Posted on 09/05/2004 6:47:31 PM PDT by quidnunc
Sixteen years ago, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act, proclaiming it "a great day for America." It provided $1.65 billion in restitution to 82,000 individuals of Japanese ancestry who had been subjected to evacuation, relocation and internment during World War II.
Although it was almost universally hailed at the time, the decision was one of Reagan's biggest blunders. In a rare capitulation to political correctness, Reagan ignored the advice of his own military and legal experts who opposed wartime reparations for ethnic Japanese evacuees and internees. The road to reparations was paved with injustice, intellectual dishonesty and incompetence. The panel created by Congress to assess whether the evacuation and relocation of West Coast ethnic Japanese were militarily necessary didn't include anyone with a military or intelligence background. The 500-page report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians devoted just 10 pages to intelligence.
Worse, the commission failed to acknowledge the existence of long- declassified MAGIC cables — which revealed Japan's extensive espionage activities on the West Coast — until after it had published its famous indictment that wartime relocation and internment were the result of "race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership." The commission's legal counsel hastily dismissed MAGIC's importance in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's decision to approve Executive Order 9066 and the West Coast evacuation.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
No, that's not quite the case.
There were many who were loyal to the Empire of Japan.
The problem was that we could not just arrest the spies and troublemakers without tipping Japan off that we had broken their diplomatic code.
Consequently, moved all Japanese from the West Coast and we didn't do anything with Japanese in other parts of the US unless they were aliens.
Incidently, we didn't intern the Japanese, we excluded thm from the West Coast.
Those with someplace to go inland could go there instead of to a camp if they were citizen.
Another good point is that, unlike with slavery reparations, the internees were still alive and around to be actually repaid, not their distant descendants.
They were interned and their assets and businesses were seized.
thanks... I prayed tonight for the little innocents in Russia. I think by the grace of God only that it has not happened here again.
Read your history.
On one hand, I hear you, because at the outset it appears so wrong (racism being in question and all).
On the other hand, if all the people of Japanese ancestry interned during WWII were either only of Japanese citizenship or dual citizens who refused to renounce their Japanese citizenship, wouldn't it change the perspective quite dramatically?
It was because so much vital industry, especially our aircraft industry, was located onm the West Coast that the Japanese were excluded.
We did not have adequate resources at the time to defend against sabotage.
None were interned and none had their assets seized? Gimme a break!
The commission's legal counsel hastily dismissed MAGIC's importance in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's decision to approve Executive Order 9066 and the West Coast evacuation.Nice of a SF newspaper to run a story like this, what with Reagan recently deceased and still being mourned, and an election going down the tubes for the Demagogic Party. It'll try anything to split off a few Bush supporters. The reason these reparations were done is to pull down the Marble Man version of FDR.
George W. Bush will be reelected by a margin of at least ten per cent
That would be different, and I did read her book so my views about it have softened. Seeing as how I was not there I'm not going to play sixty year hindsight about this issue. Every article I've seen her write lately is about PC this and that, but she does have a new book so I can't blame her really.
yes, that would change the situation. But it wasn't the situation.
$0.00
I didn't say none.
Obviously those who were considered to be a threat or who were enemy aliens by law were interned.
The camp for these hard cases was originally at Thule Lake, CA, but they were subsequently moved to Arizona.
However, the others who were not considered to be threats could leave the camps if they had some place inland to go.
Wherever there are Muslims mixed with other cultures, there is death and destruction, unless they are a tiny minority. Look around. WAKE UP!
Tell me what percentage then. I know in your country, Canada, virtually 100% were interned and their assets seized.
Fair enough.
I'm actually not convinced every person in those camps was either only of Japanese citizenship or had failed to renounce his/her Japanese citizenship.
Not sure if Malkin is able to prove this without a doubt (I haven't yet read her book).
Do you have any sources?
I'm interested in learning the truth about this citizenship issue.
When I read the book, I got the impression that it was more disarm the liberal claims of apartheid like oppression about ethnic profiling. The people that need to read the book aren't going to read the book though. It would only be us conservatives reading it *lol*
2/3's according to this link.
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/internment1.html
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