The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1952-06-02
HAL
BOYLE
SAYS
BY HAL BOYLE

date on the worlds calendar this
beginning of the third
year of the Korean War;
Barring a resumption of large
scale fighting or q sudden and
successful conclusion of the truce
talks, the end of the second year
of the conflict win find both sides
roughly where they were when it
started, June rs, 1s5o-astride the
38th Parallel.
They have been virtually stale
mated for nearly a year, through
Ii months Of almost ceaseless
talks about a cease-fire agree
ment.
Both sides now are incompar-
ably stronger than they we're at
the outset of the war. But the dis
mayIng fact is that in the last
year, despite day-and-night ham,
mering by Allied planes. the enc
my has doubled his troops along
the front from 10000 men to one
million. He has 600 tanks and ar
mored guns ready, more than
twice the number he had In 1850.
His artillery is also greater. His
airpower has doubled or trebled.
The Allies virtually destroyed
the first enemy-the North Korean
army. Their main foe now is the
Chinese Reds, armed with many
Of the latest and best weapons
made by Soviet Russia. which re-
mains serenely out of the battle.
Both Congress and the nation,
weary Of Russia's war of nerves,
backed President Truman's deci-
sion to go into Korea.
It looked at the start as only
a job for the Regular Army-an
Oriental grassfire that could quick.
" be stamped out But today most
of the Americans In uniform in
Korea are civilians. called to duty.
Month by month the war has
touched more and more American
families.
There is a great unrest about
this strange twilight, faroff strug-
gle that goes on and on and has
cost this nation alone some 100 900
casualties. Americans aren't used
to seeing themselves in the plight
of man who has got his hand
stuck In flypaper and can't paw
il off.
what kind Of a war is this?"
they say, impatiently. Lets get
Ii over with"
But as of now only three things
can be said for sure about the
Korean business:
|. II did stop in its tracks the
attempt of communism to expand
by blunt force.
z. II woke up America to the
bitter truth it wasn't ready to de-
fend itself, and had become the
fat boy Of the postwar world.
3. II shows no signs of ending
soon.
Some critics Of United Nations
policy believe the Allies should
mass more men and weapons and
smash through the Chinese Reds
TO the Yalu River.
That probably could be done, at
the price Of heavy casualties. But
the dilemma Of the top command
is this: Would that end the Korean
War. or only precipitate the third
world war? The Yalu River also
borders Siberia. Russia has gone
to extreme lengths to keep satel-
lite states between her and any
possible enemy. Would she stand
idly by while great foreign land
army came to the Red raw nerve
of her Siberian frontier? Or would
she throw her own Siberian army
into action, and perhaps simulta-
ne,,usly march into Europe?
II is this possibility that holds
us in deadlock in Korea.
But meanwhile the forces of the
free world are building. There also
remains one diplomatic avenue
that hasn't been publicly explored.
As time goes on, will Red China
be content to remain q catspaw
Of Russia? Tito wasn't. Can a way
be found 10 drive wedge between
the endless manpower of China
and the mushrooming industrial
might Of Russia?
The Allied diplomat who can
succeed in doing that might save
a million lives on the battlefield.
But the dishearten.ng certainty
Ia that OF now. after nearly two
years Of sccordian-like warfare,
we do not know whether we have
made Of Korea hulwark Of future
peace or only the laboratory for
a more terrible third world war