Pres. Truman was instrumental in hiding Japan's war crimes in WWII, including stopping a war crimes trial that was in progress (links about this in answer) . How does, or does this at all, affect your opinion of Pres. Truman?

Comments

Comments

• Linky? I have not heard of Pentergast Machine.

  • Report
  

  by Arisztid on December 31st, 2010

Comments

• Agreed 100%. The more one studies history, the worse the picture looks. There are always bodies hidden.
  .
  It did surprise me a little to learn of Truman's complicity, but not too much.

  • Report
  

  by Arisztid on January 2nd, 2009

• It's not so much that the picture looks worse, just more complete and connected. Those blank areas that used to be filled in with whatever propaganda you were originally told by members of the winning side get filled in with the truth.
  -
  It surprised me about as much as the article I read a while back on how the U.S. government was actually leeching money out of a lot of European treasuries while the Marshal Plan was in effect.

  • Report
  

  by Mr. Meaulnes on January 2nd, 2009

• Ohhhh I did not know about that... would you have a link?

  • Report
  

  by Arisztid on January 2nd, 2009

• I read it in a print journal, so no, but I'll see what I can do in that department...

  • Report
  

  by Mr. Meaulnes on January 3rd, 2009

Comments

• Are you referring to the internment camps in the US for Japanese-Americans citizens or more?
  .
  If more, linkage please? I would like to know about it.

  • Report
  

  by Arisztid on December 28th, 2008

• The firebombing of Tokyo, the Allied bombing of Dresden and Berlin - all incredibly destructive, although perhaps not as much as some of the things the Axis powers did.
  http://www.chomsky.info/talks/1990----.htm

  • Report
  

  by Halskiisaklink on December 29th, 2008

• Those can be explained as part of war (yes... excessive indeed) but the internment of the Japanese-American citizens in hellish conditions and seizure of their assets are war crimes.

  • Report
  

  by Arisztid on December 29th, 2008

• That's ridiculous, hundreds of thousands of people were killed in those bombings, heaps of infrastructure destroyed. The people in the internment camps had it hard, but they didn't have to suffer through anything like that. It doesn't compare.

  • Report
  

  by Halskiisaklink on December 29th, 2008

• I do not mean to anger you.
  .
  Sorry I said anything.
  .
  Take care.

  • Report
  

  by Arisztid on December 29th, 2008

• I'm sorry to anger you too.

  • Report
  

  by Halskiisaklink on December 29th, 2008

• Oh I am not angry... at all. I am afraid that I angered YOU.

  • Report
  

  by Arisztid on December 29th, 2008

• Sorry, I just took it that you were angry because you didn't respond to anything in particular that I said.

  • Report
  

  by Halskiisaklink on December 29th, 2008

• Oh no no no... I just thought that you were ticked at me and I backed off.
  .
  As far as what you said, the casualties and terror of the bombings FAR superseded what happened to the Japanese-Americans in the internment camps. So did the flat out destruction. Carpet bombing really serves no purpose.
  .
  There has not, at this stage, been precedence for prosecution of acts of war such as bombing as "war crimes.".
  .
  Now, that might change with the Bush disaster. (oh please oh please, Mr. Obama, do NOT screw it up!)

  • Report
  

  by Arisztid on December 29th, 2008

• Of course Obama isn't going to be any better. What honestly makes you think he's any different from Clinton or Carter or JFK?

  • Report
  

  by Halskiisaklink on December 29th, 2008

• I am clicking my heels three times and hoping.
  .
  Ok, not really but it is a nice thought.
  .
  Even if he was better than Bush, which I think he might be, there is too much damage and he is not ENOUGH better than Bush. I think that Clinton, Carter, and JFK were far superior to Bush. I think that Bush is the worst we have had.
  .
  I have a question perking away based on this comment thread as to whether or not carpet bombing and other such acts of war SHOULD be war crimes or crimes against humanity since unkown 10's to 100's of thousand innocents are killed.

  • Report
  

  by Arisztid on December 29th, 2008

• I guess worse is a relative term. Clinton put through a lot of deregulation measures, which led to the current economic crisis. He also tried just as hard as Reagan to break up the labour movement. JFK was a real bastard to Cuba and Vietnam. I don't know about Carter.
  ~
  Yeah, bombing heavily populated areas should be a war crime, and I think people have been tried for it before.

  • Report
  

  by Halskiisaklink on December 30th, 2008

• I think that Bush is worse considering that our economy has deteriorated so drastically and there is that war thing. Bush has all but ruined this nation through ineptitude and greed. All presidents have fucked up in many ways but I think Bush has taken the fuck up cake.

  • Report
  

  by Arisztid on December 30th, 2008

• Reagan didn't do much good either. If anything, the war helped your economy.

