ArmandV said:
We'd be running around in Japanese cars, reading manga and eating sushi.
I do that anyway!
Seriously though, the US more than likely knew the attack was coming well in advance and allowed it to happen in order to get the US into the war to help out Churchill and England against the Nazis and to revive a dead American economy.
Because of Japan's expansion into Asia, America cut off a lot of vital materials from Japan. When America cut off Japan's petroleum imports, of which they were receiving 90% from the US, Japan invaded Indochina, the nearest country, for petroleum resources. The US then seized all Japanese assets in the US and it was clear to all in government that war between the US and Japan was inevitable. Japan was against the wall, so to speak, and had to find other sources of raw materials. In a way they were duped into attacking the US who had cut off their raw materials.
America was, by and large, pacifist at the time and wanted nothing to do with the war in Europe or Asia. In 1940 a Gallup poll showed that 83% of the US public was against entering the war in Europe. Roosevelt ran on the platform and the promise to the American people that, paraphrasing here, "If I am elected, your boys will not go to war. I promise." But the US had to get in or England would've been conquered and the Nazis, Japanese, and Italians may have won the war.
Thus, Pearl Harbor was allowed to happen. A little research on the internet and books on the subject will show that with official government documents and all. That's why no US aircraft carriers were not at Pearl. Just an aging fleet that could be, and needed to be, replaced. Battleships were considered obsolete and all knew that the aircraft carriers were the way to win any war in the Pacific.
The attacking planes were sighted on radar by a couple of enlisted men, but they were told that they were US planes and to close down and go home. It's documented. Also, it is well known, and documented that the US had cracked the Japanese code.
Some other facts:
- During Pacific Navel excerises in 1932 and 1938, and with Japanese military attaches closly observing, US Navy officers theoretically destroyed Pearl Harbor both times.
- Roosevelt ordered the Pacific fleet moved to the exposed position at Pearl Harbor over the vigorous objections of Admiral Richardson, who was replaced for refusing to issue the order.
- Message to commanders at Pearl on Nov 27, 1941 stated, "Hostile action possible at any moment. If hostilities cannot, repeat CANNOT, be avoided, The United States desires that Japan commit the first overt act. This policy should not, repeat NOT, be construed as restricting you to a course of action that might jeopardize your defense." Still the fleet remained anchored at Pearl and all aircraft were bunched together as a "security" precaution against saboteurs.
Also on November 25, 1941, Secretary of War Stimson had a conversation with Roosevelt, after which he wrote in his diary, "The question was how we should manaeuver them into the position of firing the first shot without too much danger to ourselves...It was desirable to make sure the Japanese be the ones to do this so that there should remain no doubt in anyone's mind as to who were the aggressors."
And finally, the most damning evidence yet of Roosevelts foreknowledge of the attack came from the 1948 interrogation of Germany's Gestapo chief Heinrich Mueller. In a 1995 book by Gregory Douglas based on previously secret files, Mueller stated that on November 26, 1941, the Germans in Holland had intercepted a private trans-Atlantic telephone conversation between Roosevelt and Churchill.
Churchill informed Roosevelt of the movements of the missing Japanese fleet and stated, "I can assure you that their goal is the (conversation broken) fleet in Hawaii, at Pearl Harbor."
"This is monstrous," exclaimed Roosevelt. "Can you tell me...indicate...the nature of your intelligence?" "Reliable," answered Churchill, who mentioned agents within the Japanese military and foreign service as well as their broken code.
"The obvious implication is that the Japs are going to do a Port Arthur on us at Pearl Harbor. Do you concur?" asked Roosevelt. Churchill replied, "I do indeed unless they add an attack on the Panama Canal to this vile business." (The Japanese launched a surprise torpedo attack against Port Arthur, today called Pinyun Lu-shun on China's Liaodong Penninsula, a Russian Port, that began the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War.
Roosevelt then said, "I will have to consider the entire problem...A Japanese attack on us, which would result in war between-and certainly you as well-would certainly fulfill two of the most important requirements of our policy." Roosevelt speaks about absenting himself from the White House on some pretext, adding, "What I don't know, can't hurt me and I cannot understand messages at a distance."
Addressing the unlikely position that US military officers would have knowingly allowed American units to be attacked, author Douglas explained, "The warning did not come to Roosevelt from below but on a parallel level from a foreign intelligence source which was far better equipped to decode and translate the Japanese transmissions."
And, after Pearl was attacked, American men rushed in droves to sign up for the military and pacifist America entered the war and the US economy, as a result, became one of the strongest and richest in the world.
Sources:
Rule By Secrecy, by Jim Marrs, Internet, declassified documents, and TV documentaries.
Some rare pics of that fateful day (notice how close the planes were):
View attachment 5266 View attachment 5263View attachment 5264View attachment 5265
