Japanese denial of WWII military brothels shocks former professor / LJWorld.com

Lawrence and Douglas county

By Erin Castaneda - ecastaneda@ljworld.com

March 5, 2007

Even after 62 years, Grant Goodman, a retired Kansas University history professor, still is involved in a World War II-era Japanese dispute.

On Friday, nationalist Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe denied that the Japanese Imperialist Army ever owned and operated military brothels, or "comfort stations," during World War II and questioned the nation's public apology made 14 years ago for its involvement in sex slavery.

Goodman, 82, who uncovered documentation that proved the brothels indeed existed, was shocked.

"I was disbelieving," he said about Abe's statement. "I thought this is cuckoo, why now? This issue has been buried for years."

The retiree sat in his Brandon Woods Retirement Community home, adorned with Japanese decor, and shared an account of a visit in August of 1993 with a former Japanese consul general in Kansas City, Mo.

"He told me thanks to my documents, the Japanese government had been forced to admit that they were responsible for the comfort women," he said.

The meeting was a memorable moment, Goodman said, and the consul appeared grateful, but he said the apology was likely done out of political and economic interests.

Wartime intelligence

Goodman discovered the documents when he was serving as a second lieutenant for the U.S. Army's Military Intelligence Service during World War II. He gathered intelligence about the morale of Japanese armed forces, interrogated captured Japanese prisoners of war and translated Japanese documents for the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section at Gen. Douglas MacArthur's headquarters in Manila, Philippines.

Goodman was 20 when he was translating documents about Japanese armed forces amenities. Some of those amenities included opportunities for leave, geishas and brothels. He translated a 12-page document outlining the direct involvement of the Japanese military in the organization and utilization of brothels. He said it caught his attention, and he knew that U.S. military intelligence had known Japanese military brothels had existed since 1937, but he didn't know what to do with the information at the time.

He kept a copy of the documents and mailed them home to his parents. He didn't touch them again until 1992.

It was in that year that Goodman noticed a news account about Professor Yoshimi Yoshiaki, of Chuo University in Tokyo, who had found similar documents in the Japanese Defense Agency archives. Soon afterward, Japan's prime minister offered a public apology for the government's role in the matter of "comfort women."

After the apology, Goodman was reminded of the research report he possessed. He released his copy of the documents to a Japanese journalist in order to prove the government's role in the brothels.

Photo by Mike Yoder

Grant Goodman, retired Kansas University history professor, has done research and written about the Japanese government's involvement in the establishment of brothels of "comfort women" for the Japanese military. The Japanese prime minister on Friday denied any official involvement.

Taking responsibility

Goodman said he doesn't understand why the current prime minister would contradict the evidence, and why now.

"He must think he's going to gain some internal political mileage," he said. "Otherwise, I really don't get it."

Takao Shibata, a Japanese lecturer at Kansas University and former Japanese general consul in Kansas City, Mo., said the prime minister should not have made the comment.

Shibata said Abe was referring to technicalities of historical evidence when he stated the military wasn't coercive in mobilizing the women because the military was authorizing private companies.

"The fact is there is no evidence to prove there is coercion, that's what he's saying," Shibata said. "We should take the responsibility; we apologized in 1993 and that is the sentiment of the Japanese people, and the prime minister should have expressed that." Instead, the nation appears to be avoiding the responsibility of the historical deplorable act, Shibata said.

Goodman said it's going to be an unpleasant issue among Japan, Korea and China because so many Koreans and Chinese were enslaved. According to editors of the book "Legacies of the Comfort Women of World War II," to which Goodman contributed a chapter, 200,000 Asian women were enslaved during the war.

Goodman said he has documentary films of Korean women who were sex slaves.

"I break up every time I see it," he said. "It's terrible how they were treated.

"It's an unfortunate phenomenon all the way around."

Tokyo (The Associated Press) -

Japan will not apologize again for its World War II military brothels, even if the U.S. Congress passes a resolution demanding it to do so, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told parliament today.

Abe, elaborating on his denial last week that women from across Asia were forced to serve as frontline prostitutes, said none of the testimony in hearings last month in the U.S. House of Representatives offered any solid proof of abuse.

