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A new book reports that two days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that officially brought the United States into World War II, President Roosevelt was warned about such a possible attack in a memo from naval intelligence.
"In anticipation of open conflict with this country, Japan is vigorously utilizing every available agency to secure military, naval and commercial information, paying particular attention to the West Coast, the Panama Canal and the Territory of Hawaii."
This is not news, it is an old conspiracy theory, along with Hearst agents blowing up the Maine, a British sub sinking the Lusitania, and so on. Can any of this be proven one way or the other? I think not.
Absolutely. Mr. President we have credible intelligence that the Japanese may be preparing to attack an area that encompasses about 24,000 square miles of territory....
Hardly a "warning" to FDR about an attack on Pearl Harbor. It's not like they walked in and said, they had credible intelligence that the Japanese were going attack the fleet at Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7th.
Absolutely. Mr. President we have credible intelligence that the Japanese may be preparing to attack an area that encompasses about 24,000 square miles of territory....
Hardly a "warning" to FDR about an attack on Pearl Harbor. It's not like they walked in and said, they had credible intelligence that the Japanese were going attack the fleet at Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7th.
Exactly. And what the loonies can't seem to answer is this: If Roosevelt had any kind of specific information about an attack, why on earth would he have allowed the Pacific Fleet to be decimated? Why not just sortie the fleet out to sea on December 5th so that the Zeros and Kates would find an empty harbor? Why not have a submarine screen deployed to torpedo Japanese carriers?
There is no good answer for this. Because the damage to the Pacific fleet was such that the United States operated at a serious disadvantage in the theater for more than a year. No one would have allowed this if provided with useable intelligence.
And Stalin was informed about Operation Barbarossa and he did not believe it...
And Germans were informed about D Day, etc, etc,
Exactly. Intelligence reports tend to be believed or discounted based on the predisposition of their recipients. Stalin believed that the British warnings about June 22 were a trick. And Hitler remained firmly convinced that the Allied landings would take place in the Pas de Calais.
That being said, the big questions is how MacArthur was caught so flat-footed in the Philippines hours and hours after Pearl Harbor?
This memo comes from the same Navy Intelligence office as the one that was telling Kimmel in March 1941, that shallow water torpedoes were not possible and that there was no evidence that anyone even tried it. Yet the British were using shallow water torpedoes against the Italians almost a year previous.
If you have the interest in Pearl Harbor, the current issue of WWII mag will tell you the Japanese had a fabulous opportunity at Pearl and basically blew it. Instead of being the most brilliant plan of the Japanese, it looks more like a blunder after all of the facts are reviewed.
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