Was it immoral for FDR to intern some west coast Japanese, in order to protect the vital secret of the broken Magic and Purple codes?
These broken codes shortened WW2 by years, and saved millions of lives, there is NO disagreement on this fact.
If the FBI had rounded up only the Japanese spies and sabateurs whom the broken codes revealed, the secret of the codes would have been revealed to the Japanese. The Japanese would have changed codes, and the war would have dragged on years longer, to an uncertain outcome, with millions more killed.
Go back to Churchill again: was it wrong to allow Coventry to be bombed with no warning? What is worse, to intern some civilians, or to allow a city to be flattened and civilians killed without a warning?
Protecting the secret of the broken codes was more valuable than Coventry, or the internment of the west coast Japanese.
Excellent analysis, in order for our tolerant system to remain tolerant, our SYSTEM must survive and prevail. Suffering too much damage and loss can fail the system. When war is forced upon you, death and destruction of some of your citizens is inevitable, it is the wisest course of action to make the enemy pay the dearest price for those sacrfices, and if necessary, to select those sacrifices to be least valuable to the final victory. (This is not an indication of their value as human beings or citizens.) A dispute with this policy is simply politically correct attempted suicide, and would be gladly welcomed by all enemies of America.
Stupidity is a capital crime, and often the execution of sentence is self-imposed.
You are propagating a myth about Churchill's knowledge of the imminent destruction of Coventry.
He was, in fact, under the impression that the most likely target for that night's bombing was central London, NOT Coventry.
I know this is a bit off topic, but you have referred to this incident several times on this thread as justification for other actions. Does your argument stand up after knowing that your premise was false?
This is a bit of legend that was created by Anthony Cave Brown in his otherwise good book, Bodyguard of Lies.
Please read Ronald Lewin's Ultra Goes to War for a definitive rebuttal of the claim.
Any competent intelligence service would prevent that by creating the illusion that the information had been obtained through other channels (as the British did when exposing the Zimmerman Telegram, for instance).
This argument is thus worthless.
Was it immoral for Churchill to allow Coventry to be bombed to rubble, with no warning, in order to preserve the secret of the broken Ultra codes?The codes had nothing to do with why Warren pushed for, and Roosevelt ordered, internment. The known spies could have been fed misinformation, or met "accidents" just as easily. As it turns out, no American citizens of US ancestry were ever convicted of espionage in US territory. That included in Hawaii, which had a heavier Japanese population than California and where general internment never took placeWas it immoral for FDR to intern some west coast Japanese, in order to protect the vital secret of the broken Magic and Purple codes?
These broken codes shortened WW2 by years, and saved millions of lives, there is NO disagreement on this fact.
If the FBI had rounded up only the Japanese spies and sabateurs whom the broken codes revealed, the secret of the codes would have been revealed to the Japanese. The Japanese would have changed codes, and the war would have dragged on years longer, to an uncertain outcome, with millions more killed.
Go back to Churchill again: was it wrong to allow Coventry to be bombed with no warning? What is worse, to intern some civilians, or to allow a city to be flattened and civilians killed without a warning?
Protecting the secret of the broken codes was more valuable than Coventry, or the internment of the west coast Japanese.
Internment was ordered at the behest of economic interests in California, primarily farmers and shopkeepers, who resented competition from those of Japanese ancestry and saw an opportunity to grab their property cheap.
-Eric