-=> JOE MACKEY wrote to MIKE POWELL <=-

 JM>    There were revisionist "academics" a few years ago who said WWII was
 JM> all America's fault, that we imposed sanction of scrap iron, oil, etc
 JM> on Japan and "forced" them into the war.

 That's either a skewed view of what was written or a poor
 interpretation of the events.

 Yes, FDR provoked Japan through sanctions and other economic means.

 Yes, Japan thought that they needed to act decisively to control raw
 materiel in the Pacific.

 Yes, they probably thought that the USA would back off, hoping that
 isolationist tendancies would prevail. But, I'm sure that FDR knew
 that Great Britain would fall, even with lend-lease. The only way to
 jar the USA into action would be an attack on the country. Japan
 arguably played right into that.

 I've always wondered about some of those coincidences that lend
 weight to conspiracy theories - like the fact that the carriers left
 Pearl Harbor a day or two before the attack. Did FDR and the Navy
 sacrifice the battleships at Pearl, knowing that battleships were the
 instruments that won the last war, and that the next war would be won by
 carriers?

 JM> Apparently they neglected to learn about Japan's invasion of China
 JM> (1931), Manchuria (1937), SE Asia, etc which we were trying to contain
 JM> while remaining neutral.

 Not to mention the fact that WWII started in 1939. Americans tend to
 have a US-centric view of the war.

 JM> If Japan hadn't attacked Pearl Harbour it might of been another year
 JM> or two before we finally did enter the war, on England's side, if it
 JM> hadn't been conquered by the Axis first.

 Makes for interesting alternative fiction, where a more isolationist
 president delays entry into the war and the US moves to a stalemate
 with an Axis Europe.



... Always the first steps
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