  • Report
  

  by Halskiisaklink on December 30th, 2008

• I rate Reagan as above average but the trash that has come after makes him look better! as for JFK I think much better of him than our recent presidents simply because he did have some very good characteristics mixed in with his terrible ones!
  JFK's preidency is quite misunderstood. For example he is much credited for his handling of the Cuban Missle Crisis though it was really inept. I disagee with your comments about him & Cuba, though, Halskiiaklink. The KirkPatrick Report has been published by The New Press: it was the report by the CIA Inspector General on the Bay of Pigs disaster. General George Cabel, one of the 3 men fired from the CIA for it, said "Why after reading this, it's hard to believe anyone intended for the plan to work!" And there are other reasons to believe JFK was suckered into the plan. I don't recall the book's name but Peter Kornbluh was the editor.
  Also at the time of his death JFK was planning the liberation of Cuba. C-Day was 12/1/63 & undoubtably was a key reason for his assassination. See Lamar Waldron's books including Ultimate Sacrifice.

  • Report
  

  by kenken on December 30th, 2010

Comments

• Pardon for missing your answer!
  .
  I do not think that after the bombing and the amount of resources spent Japan was ANY threat.
  .
  I think that if the average American knew the truth behind Truman, and the full horror of what he hid, their view of him would be changed.

  • Report
  

  by Arisztid on December 28th, 2008

• If Japan was no longer a threat, it proves even more that covering this up in hopes of allegiance wasn't necessary. So why did he do it? Still, they might not have been a threat, but the Japanese never seem to forget a thing, and it would appear that today, America is being "scrutinized" by Japan's accusing eye, starting with the idea that America may have faked the moon landing. Japan was the first to bring that out into the open.

  • Report
  

  by Symbeline on December 28th, 2008

• I think that the two reasons I listed are the thing... wanting the medical experimentation done at the Units and as an ally to use against the spread of communism.
  .
  There probably is more to it that we might never know.
  .
  I wonder what would have happened if Nazi Germany had not been caught in such a massive crime, so widely filmed?

  • Report
  

  by Arisztid on December 28th, 2008

• Wait. i missed something somewhere lol. I knew about the combat against communism, but that he wanted the experiments to go on slipped my mind. That's horrible, if it's indeed true.
  .
  Hmm...Well, the destruction of an entire city in Russia, by their own people, not to mention the countless cities destroyed by the Nazis may have been testament enough, it's much bigger in scale compared to unit 731. But yeah, in the end that doesn't mean much, when considering how far people go to cover things up. I mean you'd think that half of the Gypsies being killed would raise some questions, but as long as the public isn't informed, I guess not. :/

  • Report
  

  by Symbeline on December 28th, 2008

• I do not believe that he wanted the experiments to go on... I doubt that he knew. However, I could be wrong.
  .
  I tend to wonder if America would have cut a deal with Germany for the results of their medical experiments if the crime was not SO huge and if MacArthur had not worked to preserve the evidence. He did things like make the Germans from villages outside the camps come in to see all of it and also to bury the dead. He also filmed everything because he believed that it was going to be hidden eventually.
  .
  If the "ally to use to halt the spread of communism" thing was the main reason Truman did it, Germany would not have helped us and Truman would have gone on with the war trials.
  .
  It was not half of us... it was 80% of us.
  .
  All political machines hide their dirty laundry. America and Japan are not the only ones. The Highland Clearances are a perfect example of this. I like to get into the soft, white underbelly of history and I know that I know only a minute fraction.

  • Report
  

  by Arisztid on December 28th, 2008

• Oh I have seen some of the films MacArthur ordered filmed of the first liberation of the camps and of the Germans paraded through them and burying the dead. You would not friggin' believe what the camera showed and I do NOT think you would ever want to view one of them.
  .
  Bless that man!!

  • Report
  

  by Arisztid on December 28th, 2008

• Hum, 80%, isn't that actually a whole lot more than the Jews? Granted the Jews aren't a race, so it might be more subtle somehow, still, hard to imagine. But I'm no good with numbers, I don't know. I though in one of your posts, you said that 80% of the Gypsy deaths were never recorded, so we only about very few of them.
  .
  Yeah, I know, even today people still hide so many things, and there are still experiments going on. Such as bombing small, insignificant European villages to test out one's nuclear devices or whatever. I read about this not so long ago.
  .
  Hard to say if America would have helped cover that up, because even if it were more minimal than it has been, would America risk the chance of covering something up, and get busted helping hide part of the Holocaust? What do you think? With Japan it's different, but otherwise it would have been related way too closely.

  • Report
  

  by Symbeline on December 28th, 2008

• Yes it is and we were shoved under the carpet... on purpose. It is still going on. If you want to know why, email me. I have proof.
  .
  I think that America is JUST as complicit in this as Japan and IBM is complicit regarding Germany.

  • Report
  

  by Arisztid on December 28th, 2008