombed by a fighter jet, approximately one hundred people and many animals were blown to pieces, and that the railway was bent like “steel chopsticks”. He goes on to say the bombing lasted for a total of 20 minutes.[xvi] The NIMA analyst found no signs of rails bent like “steel chopsticks”, no bomb craters, no left over refugee items, no dead animals, and most importantly no dead bodies.

Even more intriguing was that the NIMA analyst found no evidence of any bodies or mass graves anywhere near the bridge or in the general vicinity of the No Gun Ri area.[xvii] The NIMA analyst looked for things such as long trench lines to indicate the location of mass graves and found none. He also analyzed the condition of the fighting positions. The fighting positions around No Gun Ri would have been a readily available means to dispose of the bodies since the holes had already been dug. The analyst found that the fighting positions were still intact and not filled in on the August 6th film. Additionally, he concluded that the fighting positions were still not filled in the September 19th film either; they had just shown signs of weathering.

This finding is also significant because six Korean witnesses claim that mass graves were used to bury the dead.[xviii] According to the footage, these mass graves do not exist. Additionally, Korean witnesses say that they returned to retrieve bodies between July 29, 1950 and November 15, 1950. They claimed the bodies were inside the railway bridge, along side the dirt road and railway tracks, and lying in other areas near No Gun Ri. Seven Korean witnesses testified that they returned to the scene four to seven days after the incident and saw “many dead decomposing bodies in the area and that some bodies had been temporarily buried.” Another Korean witness claimed the bodies from villagers that were not from the two villages of Im Gae Ri or Joo Gok Ri that comprised the majority of the people in refugee column, were not buried until some time in mid-August.[xix]

None of these claims could be substantiated by either the August 6th or September 19th aerial footage.

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Close up view of the fields across the street from the No Gun Ri Bridge.

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An even closer view of the No Gun Ri bridge. No signs of bodies or mass graves.

This same aerial footage was forwarded to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology that has one hundred and twenty forensic experts that specialize in identifying locations of mass graves. These pathologists have been used before to detect mass grave locations using overhead imagery in places such as Bosnia. In the No Gun Ri footage they saw no evidence of bodies being dragged on the ground to be removed from the area as claimed, no blood stained earth, no signs of decomposition, or any scavenger activity in the area. In short, they found absolutely no evidence to suggest a mass killing had occurred in the vicinity of No Gun Ri.[xx]

Korean Attempts to Discredit Evidence

This aerial footage was so damning to the Korean version of events, that upon viewing the film, the Korean investigators accused the Pentagon review team of forwarding “bogus images”. They even suggested to AP reporter Choe Sang-hun that the U.S. had tampered with the images.[xxi] The Pentagon team of course denied these allegations.

Something else that was interesting about the Korean imagery analysis team was that they were fully exposed to both the operational details and witness interviews of what allegedly happened at No Gun Ri.[xxii] The American imagery analyst was not exposed to these details in order to ensure a non-bias assessment of the imagery was made. The fact that the Korean imagery analyst was fully exposed to such information made it quite clear to him what he was expected to find instead of providing an unbiased assessment of the film. This may explain the initial claims against the Pentagon team forwarding “bogus images” to the Korean analyst because the images so greatly differed compared to all the prior information he was given about what happened at No Gun Ri.

It is arguable that since the Korean analyst was exposed to such information he concentrated more on validating Korean witnesses claims than providing an accurate assessment of the film. To further stress this point, in the Korean analyst’s report he makes insinuations that the film had been tampered with due to cuts in the film that was repaired with clear tape.[xxiii] The cuts happened to be of the frames of the film of the twin railway tunnels at No Gun Ri. The Korean analyst theorizes that footage from another air mission over the tunnel was cut an added to the film he analyzed.

