From: Stephen A. Lawrence Hi Stephen,
... > I don't buy conspiracy theories, as a rule, but after > seeing that tape, along with the later commentary by the > White House in which they "fled with no man pursuing", > I really wondered. I remember the tape of Bush's reaction at the class room as well. Any kind of analysis of this sort will -always- be open to personal interoperation. It's always colored by one's own unique set of prejudices. This includes my own personal prejudices as well. My personal interpretation of Bush's reaction most closely resembled that of a deer mesmerized by approaching headlights on a lonely stretch of highway in the middle of the night. The result: One dead deer and a pissed off driver trying to remember what the collision deductible is on his car insurance. ... > Here's an old family story: Long long ago, Roosevelt > (bless his heart -- the only one of the allies who gave > a [EMAIL PROTECTED] about China) issued an ultimatum to Japan. An > uncle of mine, who was very smart but slightly cracked > and who would have fitted in perfectly on Vortex, called > my father, who was also a close friend of his. He said > to my dad, "Did you see the paper? Did you read what > Roosevelt did?? Japan's got no choice -- they're going > to hit us, within the next two weeks!" He wasn't > clairvoyant, though; he told my dad that the thought > Japan would hit us in the Phillipines, while they > actually hit Hawaii. But his timing was dead-on: they > bombed Pearl Harbor a week later. Now, the point of > this story isn't that my uncle was brilliant, nor that > he had inside information. He was smart, but he didn't > have inside information, and I'm sure Roosevelt had > folks on his staff who were just as smart as my > Uncle Jack. THEREFORE ..... If Jack could figure it > out, so could Roosevelt. In other words, Roosevelt, > who was anything but dumb, must be assumed to have also > known with a high degree of certainty that Japan > was about to hit us. Forget the intercepted radio > broadcast, the intelligence reports that weren't acted > on -- just from first principles and a knowledge of > their own actions in issuing the ultimatum, the White > House _must_ have known the attack was coming, and must > have known, to within a few days, when it would > happen. But Roosevent didn't do anything to prepare, > and the fleet was a flock of sitting ducks as a > result ... the President knew the attack was coming, but > he ignored it. > (Speculating as to why he did that, is far beyond the > scope of this post.) You can not make such statements and then claim that speculating as to why [Roosevelt] did what he did "...is beyond the scope of this post." I can't let this sit here. My dad served as an officer in WWII on a sub chaser in the Pacific "theatre". Fortunately for me he managed to miss most of the deadliest conflicts. He told me he occasionally heard late night radio chatter concerning Kamikaze boats that had been rigged with torpedoes attempting to ram some of their ships. Sometimes they were successful in detonating, sometimes not. While my dad is no longer with me I think he would likely say that had Roosevelt known without a doubt that there would be an eminent Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor within a certain time period he would have done everything within his power to move the fleet and personnel to safer locations - out to sea, other bases, wherever. Any implication (direct or indirect) that he deliberately let his fleet and crew languish in the harbor - basically as sitting ducks is absolutely preposterous. OTOH, I also understand Roosevelt was very much interested trying to come up with a legitimate excuse to get us in involved in the "other" war over in Europe despite an extremely reluctant congress that wanted to stay neutral. Roosevelt knew sooner or later we would have to deal with the global situation both over in Europe as well as in the Pacific. Roosevelt realized that despite congresses' reluctance to act he knew our nation couldn't just ride it out and hope we could stay neutral forever. > Maybe the comparisons with Pearl Harbor are more apt > than Bush would have us realize. Maybe so. Maybe so... Never the less I suspect I would have felt a lot more confident had Roosevelt been on watch when 9/11 occurred. At least he knew how to communicate. Regards Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com
