Day of Deceit?
Posted by Moonage on 07 Dec 2004 | Tagged as: Conspiracy Theories
Here we go, the first conspiracy theory I want to explore.
After 16 years of uncovering documents through the Freedom of Information Act, journalist and historian Robert Stinnett charges in his book, Day of Deceit, that U.S. government leaders at the highest level not only knew that a Japanese attack was imminent, but that they had deliberately engaged in policies intended to provoke the attack, in order to draw a reluctant, peace-loving American public into a war in Europe for good or ill. In contrast, historian and author Stephen Budiansky (see his book, Battle of Wits)believes that such charges are entirely unfounded and are based on misinterpretations of the historical record.
The link raises all of Stinnett’s accusations clearly, but then only discredits those who oppose his opinions. Not much of a page really, but pretty compelling reading for about 1/3 of it. The argument goes like this:
According to Stinnett, and I’ve heard this from others as well, the US military cracked the Japanese military code and intercepted messages that indicated an attack on Pearl Harbor was imminent. These messages were dismissed so that Roosevelt would have the reason he needed to support Brittain in 1941.
Now, I don’t have that much concern over whether or not the code had been cracked, and, the message Stinnett quotes doesn’t sound anything like an attack command, but, the bottom is this:
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Even if Roosevelt wanted to bait the Japanese into attacking, it would be crazy beyond imagination to have almost the entire US Navy sitting there for the attack. If they had attacked one battleship alone that would have been enough to spur Congress into action. Crippling the US ability to defend itself makes no sense at all and no one has ever tried to explain that, including Stinnett from what I’ve seen so far.
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The information Stinnett presents in this link only signifies that the US military knew the Japanese were in open waters. There is nothing illegal about that and nothing the US could legally do about it. The nature of the Japanese attack was by airplane. They didn’t enter US territory until moments before they attacked. That information was useless.
I could do some research and dig deeper, but those two major issues I can’t get past. If someone could resolve those logically, then I’d take people like Stinnett a little more seriously. As it stands now, it’s just another conspiracy theory among the thousands of others. The shame of it all is that some may be true, and this could be one, but the whackos who won’t truly debate the topic ruin it for those that might be able to prove it.
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