"I must say we will not apologize even if there's a resolution," Abe told lawmakers in a lengthy debate, during which he also said he stood by Japan's landmark 1993 apology on the brothels.

- Erin Castaneda is a journalism student at Kansas University.

Discussion

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Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.

5 March 2007
at 2:57 a.m.

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Shardwurm (Anonymous) says…

Doesn't come as a shock to me at all.

The Japanese don't teach their children the truth about their involvement in WW II.

I'm guessing almost no one there below the age of 30 knows about the 'Rape of Nanking'.
5 March 2007
at 6:43 a.m.

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jonas (Anonymous) says…

Shardwurm: Actually, you're quite wrong. The idea that the Japanese have not owned up to quite a lot of their involvement in WWII is pretty much false. And there is a high likelihood that tales of the atrocities were ramped up quite a lot in the telling. There have been multiple seperate apologies for actions done during the war, and the idea that the children are not being taught about the war is based on a small number of textbooks that, though probably present an incomplete and biased picture, account for only like 1-2% of all textbooks used in Japanese classrooms.

Of course, I may be missing something. What's your source?
5 March 2007
at 6:49 a.m.

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jonas (Anonymous) says…

I should also note that I think Abe's quote is rediculous, and quite out of place.
5 March 2007
at 8:04 a.m.

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just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…

“I wonder why the rest of the world thinks we're all a bunch of arrogant people meddling with everyone else's affairs…”

I think “meddling” is a pretty weak description of what “we” do.
5 March 2007
at 8:08 a.m.

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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…

AND the Japanese kill whales fortheHelluvit.

Thanks.

Marion.
5 March 2007
at 8:26 a.m.

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avoice (Anonymous) says…

If our (U.S.) slate is clean, throw those stones.
5 March 2007
at 8:35 a.m.

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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…

avoice:

You are an idiot.

Besides, we TOLD the Japanese TWICE!

Slow learners.

Thanks.

Marion.

5 March 2007
at 8:42 a.m.

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jonas (Anonymous) says…

Told them what, Marion? Do everything we say for perpetuity or die? What are you babbling about?
5 March 2007
at 8:57 a.m.

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blue73harley (Anonymous) says…

Jonas - I believe Marion is jokingly refering to a couple of atomic bombs. Kind of like the wife with two black eyes joke.
5 March 2007
at 9:02 a.m.

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Agnostick (Anonymous) says…

Well, Dambudzo, how about we start by giving them your mother? Your wife? Daughter? Sister?

Assuming you haven't sold 'em to a Dominican brothel yourself, for a few pesos.

Agnostick
agnostick@excite.com
5 March 2007
at 9:05 a.m.

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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…

jonas:

It's a very rude joke.

Think about it.

In the meantime, take a look at these links if you want to know just exactly what kind of monsters the Japanese were in the 1930s and 1940s:

The rape of Nanking:

http://www.centurychina.com/wiihist/n…

Execution by the Japanese of POWs:

http://www.geocities.com/dutcheastind…

vivisection of POWs:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/japan/story…

Unit 731; the Japanese biological Warfare group:

http://www.skycitygallery.com/japan/j…

http://www.ww2pacific.com/unit731.html

Japanese sex slaves:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/1…

http://www.japanfocus.org/products/de…

Some good stuff on the Japanese War crimes trials:

http://www.slatewiper.com/slatelinks….

Try a little real history for a change!

Thanks.

Marion.
5 March 2007
at 9:07 a.m.

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just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…

“Besides, we TOLD the Japanese TWICE!”

The A-bombs dropped on Japan were a message to the Soviets, not the Japanese, who had been thoroughly defeated and were ready to surrender by that time.
5 March 2007
at 9:16 a.m.

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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…

BOZO:

You have AGAIN demonstrated your near complete ignorance of history AND you Pseudo-liberal/Neo-socialist America hating distorted views of the FACTS!

Crawl back under your Rock Of Self Entitlement now!

dismissed!

Thanks.

Marion.
5 March 2007
at 9:30 a.m.

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LawrenceRes (Anonymous) says…

True, the bombs were a warning to the Soviets but the Japanese HAD NOT been thoroughly defeated and were definitely not ready to surrender. In their culture it is more honorable to die fighting than surrender. The A-bombs were used in order to avoid prolonging the war by years and loosing hundreds of thousands more American lives. It was a tough decision, but the right one.

