It might have been a feint, but it also diverted force from the main battle. But, AIR, Yamamoto had to agree to toss a sop to the Army to get the Midway operations approved.
Right...but as discussed in the book, if it were a feint...it simply would have been useless due to the transit time from Peal Harbor. They would have had to have the Aleutian operation scheduled much earlier than it was to have had the desired effect of attracting any American naval attention.
At least that is how I recall it was explained...it has been a few years, so I could be mistaken.