Posted on 04/14/2014 6:08:57 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
“I’ve seen no data on that, none.”
I don’t know what you mean by data, but it’s certainly no secret.
“My impression is that after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese had no serious intelligence gathering operations in Conus.”
Two lines of reply:
1. So, those who provided intelligence before Pearl Harbor get a pass? FDR should have just trusted them not to do it again?
2. Define “serious.” There were persons present in our country who were eager to provide information to the Japanese. Ham radio operators posessed equipment that could certainly have transmitted to submarines off the coast.
“Accusations against over 100,000 interned Japanese civilians seem to have no basis in fact.”
I understand that you have not come across those facts, but I hope you will keep your eyes open. I’m trying to remember if Bergamini mentioned it in Japan’s Imperial Conspiracy (1971), ISBN 0-688-01905-6, but I can’t be sure.
It might also have come up in The Enigma of Japanese Power by Karel Van Wolferen. Dang my failing memory.
In other words, just like everyone else, you have no real evidence of Japanese civilians spying for Japan during the war -- certainly not enough to justify putting over 100,000 in internment camps for the duration, or letting their property be confiscated.
Of course, President Roosevelt felt justified -- Democrats are all about feeeeeeeeeeeelings, doncha know?
FDR thought they might be dangerous, and that was enough for him.
Turns out, they weren't, and so the courts later decided they must be at least partially compensated.
By the way, in case you've never considered it: this precisely is among the reasons why the government didn't just round up all Muslims after 9/11/01, or for that matter all illegal aliens despite high crime rates amongst them.
These days, we don't punish a whole group for the crimes (real or imagined) of a few.
(Of course, ironically, we happily punish ourselves -- i.e., increased airport security -- every time some bad-guy figures out a new way to destroy an airplane, but that's another matter...)
“In other words, just like everyone else, you have no real evidence of Japanese civilians spying for Japan during the war”
The fact that I, in my old age, cannot immediately put my finger on it, does not mean that it does not exist, nor that I have not seen it.
But what the hell, go ahead and close your mind. Nobody can stop you.
I've seen no such evidence, and you've produced none -- certainly not enough to justify internment of over 100,000 ethnic Japanese civilians.
In this regard, you might remember that the US government also interned civilians of German and Italian ancestry, but only, I repeat only when they had evidence of individual wrong-doing.
There was no effort to round up millions of ethnic Germans & Italians, just because they came from axis power countries.
Only Japanese received such special treatment.
That's why US courts eventually decided the FDR government did wrong in this matter.
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