Government Secrets Podcast · Lee Camp and Graham Elwood

The Myth of George Washington & U.S. Crimes In The Korean War - Gov Secs Ep 197

·1 hr 4 min·4 clips

The South Korean truth commission found 82 percent of investigated massacres were done by South Korean forces.

1. Government Secrets Podcast episode 197 connects the Korean War and George Washington under a theme of American myths and state violence. 2. Lee Camp and Graham Elwood host the episode, and their banter sets up the two segments as a mix of political comedy and document-based criticism. 3. The episode asks what the United States has hidden about the Korean War and about George Washington's public image. 4. Lee Camp says Wikipedia publicly acknowledges U.S. war crimes in Korea, including napalm attacks and the bombing of dams. 5. The hosts cite estimates that over three million people died in the Korean War and that civilian casualties were higher than in World War II or Vietnam. 6. Lee Camp names Gunter Lewy, Bruce Cummings, and the Peace Research Institute in Oslo while discussing ranges from 1.5 million to 4.5 million total deaths. 7. The episode says almost every substantial building in North Korea was destroyed and that North Korean factory schools, hospitals, and government offices were forced underground. 8. Lee Camp reads that five major North Korean dams were bombed in May 1953 and that the flooding threatened several million North Koreans with starvation. 9. The conversation also covers prisoner abuse, including Chinese POWs at Yuri Island, public executions, forced anti-communist tattoos, and 14,000 Chinese POWs who went to Taiwan. 10. The hosts note that the South Korean National Defense Corps saw 50,000 to 90,000 soldiers starve to death in winter 1951 after embezzlement of food funds. 11. One striking moment is the South Korean truth and reconciliation commission finding that 82 percent of investigated massacres were perpetrated by South Korean forces. 12. Another striking moment is the commission's confirmation of U.S. attacks on refugees crowded into a cave and in a field, with survivors reporting 360 deaths in one cave attack. 13. Lee Camp repeatedly says the bombing campaign functioned as collective punishment and that the Genevа Conventions prohibit that kind of destruction. 14. Graham Elwood keeps pressing the antiwar angle and compares the episode's evidence to other U.S. wars in Vietnam and Gaza. 15. The hosts argue that racism made these attacks possible by treating Koreans as less than fully human. 16. The Korean War section ends with a broader claim that the United States has not won a war since World War II. 17. The George Washington section shifts into a book-based debunking format with Lee Camp reading from Phil Mason's Hitler's Secret Jewish Psychic. 18. The tone there turns more sardonic as the hosts discuss Washington's alleged self-denial, his 8,000-acre Mount Vernon estate, 300 slaves, and a much larger expense payout than his official salary. 19. People interested in U.S. history, war crimes, and anti-establishment political comedy would likely enjoy this episode. 20. Listeners wanting light, nonconfrontational historical discussion would probably skip it.

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