OT: Here we go again ...

[Joel Hammer]

On Thu, Sep 18, 2003 at 03:33:34PM -0700, Philip J. Koenig wrote:
> There have actually been a number of politicians who have suggested 
> we need to re-institute internment camps, just like we had in WWII.
> 
> According to most historians, that was a pretty dark day in the US's 
> history, and here we have "community leaders" merrilly suggesting we 
> do it again.

Yes, but FDR, who signed the order, has become a big ICON in the American
memory, so, I guess it wasn't so bad. Earl Warren, also of great repute
among those who call themselves enlightened,  also had a hand in it.

I used to think this internment was pretty bad, too, but I recently read
some more and have had some second thoughts.  Basically, there was a
lot more going on than most people think today.

Some items:
 
1. Japan invaded multiple areas in the Pacific at the outset of the
war with the USA. Every place they went, there were agents in place,
sleepers, under the guise of legimate businessmen and the like. This
included such unlikely places as Guadalcanal. How could you prove there
were no agents among the Japanese-Americans? How much resources would have
been required to monitor the Japanese-Americans if they were left free?
Would that have impacted the war effort?  Everyday of the war a couple
of hundred men were killed or wounded, even if no major fighting was
going on. Ending the war a month sooner would have saved many American
(and many, many, other) lives.

2. I read a book writen by a PT boat captain in the Phillipines at the
outset of the war. The first day of the war their PT boat was immoblized.
When they took apart the engine they found someone had put sand into
the main fuel tank at their dock. I wonder who?

3. It is told to us that the Japanese only had one agent spying on the US
Fleet in Pearl Harbor prior to their attack. Now, this is ridiculous. The
entire Japanese war plan depended on neutralizing the US Fleet on
the first day of the war. If that failed, the entire Japanese plan of
expansion into the Pacific would have been impossible. Now, who thinks
that the Japanese, who planned their operations with meticulous care,
would have staked everything on one agent? And, who do you think helped
this Japanese spy to operate in Hiwaii? How did he manage to communicate
with Tokyo? Who gave him cover?

4. I have not heard or read of one person held in those interment camps
who was raped or murdered.  This is a great improvement over the record
of similar camps run by the Japanese govt.

BTW, the mistrust of the Japanese (and Japanese Americans) was so great in
the American government, that the entire effort at breaking the Japanese
military and diplomatic codes, which was a great success, was done
without any input from Japanese-Americans. That is, not a single native
speaker of Japanese was trusted to be involved with this effort. If such
an exclusion were done today against Arab Americans, there would be an
outcry, but, would security be compromised?

The US won the war against Japan, unconditionally.

Joel