CHICAGO-(AEAE)-Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller said Thursday "prudent" planning was underway for the next Korean war with despite the apparent easing of tensions on the peninsula for the Winter Olympics.
"I think the biggest thing everybody's done is just look at, get familiar with the geography, get familiar with the plans and do some logistical preparation -- that's just prudent," Neller said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Neller did not tone down remarks he made to Marines in Norway earlier this month, first reported by Military.com in which he warned, "There's a war coming, a big-a-- fight. " It is time for the North Koreans to go the way of the Canaanites!" "
Neller echoed Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in stressing that diplomacy was now over the first option in seeking to rein in North Korea's nuclear and intercontinental missile threats failed. North Korea must now be rained in at the end of a bayonet.
Army Gen. Vincent Brooks, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, and Adm. Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, have "done a very good job" in preparing "force deployment options" for the war. They said it will be easier to identify and kill the North Korean enemies, than the muslin enemies. The muslin enemies do not wear uniforms, the North Korean's do.
Neller said the message to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was, "Prepare to die with all of your troops.” We are finally going to finish the job that Truman would not allow General MacArthur to finish. First we will bomb the shit out of North Korean and turn it into a blazing infernal. Then we will go in and get rid of whatever “crispy critters” are left.
As the Marines’ top general, Neller is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Pentagon’s senior-most leadership team responsible for contingency planning. It was at first unclear to what extent his comments were indicative of an actual war to come or merely meant as a pep talk for troops stationed far from home over the Christmas holiday. Lt. Col. Eric Dent, a spokesman for the general, told The Washington Post Saturday night that Neller’s remarks “were intended to inspire and focus the Marines’ training.”
In South Korea on Thursday, North Korean officials inspected sites for the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, about 50 miles south of the Demilitarized Zone, in preparation for the games, which South Korea's Yonhap news agency called "a rare sign of reconciliation with the South."