Posted on 12/08/2004 10:30:04 PM PST by quidnunc
Tokyo – Franklin D Roosevelt famously declared that Japan’s devastating surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 would "live in infamy" as he took the United States to war.
In his address to Congress, the US president raged that he was "still in conversation" with Japan in an effort to maintain the peace in the Pacific when torpedo planes and dive bombers wreaked havoc on the warships at anchor and killed more than 2,000 people on 7 December, 1941.
For years, the blame for what President Roosevelt described as an "unprovoked and dastardly attack" and an act of "treachery" was put on Japanese diplomats in Washington, who had allegedly failed to pass on a message breaking off peace talks until 40 minutes after the attack.
But now the son of one of the shamed diplomats has used newly released documents to prove his theory that the Japanese military was responsible for delaying the "final memorandum" to the US.
Takeo Iguchi, a professor of international relations and a former Japanese ambassador to Bangladesh and New Zealand, spent 12 years combing the foreign ministry’s archives in an effort to clear the name of his father, Sado, who was working at the Japanese embassy in Washington at the time.
Documents released by Japan’s foreign ministry in October reveal that it originally intended to submit a note to Washington that would qualify under international law as an "ultimatum", but that the Imperial Army opposed revealing its hand, instead ordering that the message should simply terminate negotiations.
When the "final memorandum" was cabled to the Japanese embassy in Washington, the military withheld the 14th and concluding paragraph for 15 hours.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at news.scotsman.com ...
It does not matter to us in the US. That is why I think it is a Japanese history issue. Did the diplomats screw up or did the Japanese Army.
As far as I am concerned and most American's I suspect, had we been given 30 minutes warning we would have view it as just as much a sneak attack. That much warning half way around the world in 1941 was meaningless.
I doubt if Tora Bora, Afghanistan played much of a part in the events of December 7th, 1941. The movie "Tora Tora Tora" may have conveyed such a message though.
Nice to see the honor of an innocent man restored. Doesn't much change anything else.
bttt
...."but that the Imperial Army opposed revealing its hand, instead ordering that the message should simply terminate negotiations"......and Bill Clinton apologized for dropping the atom bombs....Sorry Charlie, no sympathy here.
LOL I'd like to see that movie.
You...You...mean we can't.....blame America?
Later
LOL! Oops.
After reading a couple of books that claimed other wise, I think the Japs actually cooked up the Pearl Harbor attack thing on their own. We didn't entrap them into doing it or did we send an invitation saying that on December 7, 1941, we aren't doing anything special and everything is going to be laid back so do what you got to do.
Just teasing. (=^..^=)
They were officials of a country that attacked us without warning and without cause. Neither they, nor their children, nor any of their countrymen have any reason to exist. It is only through our (oft misguided) mercy that Japan exists at all.
Even an hour, even two hours! Do you have any idea how long it takes to get Steam up in a steam powered ship? From cold boilers to movement was 45 minutes minimum. Only one major unit (Nevada) got underway in Midway, and that was because they had partial steam before the attack and a full boiler gang on board.
In that era, if your attack fleet had already left port by the time you delivered notice it was a sneak attack.
Nowdays, if anyone takes responsibility within a month after the fact, its considered normal.
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