The American analyst quickly dispels this claim, because the original film on file with the Defense Intelligence Agency is composed of eighty-six uncut frames, which show no evidence of tampering.[xxiv] The film the Korean analyst was given was the same copy of the original film that was used by the Pentagon team. The Pentagon team had cut frames around the railway tunnel of the copied film for easier viewing during the investigation. This film was then repaired and forwarded to the Korean team because the original film is very brittle and receives extra damage every time copies of it are made. The Korean investigators can at any time review the original film that is archived at the DIA to see for themselves that it is eighty-six uncut frames that have not been tampered with. Despite this fact, this is what the Korean analyst wrote in his report:

Therefore it is deemed inappropriate to adopt the imagery dated 8 Aug 1950 as a reference for cross-examination with the victims’ accounts. Please review and check whether relevant films were mistakenly not provided.[xxv]

This conclusion makes it quite clear that the Korean analyst was more concerned with disproving the authenticity of the film, than providing a subjective analysis. Ultimately, despite the tainting of the Korean imagery analyst and the subsequent tampering claims; the Korean imagery analyst reviewed both films and concurred with the NIMA analyst that there was no mass graves and no bodies in the vicinity of No Gun Ri.[xxvi]

Analyzing Shifting Witness Statements

Once the imagery analysis was released and verified then the Korean witnesses’ stories began to change. They changed their stories to claim now that the bodies were all stacked underneath the railway bridges.[xxvii] This is quite a change from going to “hundreds” of bodies lying out in the open for weeks that were eventually buried in mass graves to the bodies being stacked neatly underneath the bridge preventing any reconnaissance aircraft from seeing them.

The American imagery analyst stated he was able to observe three meters underneath the bridge and it was “found to be clear of debris or human remains”.[xxviii] The Korean imagery analyst concluded with this finding as well. It seems strange that there is not even debris underneath the bridge much less even bodies when you consider how many bullets were allegedly shot into the bridge at “hundreds” of people. Shouldn’t there at least be chips of concrete shattered all over the road?


The No Gun Ri railway bridge.

Remember that American forensics experts that specialize in locating mass graves have already concluded that there was no evidence that bodies were dragged on the ground, no blood stained earth, no signs of decomposition, or any scavenger activity in the area that is consistent with mass graves. If the dead bodies were not dragged underneath the bridge, that means they must have all been killed underneath bridge. If this is true then that discredits the claim that up to one hundred people were killed by a strafing because where did the bodies go if there is no evidence they were dragged away?

The next thing to determine is if “hundreds” of people could stand underneath the bridge in the first place. Keep in mind that the refugees had bundles of their belongings with them that would take up additional space underneath the bridge. The body count mythology states that three-hundred people died either near or underneath the bridge. There actually had to be more than three-hundred people underneath the bridge because there was dozens of alleged survivors from the shooting. So could more than three-hundred people holding some of their belongings even stand underneath the bridge much less be killed there? I have always thought it would be an interesting experiment to bus in approximately four-hundred people and see exactly how many people could fit underneath the bridge. How come no investigators in Korea have done this? Is it because they know what the answer would be so it is best to leave the answer as ambiguous as it is now? Having personally visited the site, my opinion is that maybe two hundred people with some of their belongings could fit underneath the bridge.

The next question that needs an answer is how many bodies could be stacked underneath the bridge? The imagery analyst was able to conclude there was no debris, much less even bodies three meters into the bridge thus reducing what little remaining space there is under the bridge to possibly stack bodies. Imagine for a minute how much work it would be to stack four hundred dead bodies underneath the bridge? Let’s estimate that the average weight of a dead refugee were one-hundred pounds. That would mean somebody would have to stack roughly twenty tons of human remains underneath the bridge. Not only that, but they would have to stack this twenty tons of human remains in a week’s time, in the middle of a shooting war, while simultaneously not disturbing the soil around the bridge or leaving any debris for the imagery analysts to detect. The likelihood of this scenario occurring is remote yet this is the scenario supporters of “hundreds” killed at No Gun Ri endorse.

