Evening star., 1945-09-20
Occupotion-Force Row
Declared Unnecessary
Writer Questions State Depart.
ment's Surprise at Macarthur
Bv David Laurence.

mcnt ouTprlSe At NacArtnur
By David Laurence
A wholly unnecessary controversy has
arisen between Gen. Macarthur and the
State Department with reference to the
size of the American Army that shall
continue to occupy Japan
Gen. Macarthur knows better than
anybody in Washington how effectively
the occupation is proceeding and how
many troops he will need to maintain
order and enforce our program. 1t is
amazing to find the State Department
questioning the military Judgment OF
the Allied commander in chief and it
is even more surprising that Under
secretary Acheson should have felt
called on to attempt publicly to rebuke
Gen. Macarthur in statement which
says:
"The important thing is that the
policy in regard to Japan is the same
policy which has always been held by
this Government and is still held so far
as I know-and I think I know.
In carrying out that policy the occu-
patton forces are the instruments Of
policy and not the determinants of
policy
Macarthur on Ground
Gen. Macarthur made it quite plain
in his original statement that he was
not dealing with questions of high policy
toward Japan but solely with the size
OF the occupation armies needed to en-
force the terms of surrender. He is on
the ground. He knows how the Japa-
nese Army is being disarmed. He knows
what weapons will be confscated and
he knows that the United States Navy,
with the most powerful carrier task
forces in the world, is patrolling the
waters close to Japan and can send
l,500 planes with bombs into the air at
any moment.
Just why then is Washington and
especially the State Department sur
prised at the comment that 10000 men
are enough for ground forces? 1t may
be that the State Department is still
/ nVlng IN the past-in the days before
the atomic bomb, in the days when the
diplomacy of our country was conducted
in secrecy so that crisis was permitted
to develop in 1941 before either the
Army or Navy was prepared
1t may be also that there is some con-
cealed policy which has not yet been
revealed to the public and which in
wolves maintaining a large standing
army in peacetime to carry on a kind
of threatening program not merely to-
ward h,,t
against potential enemies among our
Allies If the State Department has
any such hidden program, Congress will
| in due time ferret it out.
But apart from the question of what
the State Department is planning in the
realm of secret diplomacy, the fact re-
mains that the japanese people have
accepted surrender in docile manner.
that their authorities have co-operated.
and that the disarming and capitula-
tion have been carried on with almost
no disturbances and without any blood
shed.
Lesson of Nazi Germany,
Certainly the Japanese want to do
everything in their power to persuade
armies. But If any one thinks the con-
tinued presence of foreign troops on the
soil of any country conduces to friend
ship and completely removes thoughts
/ OF reprisal or revenge. he is respectfully
referred to the manner in which tie
Nazis gained political strength in Ger.
many by constantly pointing to the oc.
cupying armies and finally marching
boldly into the Rhineland.
It may be questioned whether the
much -talked-of democratic movement
in Japan will be encouraged or whether
| any liberal movement can make real
headway in that country if the reac-
tionaries inside Japan can rally patriotic
sentiment because of foreign pressure
and foreign coercion in the form of oc-
cupying armies.
The United States and it's Allies can
disarm Japan and withdraw the occupy
ing armies in year and gain more in
an educational sense toward implanting
the American viewpoint on atrocities
and the Pearl Harbor attack than they
can do by arousing new causes of re-
| sentiment through prolonged occupa-
ton. Gen. Macarthur has sensed the
realities. of the situation and is saying
we can maintain order and hold Japan
from rising against us with an army of
only 200O00 men,
1t may be astonishing to the old
school diplomats and to some military
people who are looking for excuses to
delay demobilization, but nation which
uses atomic bombs doesn't need much
of an occupying army. Japan remem-
bers Nagasak and Hiroshima all too
vividly to try any mischief for a long
time to come.
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