I suggest that those who don't know much about Japanese history seriously follow the suggestions of some of the other bloggers and read up on Nanking and the atrocities Japan committed during WWII and the years leading up to it. And yes, they deny it all. In fact, they don't even print it in their history books, and they do not teach it in their schools.
5 March 2007
at 9:31 a.m.

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bearded_gnome (Anonymous) says…

unit 731.

if you don't know, look it up.

northern chinese *are still* sickened because of this evil operation by the japanese.

many chinese still ask today, why we only stopped with just two atomic bombs.

5 March 2007
at 9:32 a.m.

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OldEnuf2BYurDad (Anonymous) says…

Wow. I had not known about Nanking. It's easier now to understand how the Japanese could be in an Axis with the Nazis… they seemed to operated with the same lack of morals.

Thanks for the links, Marion.
5 March 2007
at 9:34 a.m.

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just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…

“True, the bombs were a warning to the Soviets but the Japanese HAD NOT been thoroughly defeated and were definitely not ready to surrender. In their culture it is more honorable to die fighting than surrender. The A-bombs were used in order to avoid prolonging the war by years and loosing hundreds of thousands more American lives. It was a tough decision, but the right one.”

That's the myth, but the reality is that the Japanese were, in fact, totally defeated by that time, and had been attempting to negotiate a surrender.
5 March 2007
at 9:41 a.m.

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sourpuss (Anonymous) says…

Thanks for the Japanese-bashing. That was fun. Can we pick on the Italians now? Please please please?

Those in glass houses…… . . . . . .
5 March 2007
at 9:46 a.m.

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Agnostick (Anonymous) says…

In all fairness, bozo, there have been a lot of links, citations, references thrown around in this thread.

Except from you, and your assertion that the Japanese were ready to surrender *before* Fat Man and Little Boy.

You're up…

Agnostick
agnostick@excite.com

P.S. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operatio…
(yeah, it's Wikipedia. So go spit!)
5 March 2007
at 9:49 a.m.

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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…

I hereby nominate BOZO(Paid blogger) to be the ward churchill of the LJW forums!

For those of you who want to know the TRUTH about the supposed willingness of Japan to surrender and the losses which an invasion of that desperate, barbaric and uncivilised land, go here:

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/…

Casualty projections:

http://home.kc.rr.com/casualties/

The MYTH of the Japanese willingness to surrender:

http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistles…

More TRUTH may be found here:

http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/ai…

Thanks.

Marion.
5 March 2007
at 10:08 a.m.

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jonas (Anonymous) says…

Yes, I've read all of that. What's your point? Atrocities were committed, it was a long time ago, Japan has apologized on multiple occasions, etc. If the point is that they are still guilty for past offenses, then I'm going to stand by my claim that I still see very little difference between the Japan-China wars and our own extermination of the existing indian population, just a little over a century ago. Are you going to dispute that.
5 March 2007
at 10:09 a.m.

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jonas (Anonymous) says…

there should have been a question mark at the end of that.
5 March 2007
at 10:14 a.m.

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just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…

http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.asp…

“I think the use of the atomic bomb is an issue that still bothers the American conscience,” Hasegawa said. “This book is going to give an unsettling feeling to the Americans who firmly believe that the bombs were justified, since they directly resulted in Japan's surrender. But if you look at the decision-making process in Japan, neither the Hiroshima bomb nor the Nagasaki bomb really played a decisive role.”

Hasegawa said the Americans misunderstood the Japanese value system. “The American assumption was that if you dropped the bomb on Japan, Japanese leaders would immediately surrender because that's what American leaders would do in that situation,” Hasegawa said. “But not everyone has the same value system. However sad or tragic, Japanese leaders were more concerned with maintenance of the Japanese emperor system than with the lives of ordinary citizens.”

5 March 2007
at 10:26 a.m.

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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…

The use of the atomic bomb doesn't bother me in the least.

Thanks.

Marion.
5 March 2007
at 10:27 a.m.

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Agnostick (Anonymous) says…

bozo, I don't think it took a whole lot to understand the Japanese “value system” **at that time**. In fact, it's remarkable similar to Wahhabism, the extremist faction of Islam (similar to the extremist Christian factions that most Conservative Republicans blindly follow) that has produced most of the terrorists of the last 20 years.

