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In reply to the discussion: I'd Like To Apologize To DU... [View all]ooglymoogly
(9,502 posts)Democrat... However I cannot let such claptrap go unchallenged... This is a post I made to a similar post a few weeks ago...
There were actual Japanese spies in the US, according to historical record; between 5 and 7 thousand, who were known, plotting to undermine and thwart the war effort; working mainly on the west coast and Hawaii;
several plots of historical note are fully documented, upturned under discovery, after the war along with the number of spies.
This does not excuse the decision, which other than in times of war would and must be illegal and dastardly.
It is just one of the many mitigating circumstances effecting the war and its outcome at that time...Add to that, America had been savagely attacked and was in a war for it's very survival as a sovereign nation.
Hind sigh is 20/20 and mistakes become clear in that sight.
Be that as it may;
No apology can ever be great enough, to those incarcerated and the terrible hardship they had to endure; for no other reason, than that they looked like...and by heritage...those we were at war with and were, in fact, by an overwhelming majority, not spies, but as loyal Americans as any patriot;
an unjust circumstance that can never be reconciled.
When a president bears the unfathomable responsibility, and is under the weight and hysteria of Pearl Harbor, (think 9/11 and consider having war declared against this country far worse) of saving the life of this country by war, when every piece of scrap metal and paper is being collected to insure success; when every American is asked to sacrifice, to lend a hand to the war effort...when everything was being rationed, gas to butter; the fact that 5 to 7 thousand spies plotting against this country on American soil, bears considerable weight.
FDR, who near single handedly created the middle classes of this country; who with a stroke of the pen, created the New Deal securing the elderly and downtrodden, certainly was one of the greatest leaders who ever lived in any century.