OMNI
“PEARL HARBOR DAY,”
COLONIAL PACIFIC WORLD WAR II NEWSLETTER #8, December 7, 2016 (Rev.)
Compiled by Dick
Bennett FOR A CULTURE OF PEACE AND JUSTICE.
Pearl Harbor Newsletters No. 7 at end
OMNI’s Newsletters, Index, Blog at end
What’s at Stake:
Reporter Frank Lockwood on December 8 wrote: “Wednesday,
on the 75th anniversary of the unprovoked attack…” One thing is true here: it is the 75th, but the Pearl
Harbor attack was provoked. The 75th
anniversary is the 75th year US leaders and apparently most of the
public have repeated the “unprovoked” myth.
It was well to remember US soldier and sailor victims, but after 75
years the assertion of a falsehood becomes the harmful illness of imperial
delusion. For a quick cure, read Roland
Worth, Jr., No Choice But War; then
if you seek more understanding, read
these newsletters, and then the 35 newsletters on US imperialism. Why does this matter? The myth of an abused exceptional nation beloved
by god and history has led to a history of threatening war and committing slaughter,
our nation right now bombing seven other nations, and our trigger and targets
ready for nuclear winter. We can perhaps
reduce this violence by rejecting the ignorant myth of the “unprovoked” Pearl
Harbor December 7, 1941, bombing, still celebrated after 75 years. From the perspective of world peace, the
truth about Pearl Harbor removes another falsely justified and glorified war
from US history. And the increase in
truth and peace might provide fertile ground for the study in public schools of
books on US war myths like Worshipping
the Myths of World War II: Reflections on America’s Dedication to War by
Edward W. Wood, Jr. When the truth
finally sinks into the public consciousness that perhaps the only just invasion
and bombing the US has performed against another sovereign nation was in the
European Theater of WWII, the jingoism will end.
Pearl Harbor Newsletter
#8, December 7, 2016
Why the Attack:
Especially beginning with #3, each of the
preceding numbers of Pearl Harbor Day Newsletter contains writings similarly
arguing US provocation of the Pearl Harbor bombing. See particularly #6. --Dick]
Remembered in the NADG, that has learned nothing, or will admit
nothing, about the provocations of Pearl Harbor:
Donald Stratton’s
New Book
Lauren Bruner’s
Recollections
Frank Lockwood’s
Report with Dick’s Critique
To repeat: How U.S. Economic Warfare Provoked Japan’s Attack on
Pearl Harbor By Robert Higgs.
Posted: Mon. May 1, 2006. Also
published in The Freeman. http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1930 See #5 for full text.
Remembered in the NADG
2016
Donald
Stratton, All the Gallant Men (2016),
recounts the battle that destroyed the U.S. Pacific Fleet on December 7, 1941,
leading to the US declaring war on Japan on December 8. Stratton is one of only five living
survivors from the USS Arizona. “Grit
and Gallantry,” an excerpt from the book, was published in Parade (Oct. 30, 2016) in the NADG.
Audrey
McAvoy. “Pearl Harbor Survivor Plans His
Return.” NADG (Dec. 6, 2016). Lauren Bruner, one of five remaining
survivors of the sunk battleship Arizona, gives his recollections of Dec. 7,
1941, and of his life after the war.
Frank E.
Lockwood. “Pearl Harbor Survivor,
Arkansan Joins Ceremony.” NADG (Dec. 8, 2016, p. 1). The “unprovoked myth” alive but racked with
osteoporosis and hardening of arteries. “Wednesday,
on the 75th anniversary of the unprovoked attack, [Harold] Mainer
joined Vice President-elect Mike Pence, U.S. Sen. John McCain and other
dignitaries at the National World War II Memorial….” God of the universe is drafted for approval: “The Logan County native looked on as a
bugler played taps, and bowed his head as the U..S. Navy Ceremonial Band played
‘Eternal Father, Strong to Save…” No
reasonable person will claim that the creator of the universe billions of years
ago, a universe now composed of billions of solar systems within billions of
galaxies, bestowed upon this nation his or her special favor. And Senator McCain reinforced that arrogant hyperbole
by hymning the US empire: “…Wednesday’s
ceremony marked ‘one of the dates on which history swung on its great hinge and
the world was forever changed.’ Dec. 67
marks ‘the beginning our country’s rise to its pre-eminence among the nations
of the world, a pre-eminence we maintain to this day, to our benefit and the
benefit of humanity,’ he said.” Preeminence in military power to dominate and destroy
yes, but not by any other measure.
(I included the
following item post-publication). Mari
Yamaguchi (AP). “Seems Pearl Harbor
Visit Not First.” NADG (Dec. 9, 2016). News
media erroneously reported that Shinzo Abe was the first Japanese prime
minister to visit Pearl Harbor. Prime
Minister Yoshida had visited twice before.
“In 1951, Prime Minister Shigeru
Yoshida “made a brief visit” after signing “a peace treaty with the Allied
powers and other nations” in San Francisco.
En route to SF, Yoshida “also stopped in Hawaii and laid flowers at the
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.”
This behavior might be easily forgotten or suppressed in the US, since
it displays a humility utterly lacking in We Are Number One US leaders. Later, another Japanese PM traveled the
countries it had conquered or attacked during WWII to apologize.
A
possibly important point about google, mainstream media, official narratives of
the propaganda system, and efforts to counter them.
From Dec. 7 to 9 I tried several times using different word combinations
to find scholarship contesting the official story, such as those I have
gathered in my 8 newsletters, and found only one, by Higgs. Despite or because of this absence, this will
probably be my final newsletter on Pearl Harbor Day, because although the myth
of an unprovoked attack by Japan has been thoroughly exposed and refuted, google
still reflects the jingoistic propaganda system that propagates the lie.
Contents #6, December
7, 2013
Ienaga, Pacific War, 1931-1945 (2010, 2 Reviews)
George Victor, Pearl Harbor Myth (2007)
Robert Higgs, US
Economic Warfare Provoked Attack (essay
2012)
Greaves, Seeds.
. .of Infamy
Tansill, Back Door to War
Morgenstern, Secret War
Pearl Harbor Day,
Colonial Pacific WWII Newsletter #7, December 7, 2015
Dick, Pearl
Harbor No Unprovoked Stab in the Back
Robert Higgs, Economic Warfare Provoked Japan’s Attack
on Pearl Harbor
Dick,
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Remembers
Pearl Harbor
Books Reviewed in Colonial Pacific WWII
Newsletters
Dick, OMNI’s
National DAYS Project
.
END PEARL HARBOR DAY NEWSLETTER #8, December 7, 2016
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