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David Swanson, author of "War is a Lie", writes via CounterPunch:
The facts [of the Pearl Harbor story] do not support the mythology. The United States government did not need to make Japan a junior partner in imperialism, did not need to fuel an arms race, did not need to support Nazism and fascism (as some of the biggest U.S. corporations did right through the war), did not need to provoke Japan, did not need to join the war in Asia or Europe, and was not surprised by the attack on Pearl Harbor. For support of each of these statements, keep reading.
[...] Churchill's fervent hope for years before the U.S. entry into the war was that Japan would attack the United States. This would permit the United States (not legally, but politically) to fully enter World War II in Europe, as its president wanted to do, as opposed to merely providing weaponry and assisting in the targeting of submarines as it had been doing. On December 7, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt drew up a declaration of war on both Japan and Germany, but decided it wouldn't work and went with Japan alone. Germany quickly declared war on the United States, possibly in hopes that Japan would declare war on the Soviet Union.
Getting into the war was not a new idea in the Roosevelt White House. FDR had tried lying to the U.S. public about U.S. ships including the Greer and the Kerny, which had been helping British planes track German submarines, but which Roosevelt pretended had been innocently attacked. Roosevelt also lied that he had in his possession a secret Nazi map planning the conquest of South America, as well as a secret Nazi plan for replacing all religions with Nazism. The map was of the quality of Karl Rove's "proof" that Iraq was buying uranium in Niger.
And yet, the people of the United States didn't buy the idea of going into another war until Pearl Harbor, by which point Roosevelt had already instituted the draft, activated the National Guard, created a huge Navy in two oceans, traded old destroyers to England in exchange for the lease of its bases in the Caribbean and Bermuda, and--just 11 days before the "unexpected" attack, and five days before FDR expected it--he had secretly ordered the creation (by Henry Field) of a list of every Japanese and Japanese-American person in the United States.
[...] On November 15th, Army Chief of Staff George Marshall briefed the media on something we do not remember as "the Marshall Plan". In fact we don't remember it at all. "We are preparing an offensive war against Japan", Marshall said, asking the journalists to keep it a secret, which as far as I know they dutifully did.
[...] Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin (R-MT), the first woman ever elected to Congress, and who had voted against World War I, stood alone in opposing World War II [...] found that the Economic Defense Board had gotten economic sanctions under way less than a week after the Atlantic Conference [of August 1941]. On December 2, 1941, the New York Times had reported, in fact, that Japan had been "cut off from about 75 percent of her normal trade by the Allied blockade". Rankin also cited the statement of Lieutenant Clarence E. Dickinson, U.S.N., in the Saturday Evening Post of October 10, 1942, that on November 28, 1941, nine days before the attack, Vice Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., (he of the catchy slogan "Kill Japs! Kill Japs!") had given instructions to him and others to "shoot down anything we saw in the sky and to bomb anything we saw on the sea".
The article is very detailed and shows repeatedly the duplicity of those who have claimed that the strike on Pearl Harbor was a "surprise".
(Score: 4, Insightful) by BenJeremy on Thursday December 08 2016, @08:49PM
Everybody loves a conspiracy theory. There is certainly truth that the US was egging on the Japanese, but they expected Midway to be a more likely target than Hawaii.
It's a simple matter of logic and practicality. Battleships weren't obsolete, either... and naval command would NEVER sacrifice them. They were great ground pounders, able to support sea landings or punish coastal areas (if you know geography, you'd also realize people concentrate near bodies of waters, making them juicy targets in a time of war)
The US expected invasion, rather than a bold raid at extreme range. For all intents and purposes, no military commander at the time would have given credence to the idea that the Japanese could manage an air raid at such extreme range. As I said in another comment, the Dolittle raid was our response, because an audacious attack called for an even more audacious reply. The Japanese were expected to take islands closer to their homeland, and Hawaii was considered to be safe enough, buffered by the anticipated move to invade (which would have also triggered US declaration of war).
Two things really...
1) Pearl Harbor was a purely destructive raid - the US thought they'd see escalation first.
2) Pearl Harbor was thought to be out of range of potential attack.
Even given some sort of direct intelligence of a pending attack, it probably would have been ruled out as a false lead, due to the low probability of it.
In any event, neither the military, nor the White House wanted the Japanese to destroy most of the Pacific Fleet. You don't start a chess game by sweeping away all your pieces except for your king and a few pawns.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Thursday December 08 2016, @11:47PM
You bring up some good points worth considering.
And your right that you don't start a game of chess by sweeping away everything but your King. However, chess is about making strategic sacrifices, and the attack on Pearl Harbor was not the opening moves of the game.
The truth is the general public will never know exactly what was known and unknown by the governments involved, records have been altered and/or destroyed, witnesses have either died keeping their silence or met with accidents after starting to speak out. It is the same with all the major events of History that changed the direction of the world, The Reichstag fire, the J.F.K assassination, Oswald's murder, Bobby Kennedy's shooting, Oklahoma City bombing, 9-11 and all the rest. The complete truth may be out there but it will never reach the ears of the masses. And the fact is that most of them don't even care.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Friday December 09 2016, @04:26AM
"Battleships weren't obsolete..." Is probably one of the most significant understatements of this thread. The very fact that something like that needs to be said here shows many people are arguing from complete ignorance of what naval tactics were like and the relative perceived value of ships in 1941. Carriers did not yet have the reputation that would make them so much more valuable... Battleships were still thought of as a core part of the fleet. (To be sure, there were some bullish air force leaders who believed that carriers would become the decisive element in future naval warfare, but no navy admiral in 1941 would have just decided to save carriers and give up on everything else.)
And as for those "missing" carriers, IIRC at least one of them was actually supposed to be in Pearl Harbor the day before attack and was only slowed down by unexpected weather.
It simply amazes me how much some people just "want to believe" and don't bother to check out whether random rumors can be substantiated or even make any sense.