Like today's Wahhabists, the Japanese of the 1940s…

1) Infused divine authority and status into one or more of their earthly, mortal leaders

2) Believed that humans divided into two groups: Those that would bow down to their leader and join their cause, or those that would be summarily eliminated.

3) Would freely and gleefully sacrifice their life for their Leader

4) Believed that violence, torture, force etc. were the best ways of achieving this goal

5) Believed that “non-believers” should be eliminated at all costs… and in as violent and painful way as possible.

6) Relegated most women to the status of animals or property

7) Closely followed the religious tenets of their religion, whenever they were in public, or being photographed or filmed

8) Believed that the best way to leave this realm was in a violent, bloody and destructive death that would eliminate vast numbers of “the enemy” in the process.

Those are essentially the “values” of the Japanese in the 1940s. Not necessarily *all* of them… but most of them. Those that disagreed with the militaristic bent of their homeland certainly kept their mouths shut.

Agnostick
agnostick@excite.com
5 March 2007
at 10:36 a.m.

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just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…

“The use of the atomic bomb doesn't bother me in the least.”

You didn't need to tell us that, Marion. We are all well acquanted with your worship of violence and mass murder.
5 March 2007
at 10:40 a.m.

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just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…

Regardless of how valid your eight points are, Agnosick, the important point is that the Japanese were attempting to negotiate peace when the bombs were dropped, and the major sticking point was whether or not the emporer system would be left intact, or whether the Emporer would be arrested and tried for war crimes.

And we all know that after the bombs were dropped, and the terms of surrender were completed, the Emporer was left as head of the Japanese state. So the bombs really played no part in the surrender.
5 March 2007
at 10:41 a.m.

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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…

Evidently the likely loss of 500,000 to one million american lives in the invasion of Japn doesn't bother you, bozo(Paid blogger).

Thanks.

Marion.
5 March 2007
at 10:42 a.m.

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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…

BOZO:

Please PROVE your assertions with VALID links!

Thanks.

Marion.
5 March 2007
at 10:46 a.m.

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just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…

“Evidently the likely loss of 500,000 to one million american lives in the invasion of Japn doesn't bother you, bozo”

You're the one who isn't bothered by the more than 500,000 civilians that really were killed or injured in the dropping of the A-bombs.

An, no, I'm not bothered by the unsupported hypothetical of lost American lives in an invasion that didn't happen, and apparently wouldn't have happened even if the bombs hadn't been dropped.
5 March 2007
at 10:54 a.m.

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Agnostick (Anonymous) says…

Here's the Amazon link to the book:

http://www.amazon.com/Racing-Enemy-St…

Marion, have you even bothered reading either of the links? Or are you just parroting the usual extremist Conservaturd claptrap because… well, that's really all you know how to do?

I read “Flags of Our Fathers” over the holidays, and learned a lot of things I never knew—including the Japanese atrocities. This book might actually be worth a read.

Also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese…

Agnostick
agnostick@excite.com

5 March 2007
at 11:13 a.m.

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75x55 (Anonymous) says…

“many chinese still ask today, why we only stopped with just two atomic bombs.”

Straightest answer to this is that they weren't available - we bluffed the Japanese into surrendering with the only bombs we had.

The US used every bit of fissionable material that it had been able to produce for the two years preceding this with the Trinity test, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. IIRC, it took nearly another two years to generate enough material to start active testing programs.
5 March 2007
at 11:14 a.m.

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LawrenceRes (Anonymous) says…

Casualties at Hiroshima were estimated to be as high as 140,000 and 74,000 for Nagasaki. Funny that is still less than the death toll that China suffered when Japan invaded Nanking, raped, tortured, beheaded, executed, and boiled babies for entertainment.

I do not believe that anyone on here has implied that a decision like dropping the A-bombs is an easy one to make, however if Japan was thinking of surrendering before we dropped any bombs, then why did it take two to actually get them to surrender?

And I am infinetly thankful that because of the decions made in 1945 that the additional loss of American lives remained hypothetical and did not become a reality. My Grandfather fought in New Guinea and my great uncle was shot out of a Church steeple by a German sniper. Our first obligation was to American lives.
5 March 2007
at 11:19 a.m.

