From: Terry W. Colvin (fortean1@mindspring.com)
Date: Sat Aug 31 2002 - 03:03:15 MDT
Terry, admittedly Rooseveldt did take steps the Japanese did[n't] care for, we
cut off there access to raw materials including oil. However the
provocation were two sided the did bomb and sink one of our warships. The
Panay. Some history books denounce Rooseveldt's "provovations" others
praise him for stopping the japanese. Their state intent from day one one
was to control the far east. Judging from their methods eg the rape
Nanking, (which the japanese now say never happened) and the treatment of
those who were unfortunate enough to fall into their grasp as prisoners of
war I suspect that the death toll would have been greater than that in the
death camps run by the nazis.
As far as Truman forming NATO it was and is one of the greatest act so of
his administration. I was fortunate enough to have served in Europe during
the very early fifties. The russians continually created provocations or
incidents. Their sole intent was to determine how steadfast we were in our
resolve to defend western Europe. I can still remember the many times we
went on what were called alerts. We troops always knew whether it was a
practice or possibly the start of a war. They didn't issue live ammo for
practice.
Further the amount of time we spent in Europe is actually minor if we
prevented the start of a third world war. Should we invade Iraq, as now
seems possible and probable we will have troops there for as long if not
longer, and this time it will not be a friendly occupation.
Jim Stampher
P.S. from Terry: I served 20 years in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Some
of this academic bantering on the pros and cons of military service and
contributions (or not) to the country make me nauseous.
Vietnam - a French cockup that we stepped into and paid a price for
Johnson's and McNamara's inability to prosecute the war. Congress
shutting off funding to the South Vietnamese military insured the
North's victory.
--
Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1@mindspring.com >
Alternate: < terry_colvin@hotmail.com >
Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html >
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