From: tjgerman@53iss6.waterloo.NCR.COM (Trevor German)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Opinion on Japan being "forced" to attack
Date: 15 Oct 92 16:42:35 GMT
Organization: Imaging Systems Division, NCR Corp, Waterloo, Ont., CANADA


From Trevor German <tjgerman@53iss6.waterloo.NCR.COM>



	It is now 51 years since Pearl Harbour and the question I would
	like to discuss here is not whether Japan was forced to attack
	but rather whether Pearl Harbour was such a surprise.

	From all the acounts that I have heard, and form the coincidental
	happenings on the day it appears to me that Washington _KNEW_ that
	it was going to happen and that they wanted it to.

	We are talking about a time in history when half the world was 
	already locked in conflict. Britain was not loosing the war but	
	there was a stalemate which, lets face it, if given enough time
	would eventually have been broken by the Germans. Russia was now
	in the fight and not doing overly well. The American government
	knew that Germany would get stronger, in time, and having conquered
	Europe would start eyeing the new world. Or, maybe worse, Russia
	would beat the German's back and start their own conquest.

	Politically however, getting into the war was bad news. The American
	people had the attidute that it was "their war" and did not want
	to get in. Under pressure from Britain they did supply weapons
	and other vital supplies to the UK at great cost which they are
	still paying for. Actions which cost the lives of American sailors
	before Pearl Harbour.

	So to recap, the governmant knew that they should get in the war
	but were tied by political rhetoric.

	So what makes me think Peral Harbour was allowed to happen. The
	following facts. 
		
		1. The Americans had already broken most of the
	Japanese cipher.
	
 		2. The contents of the war decleration was known before
	the Japanese ambasador delivered his late version, but they did
	not act upon it.

		2. All American aircraft carriers were miles away from
	pearl harbour on the day.

		3. Radar operators who detected the incoming aircraft
	were ordered to switch off their equipment.

		4. The location of the Japanese fleet was, so they say,
	unknown, yet no alert was issued to P.H.

		5. The Government knew that the Japanese were rattling
	their sabres that something was close, yet it was bussiness as
	usual. Today we would be at DEFCON 2.

	These comments are going to be very unfavourable to most Americans
	since the attendant loss of lives at P.H. was awful. However, the
	decisions of governments are not and cannot be based on such things.
	They must look at the long term welfare of the country, in terms of
	decades if not longer. Even Winston Churchill had to make such a
	decision. When the great fire storm raid that destroyed most of
	Coventry was on it's way, Churchill knew all about it due to the
	code breaking work of intelligence. However, if he had acted to
	strongly defend the city, the Germans may have realized that their
	codes were broken and change the codes. So the decision to let the
	raid go ahead and attack the bombers on their return flight was made.
	It cost a lot of lifes but may, in the long run, have been worth it.

	What I am suggesting, is that the Government needed the Japs to
	take the first punch so they let their gaurd down on purpose.

	War is a terrible thing that is, unfortunately, nescessary at times.
	The first sacrifice of war is also truth. Governmants have to make
	terrible decisions which have to be justified to the people in 
	order that the people will keep faith and the soldiers will keep
	fighting. What happens when this goes wrong was graphically 
	illustrated by Vietnam. I know, I am a Brit, but do not think I
	am knocking the Americans. In truth I am not. I think the UK
	government was up to equally shady tricks. For example. It has
	always been reported that the Germans bombed London (by mistake)
	during the battle of britain resulting in a counter attack on
	Berlin which prompted Hitler to order his bombers to wipe out
	the English cities. This change of tactics took the heat off
	the British airfields which had been almost destroyed. Now it
	doesn't take too much imagination to believe that maybe, just
	maybe, the British bombers went to bomb Berlin first in an effort
	to force just such an effect. An act that probably won the
	Battle of Britain at the cost of civilian lives. Now no government
	would ever admit to such a thing, but such military tactics are
	thought of and if they make enough sense, acted upon.
	
	These are my personal opinions which answer the questions of what
	appear to be stupid mistakes pre-pearl harbour. To me it is
	naive to thing that the government and the military could have
	been that stupid. 
--
       >|  "Only average people            | Trevor J German BSc    |<
       >|        never make mistakes."     | NCR, Waterloo, Ontario |<
       >| tjgerman@53iss6.Waterloo.NCR.COM | Canada.                |<