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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…

I see that the BOZO (Paid blogger) has come though!

Aggie, what is WRONG with you?

Thank you LawrenceRes, 75x55 and Obamillary for your insightful posts.

Thanks.

Marion.
5 March 2007
at 11:36 a.m.

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Agnostick (Anonymous) says…

Yeah, force is real good. Too bad the current administration can't use some good old-fashioned force in Iraq. But if they did that, they wouldn't be able to hand out no-bid contracts to Halliburton for paved roads and Dairy Queen franchises.

After all, the terrorists have to have *someplace* to buy ice cream for Osama… whom we've now decided to ignore, probably for good.

Oh well.

Agnostick
agnostick@excite.com
5 March 2007
at 11:51 a.m.

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Agnostick (Anonymous) says…

Well, since it's suddenly all cool and trendy to acknowledge the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold path (well, it's cool because an extremist Conservaturd columnist referenced 'em), here's another Buddhist truth to chew over:

The Middle Path is the best way. And the truth generally lies somewhere between the extremes.

To wit:

1) The Japanese people of the 1940s are a different people than the Japanese of 2007.

2) The Japanese of the 1940s lived in a very militaristic, hostile, imperialistic society. Today's Japanese do not.

3) The “comfort women” (imagine that, actually addressing the *original topic* of the thread! WOW!!) of Japan were the real deal. They were, for all practical purposes, sexual slaves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_…

4) In mid-1945, Japan's military efforts were falling apart. They were losing the war.

5) By mid-1945, detailed plans were in place for a Normandy-style invasion of the Japanese mainland.

6) The first atomic bomb (Hiroshima) was not impressive enough, for whatever reasons, to spur Japan into an unconditional surrender. Or even a conditional surrender, for that matter.

7) Around the same time as the bomb drop on Nagasaki, the Soviet Union trashed their non-aggression pact with Japan and went after 'em with both barrels.

8) In August 1945, Japan finally surrendered. By that time, the Russians were invading, and two devastating atomic bombs had been dropped by the United States.

9) One or more of the incidents/conditions listed in #8 compelled the Japanese to accept unconditional surrender.

10) Since none of us were actually there when it was all going down, we'll probably never know what the emperor and his lapdogs really discussed, and what finally tipped their scales in our favor.

Agnostick
agnostick@excite.com
5 March 2007
at 12:45 p.m.

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just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…

“The way of the world is force. You may not like that. You may choose not to believe it. But it is true. The world is ruled by force.”

Gosh, I guess I can just go ahead and beat up my obnoxious next door neighbor.

Thanks for that load of infinite wisdom, obamillary.
5 March 2007
at 12:58 p.m.

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just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…

You can list all the horrors committed by the Japanese you want, and they are all mostly accurate, but that doesn't change the fact that the bombs dropped on Japan were the start of the cold war with the Soviet Union, not the end of WWII.
5 March 2007
at 1:15 p.m.

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just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…

I know your precious ideology is all you have, obamillary, but if you care to read something that deals with the facts of history, and not pure ideological ranting, read this—

http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.asp…

5 March 2007
at 1:26 p.m.

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75x55 (Anonymous) says…

Interesting link - this comment in particular:

“President Franklin Roosevelt concluded the Yalta Secret Agreement in February 1945, granting to Stalin privileges and territorial gains in the Far East in return for the Soviet entry into the war in the Pacific.”

The same Yalta conference where an obviously failing FDR was manipulated by his (later revealed to be) Soviet agent aides. As Soviet intervention wasn't necessary or advisable, especially if 'territorial gains' was a precondition.

But then again, the whole 'red scare' thing was a sham, at least that's what my old politically correct history book lies to me.
5 March 2007
at 1:27 p.m.

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countrygirl (Anonymous) says…

Silly me thought the cold war got off the ground as the US and the Soviets were dividing up Berlin. Before the bombs were dropped.
5 March 2007
at 1:38 p.m.

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Agnostick (Anonymous) says…

“I know your precious ideology is all you have, obamillary…”

No, (s)he also has his/her own overdeveloped sense of importance.

That, and whatever LimBeck screams through the car radio every morning.

