Theos-Talk Archives (December 2001 Message tt00081)

Brigitte:

It has been known for decades that a translation error
led to the Pacific War. The Japanese misunderstood
Hull's ultimatum to mean they would have to give up
Manchukuo (occupied Manchuria) whereas the truth is,
he only wanted them to evacuate China, which they were
willing to do if pressured. Their ambitions in Chine
stopped short of war with the US if it came to that.

Of course you probably know the Franco-Prussian war
has been blamed on a mistranslated telegram, as if the
cynicism and greed of Napoleon III had nothing to fo
with it.

What the Japanese in 1941, the French in the time of
Bismarck (or 1792 and 1866 for that matter), and Osama
et al never seem to learn is the truth of old Chinese
proverb: "When insect declare war on elephant,
elephant usually win."

Or if Ku Fu didn't say that, he should have.

--- bri_mue <bri_mue@yahoo.com> wrote:
> KOBE, Japan (December 5, 2001 8:57 p.m. EST
> Associated Press) - A 
> Japanese scholar announced Wednesday that Japan may
> have attacked 
> Pearl Harbor because decoded U.S. cables did not
> prepare its leaders 
> for American demands that the imperial army withdraw
> from China and 
> Southeast Asia. 
> Previously classified Foreign Ministry documents
> reveal a turning 
> point that may have persuaded doves in the Japanese
> government that 
> war with the United States was necessary, Kobe
> University law 
> professor Toshihiro Minohara said. 
> "The discovery will probably help reevaluate the
> history of this 
> period," Minohara told The Associated Press before
> announcing his 
> findings. 
> That turning point came in November 1941, just weeks
> before the Dec. 
> 7 attack that killed 2,390 and plunged America into
> World War II. 
> Japan and the United States had been at odds for
> years over the 
> imperial army's march through Asia. On Nov. 22,
> 1941, Tokyo 
> intercepted a Chinese telegram saying the United
> States would propose 
> allowing Japan to keep its colonies if it abandoned
> further 
> aggression, Minohara said. The telegram was sent
> from the Chinese 
> Embassy in Washington to Chinese government
> officials in the wartime 
> capital of Chungking, now Chongqing. 
> The sudden possibility of a compromise strengthened
> the position of 
> Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo, who opposed war
> with the United 
> States and was trying to persuade militarists in the
> government to 
> back down, Minohara said. 
> But the official U.S. position sent to Japan on Nov.
> 26 was entirely 
> different: Agree to withdraw from China and
> Southeast Asia or say 
> goodbye to a diplomatic solution. 
> That message, sent to Japan's embassy in Washington
> by then-Secretary 
> of State Cordell Hull, was interpreted as an
> ultimatum and convinced 
> pacifists in the Japanese government that war was
> inevitable. 
> "I was so shocked I even felt dizzy," Togo later
> wrote in his 
> memoirs. "At this point, we had no choice but to
> take action." 
> Researchers also said Japan broke secret codes
> employed by the United 
> States, Britain, China and Canada between May 18,
> 1941, and Dec. 3, 
> 1941, Kyodo News Agency reported. 
> Kobe University professor Makoto Iokibe said that
> "defies the common 
> belief...that Japan was behind in the information
> war against the 
> U.S. and others," the agency reported. 
> But Japan's extensive spying operations misguided it
> about 
> Washington's intentions. Intercepted telegrams, from
> multiple sources 
> including U.S. telegrams, suggested the United
> States was about to 
> propose the two nations cooperate on obtaining
> natural resources in 
> Southeast Asia, Minohara said. 
> Japanese scholars researching declassified
> government documents also 
> say Japan may have tried to warn the United States
> about the attack. 
> The documents say staff at Japan's embassy in
> Washington were slow to 
> decipher a de facto declaration of war and didn't
> hand it to the U.S. 
> government until almost an hour after the attack
> began. 
> 
> 
> Brigitte
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 
> 
> 


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