N.C. Congressman Says Internment of Japanese-Americans During World War II Was Appropriate

AP ^ | 2/5/03 | The Associated Press

[Jean S]

HIGH POINT, N.C. (AP) - A congressman who heads a homeland security subcommittee said on a radio call-in program that he agreed with the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.

A fellow congressman who was interned as a child criticized Coble for his comment on Wednesday, as did advocacy groups.

Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., made the remark Tuesday on WKZL-FM when a caller suggested Arabs in the United States should be confined.

Coble, chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, said that he didn't agree with the caller but did agree with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who established the internment camps.

"We were at war. They (Japanese-Americans) were an endangered species," Coble said. "For many of these Japanese-Americans, it wasn't safe for them to be on the street."

Like most Arab-Americans today, Coble said, most Japanese-Americans during World War II were not America's enemies.

Still, Coble said, Roosevelt had to consider the nation's security.

"Some probably were intent on doing harm to us," he said, "just as some of these Arab-Americans are probably intent on doing harm to us."

U.S. Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., a Japanese-American who spent his early childhood with his family in an internment camp during World War II, said he spoke with Coble on Wednesday to learn more about his views.

"I'm disappointed that he really doesn't understand the impact of what he said," Honda said. "With his leadership position in Congress, that kind of lack of understanding can lead people down the wrong path."

The Japanese American Citizens League called Coble on Wednesday and asked him to issue an apology, while the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee demanded that Coble explain his remarks.

It is "a sad day in our country's tradition when an elected official ... openly agrees with an unconstitutional and racist policy long believed to be one of the darkest moments of America's history," the group said in a statement.

AP-ES-02-05-03 1842EST

[mykdsmom]

NC Ping!

[pabianice]

Here we go again...

[Howlin]

"I'm disappointed that he really doesn't understand the impact of what he said," Honda said.

I'm really disappointed that Honda doesn't realize why we did it.

I know Howard Coble personally and have for years; you'll never meet a better man. Not a discriminating bone in his body.

[JCG]

"Some probably were intent on doing harm to us," he said, "just as some of these Arab-Americans are probably intent on doing harm to us."

Here's a happy thought from Middle East expert Daniel Pipes:

Islamists constitute a small but significant minority of Muslims, perhaps 10 to 15 per cent of the population. Many of them are peaceable in apearance, but they all must be considered potential killers.

How does 400,000 to 800,000 -- in our country -- potential killers sound?

Pipes article here...

Muslim population in America

Meet an Islamist -- peaceable in appearance, killer

America's Fifth Column ... watch Steve Emerson/PBS documentary JIHAD! In America
New Link: Download 8 Mb zip file here (60 minute video)

Who is Steve Emerson?

[drlevy88]

"We were at war. They (Japanese-Americans) were an endangered species," Coble said. "For many of these Japanese-Americans, it wasn't safe for them to be on the street."

Mistakes are made in the fog of war, especially big scary ones like WWII where you wonder if your neighbor is your enemy (note no such concern for GERMAN-Americans), but this is a pretty lame excuse. If all they wanted was to offer these people shelter from mobs, it should have been voluntary.

[drlevy88]

I'm really disappointed that Honda doesn't realize why we did it.

Xenophobia almost entirely. Orientals look funny, talk funny, scare people. We didn't do it to Germans because they were much more "like us."

[mykdsmom]

He's may not have a racist bone in his body but he will be drawn and quartered by the RATS for this remark.

Look how fast the AP picked this up from what looks to be a local radio call in show in High Point no less. I just hope they don't try to turn this into a Lott moment.

MKM

[John H K]

How does 400,000 to 800,000 -- in our country -- potential killers sound?

Stupid.

You could make precisely the same argument about gun owners, with hand-waving percentages pulled out of thin air.

If there are 400,000 Islamist killers in this country they're remarkably lazy and unmotivated.

[goodnesswins]

I understand the internment part....although not including the Germans WAS odd....but they should not have taken their property from them, as some did (Orchards). Those assets should have been returned. On the other hand, at least the Japanese had their LIVES to live from then on, my husbands Uncle LOST his LIFE fighting in WWII, and had nothing.

[Howlin]

Oh, I agree.

[aristeides]

The internment of the Japanese was not a mistake. As Lowman's book MAGIC makes clear, U.S. intelligence had decrypts that made it clear that the Japanese had already used Japanese and Japanese-Americans in the U.S. for espionage before Pearl Harbor, and intended to use them for both espionage and sabotage once war started. There was no practicable way to distinguish between loyal and disloyal Japanese at a time when the existence of the intelligence could not be revealed.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

While there was probably no group more happy to be safely in the US, away from their native culture, than the Americans from Japan, to heap modern day liberal trash guilt on a nation of farmers and factory workers who were brutally attacked and responded as best they could is pretty much throwing shit on the flag.

They weren't tortured or killed, and they were rightfully compensated. Many volunteered to defend their new homeland and did so bravely. They were rewarded for that.

Americans in Japan would have been in far worse straights.

[Howlin]

By the way, I haven't seen it published, but I did hear that the Islamic group in Greensboro is suggesting that American go over to Iraq to sand near "strategic sites" to protect them.

I was thinking maybe WE could get some Muslims who care about America to stand near the Lincoln Memorial and the...well, you get the idea.

[SwinneySwitch]

The saga of the "Lost Battalion" was brutal.

The Army considers it one of the most significant battles since the Revolutionary War. In the dark forests of France's Vosges mountain range 56 years ago, a unit of Asian Americans -- some of whose parents were imprisoned in U.S. World War II internment camps because of their race -- fought the odds in rescuing their fellow soldiers.

http://starbulletin.com/2000/03/25/news/story4.html

[Howlin]

and they were rightfully compensated

And they are STILL complaining about it.

Lesson to be learned there, eh?

[Howlin]

FYI.

[aristeides]

Actually, German and Italian aliens whose disloyalty was known (from sources that could be revealed) were interned in 1942, just as Japanese aliens of whom the same was true were as well.

The bulk of the Japanese were relocated, as opposed to interned, away from the West Coast. There never was any military necessity to relocate Germans and Italians away from particular locations of the same sort that the intelligence indicated for Japanese from the West Coast.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

Aye!

[meia]

On the other hand, at least the Japanese had their LIVES to live from then on, my husbands Uncle LOST his LIFE fighting in WWII, and had nothing.

Not ALL the Japanese had their LIVES to live from then on. A LOT of Japanese ALSO lost their LIVES fighting for our country.