An Italian Amererican Genealogy site posted today's article by John Leo, who supports Michelle Malkin's  In Defense of Internment, which is a justification of the  WWII Internment Policies. Also posted were URLs for opposing views.

My problem with this Issue starts with the Disingenuous position of the Japanese-Americans who cried  "Racism", which was a "phony issue".

Furthermore, by taking that position,  it required the Japanese-Americans to not only ignore the Italians and Germans Civil Rights Violations, but to  "cover them up", even though the "Enemy Alien Act" affected about TEN TIMES as many Italians and Germans (600k + 400k =1 million) , and 110,000 Japanese- Americans !!!!!

[RAA: No American history book written after World War II has any mention of German and Italian internment during the war. History book authors were simply influenced by federal government officials, and until 1993  the Justice Department was still denying that these violations had taken place!!!!!!!!!!!!! ]

The REAL Argument revolves around whether the Internments were Justified.

My opinion is that perhaps the Japanese Exclusions and Evacuations  MIGHT have been justified, but that the Italian and German Exclusions and Evacuations were NOT!!!!!

WHY??? The "HORRIFIC" Pearl Harbor,"A  Day that will Live in Infamy" SNEAK ATTACK, without a declaration of War, shocked and embarrassed Military Intelligence (Oxymoron).

The unimaginable, became a real potential threat, from a full large scale invasion, down to small "hit and run" commando operations , or paralyzing "sabotage", from inteeligence collected at that time.

Consider that the Japanese-Americans on the EAST COAST were NOT Excluded or Evacuated!!!

But If I were Arguing on behalf of the Italians and Germans on the WEST COAST, I would point out that there was Italians and Germans on the EAST COAST closer to Italy and Germany, and that the Military had NO real Concern.

If the Military had No real Concern about Italians and Germans communicating and conspiring with the German U-Boats operating off the EAST COAST, (The Italian U-Boats were built only to operate in the "Mare Nostra"), Why in the dickens would any one expect the Germans or Italians to communicate and conspire with the Japanese ,  AND in what Language ?????  :) :)

There was Lots of evidence of Japanese Spy Rings on the West Coast, But NO Evidence of ANY Italian or German Spy Rings on the WEST COAST.

IMHO, the Japanese Restrictions are Arguable, BUT there was NO RATIONALE basis for the RESTRICTIONS on the Italians and Germans.

Therefore, if the Japanese recieved Reparations, then EVACUATIONS, EXCLUSIONS, and CONFISCATIONS of Italian and German Property should lkiewise we compensated for!!!!! IT's the least that Should be Done!!!!

AND, Accurate History should be Taught!!!!!

John Leo
Town Hall.com
September 20, 2004

Thanks to columnist Michelle Malkin, we are at last moving toward our first national discussion on the wisdom and fairness of interning 100,000 ethnic Japanese during World War II. For at least a generation, the issue has been positioned as closed and undebatable--the evacuation of Japanese aliens and Japanese-American citizens from the West Coast was simply due to racism and wartime hysteria.

This orthodox view is reflected in histories, textbooks, fiction, and museums. Plausible reasons for the evacuation are almost always dropped from these presentations, and racism is simply assumed (“Ancestry Is Not a Crime” is one curriculum title).

In her book In Defense of Internment, Malkin argues that President Roosevelt’s order to move ethnic Japanese from the coast was at the very least a close call and can be viewed as a reasonable and mild decision, given the vulnerabilities of the United States to raids and attacks supported by a small minority of Issei (Japanese aliens) and Nisei (Japanese-Americans, many of whom held dual citizenship).

With most of the U.S. fleet destroyed at Pearl Harbor, the Pacific became a Japanese pond, and in a series of raids, Japanese subs sank U.S. ships off the coast, shelled California’s Goleta Oil Fields, and torpedoed a ship that escaped by running aground in the mouth of the Columbia River. In the view of Secretary of War Henry Stimson, “It was quite impossible to be sure that the raiders would not receive important help from individuals of Japanese origin.”

The core of Malkin’s book concerns the so-called Magic messages--intercepted and decoded Japanese messages sent to and from Japan and kept secret by the United States until 1977. The Magic messages were startling. By mid-1941 the Japanese had set up an extensive espionage network along America’s West Coast, recruiting Issei and Nisei and surveilling near military bases, shipyards, airfields, and ports. A Honolulu cell provided important last-minute help to the attackers at Pearl Harbor.

Though the U.S. intelligence community knew that the vast majority of ethnic Japanese in America were no threat, it also knew that the Japanese government was beaming messages of ultranationalism, sometimes calling on Nisei to return to Japan for political or military training--the madrasahs of the day.

A secret U.S. government estimate said perhaps 3,500 ethnic Japanese in America were active supporters of the Japanese war effort. After the war, Japan said that 1,648 Japanese-American citizens had fought in Japan’s Army. Other estimates set the number as high as 7,000. In 1944, when the United States gave American Japanese a chance to renounce their U.S. citizenship, some 5,620 did so, and 2,031 left for Japan....

In February of1942, Roosevelt issued the order that led to the evacuation of Japanese and members of other ethnic groups from the West Coast, as Canada and Mexico had already done. German and Italian aliens accounted for 14,183 of the U.S. internee population. Because of the intercepted Magic messages and the Japanese raids along the coast, the United States was primarily concerned with the Japanese population, but neither the stats nor the language of the order sustains the charge of racism.

The initial evacuation was only on the West Coast. Nisei and Issei further east were left alone. The U.S. government assumed, or hoped, that evacuees would find suitable jobs and homes in the interior, but only 5,000 to 10,000 did. The camps were set up when most evacuees either couldn’t or wouldn’t move east on their own. As Malkin points out, evacuees at first were free to leave the camps if they found work or educational opportunities outside--some 4,300 left the camps to attend college. Camp conditions were often harsh, and the evacuation attached a harmful stigma to all Japanese in America. But Roosevelt, much of America’s liberal establishment, and the Supreme Court signed off on evacuation as a reasonable step taken under extreme wartime pressure.

The initial evacuation was only on the West Coast. Nisei and Issei further east were left alone. The U.S. government assumed, or hoped, that evacuees would find suitable jobs and homes in the interior, but only 5,000 to 10,000 did. The camps were set up when most evacuees either couldn’t or wouldn’t move east on their own. As Malkin points out, evacuees at first were free to leave the camps if they found work or educational opportunities outside--some 4,300 left the camps to attend college. Camp conditions were often harsh, and the evacuation attached a harmful stigma to all Japanese in America. But Roosevelt, much of America’s liberal establishment, and the Supreme Court signed off on evacuation as a reasonable step taken under extreme wartime pressure.

Malkin's point is that if the threat to the survival of America is severe enough, some civil liberties must yield....

John Leo: The internment taboo
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/
johnleo/jl20040920.shtml
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WorldNetDaily: No case for internment
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/
article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=40311
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