Korea -- One Becomes Two

The Korean War has been called the "forgotten war."  Located on a peninsula in close proximity to both China and Japan, Korea became a Japanese colony in 1910 and, upon surrender to end WWII,  fell into the hands of the Allies--the US and USSR--and UN to manage and mis-manage.   Sadly, not into the hands of the Koreans.  US foreign policy at the time was based upon two principles:   containment of communism and expansion of its military forces and nuclear arsenal. 

In 1945, US and USSR troops were lined up at the 38th parallel in Korea.  The US began to use a playbook based upon its two foreign policy principles--fight a proxy war in a proxy country to contain communism and establish military strongholds.   A playbook that will take us through 77 years of endless war, even when the enemy changed, from communist to terrorist.  Perhaps if we hadn't forgotten about Korea, we might have avoided the 65 years of war that followed.