[qwerty1234]

>>Querty is correct
Thank you. I get tired of the folks who dismiss the bombing of Pearl Harbor' as a 'well we deserved it because we cut of their oil argument...something I would expect on DU, not here.

Lots of books on the subject, but here is one if you need to convince yourself that war against the Japanese was both justified and inevitable, including using atomic weapons; I only wish we had them, and used them sooner.

[drop 50 and fire for effect]

Anyone paying attention knew that Japan was heading toward war with the west. They saw the European powers as weakened by Germany’s war on Europe. We had started rearming and were rapidly working to improve and reinforce defenses across the Pacific.

What surprised us was the time, place, and manner of the attack. U.S analysts thought it would be later and focused upon a concentrated attack south. The Pearl Harbor strike was unexpected, even though there were all kinds of indicator that were much clearer in retrospect. Everyone had pieces of info, but no one drew the right conclusions.