Agnostick
agnostick@excite.com

P.S. “Antagonisitck?” My, we're smart, aren't we? Careful you don't cut yourself…
5 March 2007
at 1:41 p.m.

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Agnostick (Anonymous) says…

“'the middle path'? Stupid, lukewarm doesn't cut it. Just like an agnostick to take a middle path.”

Just like a mindless extremist to copy/paste without even reading what it is they're copy/pasting…

Partly explains the hypocrisy, too.
5 March 2007
at 1:55 p.m.

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75x55 (Anonymous) says…

Start of cold war - try 1917.

It heated up in 1919, with the Archangel and Siberian Expeditions. We lost a load of people at Archangel that were never heard from again, though accounts exist of captured US soldiers/officers in Siberian prison camps into the 1930s.

It only warmed up slightly after FDR, and the load of communist agents came into power with him, in 1933.
5 March 2007
at 2 p.m.

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Agnostick (Anonymous) says…

Oh yeah, FDR was a *HUGE* Communist! Says so right here:

http://www.conservapedia.com/Franklin…

:rolleyes:
:rolleyes:
:rolleyes:
:rolleyes:
:rolleyes:
:rolleyes:

Agnostick
agnostick@excite.com
5 March 2007
at 2:02 p.m.

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75x55 (Anonymous) says…

Didn't say “FDR” was a communist, silly person.

Did I?

Nope. Never did.

People he brought with him where HUGE communist agents and spies.

That is a proven fact.

Try to deny that.

Oh, do try.
5 March 2007
at 2:37 p.m.

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Agnostick (Anonymous) says…

So… I'm supposed to “deny” what you haven't even tried to prove?

“I dare you to swing your bat and hit the ball I haven't even pitched yet.”

Uh-huh. Yeah.

Names? Lists?

Okay, I'll do your homework for you, since I'm so curious. First, one for the more level-headed reader:

http://writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50…

One for the extremist crackpots (you know who you are):

http://www.ety.com/HRP/rev/fdr.htm

Agnostick
agnostick@excite.com

P.S. Look Ma! No Wiki!

5 March 2007
at 2:51 p.m.

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75x55 (Anonymous) says…

You really need to update your reading, Agno. That first one you list had this little gem:

“Historians have noted the roots of American anticommunism in what they refer to as the nation's countersubversive tradition: the irrational notion that outsiders (who could be political dissidents, foreigners, or members of racial and religious minorities) threatened the nation from within”

Published in 1994, this preceded the publishing of detailed documents from the Venona project.

Say “VENONA”. Now, go forth and update thy reading lists, young marxists everywhere.
5 March 2007
at 2:52 p.m.

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just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…

“People he brought with him where HUGE communist agents and spies.
That is a proven fact.
Try to deny that.”

How could I ever deny such a well-proven assertion?

Oh, that's right, it was merely an assertion, and no proof.
5 March 2007
at 2:57 p.m.

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75x55 (Anonymous) says…

LOL!
5 March 2007
at 3:20 p.m.

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lefthanded (Anonymous) says…

The loss of American life during the invasion of the Japanese main islands was esimated to be as high as 0.5-1.0 million. Dropping the atomic bombs was salvation for these US soldiers. Today, the US is still using Purple Hearts manufactured for this event. There were various goals for dropping the bomb, especially as the Soviet Union had declared war on Japan and was massing troops for an invasion of their own. There ought to be no joy in dropping the atomic bombs on Japan but rather thankfulness at a very basic level that it was them instead of us. Virtually all the major players in WWII were trying to develop an atomic bomb. BTW, it was the US and British that the Japanese sought out early last century when they wanted to modernize their armed forces. That scenario seems to happen to the United States over and over, doesn't it. So much for learning from history.
5 March 2007
at 3:41 p.m.

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Agnostick (Anonymous) says…

“You really need to update your reading, Agno. That first one you list had this little gem:

“Historians have noted the roots of American anticommunism in what they refer to as the nation's countersubversive tradition: the irrational notion that outsiders (who could be political dissidents, foreigners, or members of racial and religious minorities) threatened the nation from within”
_____________________________________________

You're right, 75x55, I was completely fooled. How could I be so stupid? anybody who questions the government can't be worth a pinch of monkey dung.

