Thanks for taking care of Destro so beautifully. The first time I heard similar revisionist history was in 1990 in Antigua.
You are correct about the Japanese not facing the truth. We had a wonderful family friend who at the age of 10 was put in a Japanese camp. He survived the years of abuse grew up and then lived in Japan. His job required it. He loved the Japanese and admired them. But once every year on the Remembrance Day he was first in line to protest the Japanese atrocities. I really admire my dear departed family friend.
Aside, he worked closely with the Arabs too. He had nothing positive to say about their business practices and culture. He must have had good reason.
I have no particular problem with Destro, but I must admit I did not read all of his posts. I just got irritated with him because he stepped rather hard on me for being imprecise in one instance, and wrongly informed in another. I was guilty, but I guess he could have said it differently.
What bothers me is the creep of words into common usage that have the effect of changing the meaning of statements in subtle ways, such as "cause".
Destro sent me a private email indicating he was disappointed that I misinterpreted his postion on something, which I did. Ah well, can't win em all.