In May 2007 a group of Korean researchers from Chongbuk University began another excavation around the site in order to find evidence of the alleged massacre[xxix]. The excavation of the site was estimated to have cost $216,000 dollars. Despite this huge sum of money and months of excavating the investigators were forced to conclude that they could find no remains at No Gun Ri[xxx]. The Korean investigators tried to play down the significance of their lack of finding any forensic evidence by claiming that remains could have been removed by relatives for burial elsewhere or washed away by rain. The claim that villagers removed all the bodies has already been debunked by the forensic investigators that found no evidence of bodies being removed from the area in the overhead imagery. Likewise if the bodies were buried in mass graves much of the remains should still be recoverable despite the elements because other battle sites and areas where civilians were killed during the war have been excavated before and a wealth of remains recovered. Why is No Gun Ri the only place where a wealth of forensic evidence cannot be found?

Conclusion

When the physical evidence is combined with the imagery evidence it is clear that the killing of one hundred people by aerial strafing and the massacre of three hundred more by US soldiers underneath the bridge could not have happened. The lack of the remains of bodies is the most obvious piece of physical evidence, but the sheer lack of physical evidence from destroyed wagons, bones from livestock, buttons from clothes, the remains of cans, coins, sandals, shoes, and other items from a column of refugees that Korean witnesses say included 700 people that stretched for 200 meters I find to be even more telling.


Bones found at another Korean War site. No bones have ever been found at No Gun Ri.

A tragedy of some kind happened at No Gun Ri, but if one goes solely by the forensic evidence the tragedy that occurred there, is no where near the magnitude the Associated Press and the Korean refugees claim. The continuing tragedy of No Gun Ri is that the incident has taken on a political context by interested parties both in America and South Korea to bash the American military at the expense of the honor of hundreds of thousands of brave Korean War era veterans that went to fight for the freedom of a country most had never heard of.

The year 2000 was supposed to be the year that veterans of what has now been commonly called “The Forgotten War” were to get their due recognition of the sacrifices they made on behalf of preserving freedom in South Korea during the ceremonies across the US and South Korea commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Korean War. Instead of being commemorated these veterans were instead faced with accusations that they were a bunch of war criminals. These veterans deserve better then to be condemned by hear say and sensationalized media reports. An unbiased look at physical evidence clearly shows that a massacre did not happen at No Gun Ri as claimed. Yet despite this the claims of “hundreds” being massacred at No Gun Ri remains.

Even worse is that a theme park is planned to be built over the No Gun Ri site to promote the current No Gun Ri mythology to another generation of South Korean children[xxxi]. Additionally the construction of the theme park will ruin any future attempts to conduct further forensic investigations of the site to determine what happened that day under the bridge. A full joint excavation of the entire No Gun Ri site should be conducted by both Korean and American forensic teams to ultimately determine what happened at No Gun Ri. The construction of this theme park will make this impossible.

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Developments such as this theme park just shows the Korean War has shifted from being “The Forgotten War” to in fact become “The Rewritten War”. Our brave American veterans who served in the Korean War deserve better.

_________________________________________

Recommended Reading:
The Bridge at No Gun Ri
Responding to the Bridge at No Gun Ri
Excavation Team at No Gun Ri Comes Up Empty
Where is the Forensic Evidence at No Gun Ri
The Truth is of Little Concern to the Korean Truth & Reconciliation Committee
Rehashing Korean War Era Executions
Bones of Korean War Dead Found In Gapyeong


[i] Joseph Galloway, “Doubts About A Korean Massacre”, U.S. News & World Report, 12 May 2000

[ii] Brian Duffy, “Memory and Its Flaws”, U.S. News & World Report, 12 June 2000, Vol. 128, No. 23, page 22

[iii] No Gun Ri Review, (Department of the Army Inspector General, January 2001), Chapter 4 Analysis of Interview Data, page 125

[iv] No Gun Ri Review, (Department of the Army Inspector General, January 2001), Appendix B Analysis of Forensic Evidence, page B-4

[v] Choe Sang-hun, “Korean Villagers Recall Death and Terror Beneath Bridge”, Associated Press, 29 September 1999

[vi] Choe Sang-hun, “Korean Villagers Recall Death and Terror Beneath Bridge”, Associated Press, 29 September 1999

[vii] Author attended display of recovered Korean War era artifacts held at the Korean War Memorial in Seoul on June 25, 2007 (picture provided by author)

[viii] Korea Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Report of US War Crime During the Korean War, 22 November 2007, http://www.jinsil.go.kr/Information_Notice/article2/read.asp?num=87&pageno=1&stype=&sval=&data_years=2007&data_month=

