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How the U.S. Assassinated the Japanese Admiral Who Planned Pearl Harbor
The National Interest ^ | 04/16/2017 | Michael Peck

Posted on 04/17/2017 7:37:05 AM PDT by SpeedyInTexas

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To: Da Coyote; kearnyirish2; carolinablonde
OK, enough of the tear-in-the-eye revisionist stuff: Yamamoto was an enemy commander committed to and very talented at killing our young men efficiently. He wasn't any "friendlier" to the US or even slightly more likely of seeking peace with us than any of the other Japanese leaders. He needed to die, as soon as possible and I am distinctly proud of those young American USAAF pilots who pulled this feat of arms off as well as they did.

Enemies are enemies and Yamamoto was on the top of the list as the most dangerous. End of story.

41 posted on 04/17/2017 8:23:38 AM PDT by Chainmail (A simple rule of life: if you can be blamed, you're responsible.)
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To: Ouderkirk

I have some trouble with including civilians.


42 posted on 04/17/2017 8:24:21 AM PDT by hoosierham (Freedom isn't free)
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To: SpeedyInTexas


Bye Bye Iso
43 posted on 04/17/2017 8:24:48 AM PDT by Spruce
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To: kearnyirish2

Sadly, he was the best hope for negotiating a peace rather than dragging out the war for a few more years. He had warned in advance that if a deal wasn’t struck within six months after Pearl Harbor, Japan would lose the war. He knew our industrial might would grind them down, and Japan had no chance of winning a war outright.


You are right that his thinking was along those lines but I think it was highly unlikely he would have been able to prevail and actually engineer a peace. The vast majority of the top brass wanted to fight to the death.


44 posted on 04/17/2017 8:26:53 AM PDT by samtheman (Trump++)
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To: samtheman; kearnyirish2

Yamamoto had absolutely no independent stamding or authority to pursue an early peace. Tojo and the army were totally in charge. Even in the summer of 1945, when the war effort was so obviously hopeless for Japan, the army was ready to assassinate any leader pushing for peace. It took the atomic bombs plus the Emperor.


45 posted on 04/17/2017 8:32:43 AM PDT by Enchante (Libtards are enemies of true civilization!)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

Definitely possible, but even Tojo must have known by mid-42 that Japan had bitten off more than it could chew.


46 posted on 04/17/2017 8:35:30 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: kearnyirish2

Exactly. I have studied this campaign and even wrote my monograph for a Master’s Degree on the Solomons/New Guinea campaign.

A dispassionate analysis of Japanese senior leaders would have revealed that Admiral Yamamoto would have worked hard to negotiate an end to a war he opposed.

However expecting dispassion in war is a fool’s errand. Clausewitz described the composition of war as three interacting parts: “...primordial violence, hatred, and enmity, which are to be regarded as a blind natural force; of the play of chance and probability within which the creative spirit is free to roam; and of its element of subordination, as an instrument of policy, which makes it subject to reason....”

Yamamoto was targeted for three reasons.

1. He was reachable, signal intercepts let us know he would be in range of US fighters (Chance/probability coming into play)

2. It was a rare opportunity to kill one of the ablest enemy commanders. (rational policy to harm the enemy war effort)

3. Revenge. Yamamoto embarrassed the Army and Navy, killing him (passion- hatred for the man who harmed and embarrassed you)

Even if Yamamoto had avoided or survived the attack (some people did survive the crash). It is likely that the extremists in the Army would have tried to kill him in ‘44-’45. The type of officers who wanted to fight on even after the two atomic strikes.


47 posted on 04/17/2017 8:36:52 AM PDT by drop 50 and fire for effect ("Work relentlessly, accomplish much, remain in the background, and be more than you seem.)
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To: A_Former_Democrat

HE didn’t miscalculate, simply warned his government. I don’t think he ever believed victory was possible, and was hoping for a settlement instead.

Not an outlandish concept; Americans forget that while we were slogging our way across the Pacific, and supplying the USSR, Japan and the USSR had a peace treaty that lasted until late 1945.


48 posted on 04/17/2017 8:37:57 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: Spruce

If you ever get up that way, there’s one right inside the main entrance at the Bong museum in Superior, WI (across the harbor from Duluth, MN). Worthwhile.

http://bvhcenter.org/virtual-exhibits/


49 posted on 04/17/2017 8:38:41 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: Chainmail

I don’t sympathize with Yamamoto, or even with the Japanese civilians melted by the atom bombs; I know what Japan did not just to our POWs but to millions of Asian civilians.

It is fact that he knew Japan had no hope of winning a prolonged war, and that negotiations were the only possible solution. I only wish the emperor he served would have been executed as well.


50 posted on 04/17/2017 8:41:32 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: Chainmail

Absolutely. As I said above, it’s truly a great American military story. No tears at all for that POS, in fact, I would have like to have seen him slumped over in his seat. “Bowing” position, riddled with American bullets

BIH Yamamoto. Countless American heroes put the details together quickly and succeeded in putting you in your rightful place


51 posted on 04/17/2017 8:42:05 AM PDT by A_Former_Democrat ("Liberalism is a mental disorder" On FULL Display NOW! BOYCOTT Mexico nba NFL PepsiCO Kellogg's)
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To: samtheman

He didn’t intend to negotiate anything (wasn’t his place/role); he was just stating the obvious.


52 posted on 04/17/2017 8:42:21 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: SpeedyInTexas

Assassination is subjective. During a war, you are a target if you are in the military.


53 posted on 04/17/2017 8:44:58 AM PDT by pfflier
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To: Enchante

See # 52; he had no intention of negotiating anything. He simply knew Japan could never win a war against the US.


54 posted on 04/17/2017 8:45:04 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: SpeedyInTexas
Get Yamamoto!
55 posted on 04/17/2017 8:45:47 AM PDT by kiryandil (Americ)
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To: drop 50 and fire for effect

Very possible he’d have been offed anyway for his negative vibes, and he was a logical (and exposed) target.


56 posted on 04/17/2017 8:46:04 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: kearnyirish2

-—— negative waves —— ;)


57 posted on 04/17/2017 8:48:39 AM PDT by txhurl (BOOM BOOM! - what is it - :)
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To: DCBryan1
After Charles Lindbergh squeezed about 30% more range out of it and adding /subtracting parts from the original design.

Actually, he taught the army pilots fuel management. That was mostly leaning out the mixture during cruise.

58 posted on 04/17/2017 8:49:27 AM PDT by pfflier
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To: Enchante
It took the atomic bombs plus the Emperor.

According to Saburo Sakai, the Japanese Zero ace who wrote the WWII autobiography Samurai, the Emperor gets a lot of credit stateside for the surrender, but was in fact a big part of the problem all along. Sakai describes a totalitarian Japan where the government was intent on victory right to the end, lying their butts off about their military failures to the suffering populace.

Sakai says he always respected his American adversaries and became very pro-American. After the war, his daughter married an American, and his grandchildren are American. He was a frequent participant in US-Japanese flyer reunions. Fantastic book.

59 posted on 04/17/2017 8:51:17 AM PDT by SamuraiScot
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To: txhurl

I stand corrected. If tanks could float Oddball would have knocked off the emperor himself...


60 posted on 04/17/2017 8:51:18 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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