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To: wideawake

That the Japanese attack on Pearl was a response to our economic embargo on oil shipments is hardly controversial.

It is controversial, inasmuch as it is a lie.

Nobody who has even glanced at the history of the period would agree with you.

117 posted on 03/31/2014 2:21:15 PM PDT by jdege
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To: jdege
Nobody who has even glanced at the history of the period would agree with you.

While I'm not an expert, I know quite a bit more about the history of the period than you ever will, and I'm informing you that you are wrong.

You should know that Japan was warned in advance that if they invaded the territory of America's ally, France, that we would end exports of oil to them.

When they attacked Pearl Harbor, no US oil had flowed to Japan for 18 months.

Let's think rationally, shall we?

If Japan's goal was to punish the US for doing what we promised to do, why did they wait 18 months?

They attacked Pearl Harbor because they wanted to replace US oil imports with Indonesian oil imports, but they also knew that the US would be able to provide critical support to British and Dutch forces in the Java Sea.

The goal of the attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines was to prevent the US from being able to provide decisive assistance to the Allies as Japan took Indonesia.

Less than three months after Pearl harbor, Japan had Indonesia.

The Japanese did not fool themselves: they deliberately undertook actions for three years that they knew would inevitably sever their economic relationship with the United States.

No one in Japan expected that the US would continue to supply Japan with oil as it did whatever it wanted in Asia.

Pearl Harbor was part of a larger strategy by Japan to change its sources of supply as seamlessly as it could.

The concept that Japan was shocked and angry to find that the US had stopped supplying them with the oil they needed to conquer British, French, Dutch and US overseas possessions is laughable.

122 posted on 03/31/2014 2:45:42 PM PDT by wideawake
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