[ix] No Gun Ri Review, (Department of the Army Inspector General, January 2001), Appendix B Analysis of Forensic Evidence, pages B-7 – B-8

[x] No Gun Ri Review, (Department of the Army Inspector General, January 2001), Appendix B Analysis of Forensic Evidence, page B-9

[xi] No Gun Ri Review, (Department of the Army Inspector General, January 2001), Appendix B Analysis of Forensic Evidence, page B-6

[xii] No Gun Ri Review, (Department of the Army Inspector General, January 2001), Appendix B Analysis of Forensic Evidence, page B-8

[xiii] No Gun Ri Review, (Department of the Army Inspector General, January 2001), Appendix C Imagery Research and Analysis, page C-6

[xiv] No Gun Ri Review, (Department of the Army Inspector General, January 2001), Appendix C NIMA Imagery Analysis Report, page12

[xv] No Gun Ri Review, (Department of the Army Inspector General, January 2001), Appendix C NIMA Imagery Analysis Report, page17

[xvi] Oh, Yeon-ho, “Do You Know Our Agony? Massacre of Villagers By the U.S. Soldiers During the Korean War”, On the Spot Investigation, 02 June 2000, http://peoplepower21.org/eng/asq2/13.html

[xvii] No Gun Ri Review, (Department of the Army Inspector General, January 2001), Appendix C NIMA Imagery Analysis Report, page10

[xviii] No Gun Ri Review, (Department of the Army Inspector General, January 2001), Appendix B Analysis of Forensic Evidence, page B-3

[xix] No Gun Ri Review, (Department of the Army Inspector General, January 2001), Chapter 4: Analysis of Interview Data, page 153

[xx] No Gun Ri Review, (Department of the Army Inspector General, January 2001), Appendix B Forensic Pathology Analysis page B-13

[xxi] Judith Greer, “What Really Happened at No Gun Ri”, Salon.com, 06 June 2002, http://dir.salon.com/story/books/feature/2002/06/03/nogunri.index.html

[xxii] No Gun Ri Review, (Department of the Army Inspector General, January 2001), NIMA Imagery Analysis Review and Comments on the Republic of Korea’s No Gun Ri Investigation Team’s “Analysis on Overhead Imagery”, page 4

[xxiii] No Gun Ri Review, (Department of the Army Inspector General, January 2001), NIMA Imagery Analysis Review and Comments on the Republic of Korea’s No Gun Ri Investigation Team’s “Analysis on Overhead Imagery”, page 10

[xxiv] No Gun Ri Review, (Department of the Army Inspector General, January 2001), NIMA Imagery Analysis Review and Comments on the Republic of Korea’s No Gun Ri Investigation Team’s “Analysis on Overhead Imagery”, page 11

[xxv] No Gun Ri Review, (Department of the Army Inspector General, January 2001), NIMA Imagery Analysis Review and Comments on the Republic of Korea’s No Gun Ri Investigation Team’s “Analysis on Overhead Imagery”, page 11

[xxvi] No Gun Ri Review, (Department of the Army Inspector General, January 2001), Appendix C Imagery Research and Analysis, page C-6

[xxvii] Judith Greer, “What Really Happened at No Gun Ri”, Salon.com, 06 June 2002, http://dir.salon.com/story/books/feature/2002/06/03/nogunri.index.html

[xxviii] No Gun Ri Review, (Department of the Army Inspector General, January 2001), NIMA Imagery Analysis Review and Comments on the Republic of Korea’s No Gun Ri Investigation Team’s “Analysis on Overhead Imagery”, page 6

[xxix] “Nogeun-ri Excavations Begin”, Hankyoreh, 10 May 2007, http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/208110.html

[xxx] “Search for Remains of Nogeun-ri Massacre Likely to End with No Remains Found”, Yonhap News, 22 August 2007, http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2007/08/22/0200000000AEN20070822002500315.HTML

[xxxi] Official No Gun Ri website, accessed 02 January 2008, http://www.nogunri.net/work/work_02_01.html

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