Of course I'm a Commie! Heck, I'd never make it with you and your fellow Conservaturd fascists, would I? :)

And that Hopkins… you're right, I should've just read NewsMax right away, just like you guys. Good ol' NewsMax will set me right with the world. And it's easier, too, since I don't have to think for myself.

Agnostick
agnostick@excite.com
5 March 2007
at 3:47 p.m.

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75x55 (Anonymous) says…

Touchy today. So full of reactionary vitriole. Have some chocolate.

Try this read - it's an actual book, with real research involved. Not like so many of those internet sites that seem to be causing you great anquish.

http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Exposin…
5 March 2007
at 3:54 p.m.

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Agnostick (Anonymous) says…

I've turned a page, 75x55. I've stood enough reactionary vitriole dished out from Conservaturds like you over the past several months—time to start dishing it back. :)

Love you Conservaturd fascists, though, you guys are SO KEWL!

Agnostick
agnostick@excite.com
5 March 2007
at 4 p.m.

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75x55 (Anonymous) says…

Love you too. And you just keep on calling names - it doesn't ever bother me, whatever makes ya feel better.

5 March 2007
at 4:13 p.m.

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hipper_than_hip (Anonymous) says…

In August of 1945, my father was somewhere west of Hawaii bound for Japan (he was serving on a destroyer escort). His ship plus five other destroyer escorts had spent the summer in the Caribbean taking gunnery practice one-half mile off the shore of Puerto Rico. Everyone onboard knew that they were practicing for the invasion of Japan, and according to him, they all had resigned themselves to death. Two atomic bombs were dropped, and he and his shipmates were allowed to return to their families. I certainly doubt that I am the only person in Lawrence who is a descendent of a serviceman whose life was spared by the dropping of the atomic bombs. I may be selfish, but I think the decision to drop the bombs was the correct decision.
5 March 2007
at 4:49 p.m.

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Agnostick (Anonymous) says…

I think there's as distinct a possibility that you, r_t, could become a bicycle-riding tofu-eating peace-loving war-protesting folk-singing guitar-strummin' bead-wearing flip-floppin' long-haired patchouli-oiled bisexual politically-correct transgendered Commie sympathizing socialist “Lib”… before I ever *truly* deviate from the center. :p

Or, maybe someday, we'll drop all the labels and focus on the issues…

Agnostick
agnostick@excite.com
5 March 2007
at 5:01 p.m.

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jonas (Anonymous) says…

“Posted by bearded_gnome (anonymous) on March 5, 2007 at 9:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)

unit 731.

if you don't know, look it up.

northern chinese *are still* sickened because of this evil operation by the japanese.”

Or it gets cynically brought up and manipulated by the Chinese government to invoke nationalism in the face of a controlling govt., to shift the balance of power in the region away from japan towards china, and to deny Japan a spot on the UN Security council, which it clearly deserves by normal standards.

Take your pick.
5 March 2007
at 5:04 p.m.

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jonas (Anonymous) says…

Hipper-than-hip: I could answer back to that with MY great-aunt (thru marriage), who was a citizen of Japan, not a member of the military, during the bomb drops, and who, like many of the citizenry, died painfully in her 40's of cancer caused by radiation sickness.

Or, perhaps, our personal ties to the situations do not, in any way, determine the correctness or incorrectness of the actions taken.
5 March 2007
at 6:09 p.m.

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75x55 (Anonymous) says…

“just like what wev'e been doing to many mid-eastern citizens in Gitmo.”

So, there are US citizens incarcerated at Gitmo? I didn't realize that….
5 March 2007
at 6:16 p.m.

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crazyks (Anonymous) says…

It's nice to know that dehumanizing the enemy, in this case the Japanese, is still alive and well in 2007.

Seems there are a lot of former U.S. servicemen and their families who don't know yet that the war is over…
5 March 2007
at 6:25 p.m.

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Permalink

jonas (Anonymous) says…

Man, just burst my balloon man! I thought I was on the verge of a mass-poster-epiphone here. Some progress was going to be made! Now I just can't see why I'd bother. . . .
5 March 2007
at 6:37 p.m.

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jonas (Anonymous) says…

apparently, I have a balloon man.

commas, they be a good thing.

errr… colons: they be a good thing, too.

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