Bob S. wrote:
>The attack on Pearl Harbor was unprecedented and without warning. > The
>forces
>that moved the Japanese to attack included actions by the USA cutting > off
>Japanese access to oil in the pacific. We, through ignorance or >
>hubris,
>share part of the blame for this war.
True enough but only a part of the larger truth. The oil embargo against
Japan was imposed partly to punish them for the aggression against China and
partly to discouraged further aggression against her other neighbors. The
fact that the policy was a resounding failure is a matter of historical
record. But given the non-interventionist mood of the country at the time,
the embargo was probably the best that FDR could have squeezed from an
adamantly isolationist and pacifist congress. It was neither made out of
ignorance nor hubris but more likely a desperate compromised by a courageous
president feeling impotent by the limited options at his disposal, watching
as the world goes up in flames around him.
Lastly, I do not accept that we share any blame for what transpired on Dec.
7, 1941. That is tantamount for the victim of rape to accept part of the
blame for the rape due to the manner of her attire. That is preposterous!!
Ernest
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