The Presidential Planner Abroad (While You Were Sleeping)

Okinawa.

Obama used that exit strategy Gibbs spoke of.
Obama exited to Asia.

The public has seen it, and the public is appalled:
“PRINCETON, NJ — More Americans now say it is not the federal government’s responsibility to make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage (50%) than say it is (47%). This is a first since Gallup began tracking this question, and a significant shift from as recently as three years ago, when two-thirds said ensuring healthcare coverage was the government’s responsibility.”

Could the President please apologize to Japan for all of the nasty things America did to them in WW2?
Or, apologize for thrusting upon them a free, democratic, capitalist society?

Could the President please apologize to Japan for all of the nasty things America did to them in WW2?
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Did you know that before the two atomic bombs were dropped on civilian cities, the United States fire bombed 67 cities in Japan – cities the size of Cleveland, Miami, Baltimore, Fort Worth . .. 67 cities mostly with wood construction?
Typically at least 1/4 of the city (often well over 50%) was destroyed. This literally burned to death hundreds of thousands of civilians.
We’re talking about the intentional burning to death of hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara’s comment on the bombing was this: (General Curtis) LeMay said that “If we’d lost the war, we’d all have been prosecuted as war criminals.” “And I think he’s right,” says McNamara. “He, and I’d say I, were behaving as war criminals.” . . . ”
I know, it’s old history – 2nd world war – but is part of the history of the United States.

Did you know
Posted by: tierra | Nov 13, 2009 11:41:17 AM
Yes. You said it yesterday.

Global warming and the effects of man-made greenhouse gases . . .
These basic conclusions have been endorsed by more than 40 scientific societies and academies of science, including all of the national academies of science of the major industrialized countries.
But what would they know, compared to say . .. anonymous posters on a blog?
Posted by: tierra | Nov 13, 2009 11:47:35 AM
I can’t contradict what scientists say, but I can google “scientists question global warming” and read.
Who knows what the real truth is. There certainly is plenty of controversy to pass around. I can only do my best in my tiny little sphere of influence and for now that’s good enough for me.

“I can’t contradict what scientists say, but I can google “scientists question global warming” and read. ”
You can google and read about alot of things on the internet.
It does not make them true.
For example:
TP: “The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) — a front group of big utilities and coal companies — is no stranger to fraud. During the summer’s House debate on cap-and-trade legislation, lobbyists working on behalf of the coal group sent forged letters to members of Congress, and lied under oath about it. Now, ACCCE is trying to exploit Veterans Day by misrepresenting veterans groups in an email to supporters:
With Veterans Day around the corner, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on all the military personnel who are involved in ensuring our country is protected.
Energy security is one issue that has become increasingly important to our veterans. In fact, national veterans groups Votevets and Operation Free are urging the government to become more energy independent and less reliant on foreign oil.
We can do this by using the abundant domestic fuels we already have. With more than 250 billion tons of recoverable coal reserves, the United States has more coal than the Middle East has oil.
The letter implies that VoteVets and Operation Free support ACCCE and its dirty energy agenda, but the the two groups are actually vocal backers of clean energy legislation. VoteVets excoriated ACCCE for citing them in the email, writing that VoteVets “will never advocate the continued use of carbon based fuels” and that ACCCE is trying “to hijack America’s Veterans” in “an act of despicable hubris.””

Fascist Hyena is at it again. The entire comment posted Nov 13, 2009 10:38:42 AM is actually taken from Steven Stark’s blog at the Boston Phoenix.

Tierra, I don’t need a history lesson from you.
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Surely, you’re not saying the firebombing to death of hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians by the United States was a noble thing?
We get so haughty and self-righteous about Hussein using chemical weapons and killing about 10,000 people (during war) – and we used chemical weapons (napalm) to exterminate hundreds of thousands of civilians and injure thousands upon thousands more?

Tierra,
You are making it up as you go along.
It is you who uses the word ‘nobility’ to describe war. it is a dirty business…we finished it, and we didn’t start WW2.(are you in 4th grade? Don’t they still teach the facts about history?)
And if you knew anything about chemical weapons and international law, you would know napalm isn’t one of them.
Besides, the incendiaries used on Japan and Germany were phosphorous-based, primarily.You are clueless.
Who is being ‘haughty and self-righteous’ about Hussien’s use of poison gas on the Kurds?
Surely you are not saying that was a good thing, or inconsequential.
Let me ask you, just so we know your mindset-
Was the Hasan attack a terrorist attack?
If a man stands up in a room full of soldiers and shouts ‘Allah Akhbar’, then murders them by whatever means, is he an Islamic terrorist?

“I can’t contradict what scientists say, but I can google “scientists question global warming” and read. ”
You can google and read about alot of things on the internet. It does not make them true.
…
Posted by: Ryan C | Nov 13, 2009 12:46:17 PM
Agreed. And the keywords I used lead you to scientific opinions questioning global warming.

You see, they were trying to kill us and take over territory in many countries. We responded.
Posted by: J House | Nov 13, 2009 2:10:54 PM
You do understand the concept of war crimes right J House?
Like Saddam Hussein killing about 10,000 people with chemicals during the Iraq/Iran war was a hideous war crime right?
And you know that the United States firebombed hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians to death with napalm?

To my knowledge, the United States was never charged, tried or convicted of war crimes against Japan – much like Greg Craig.
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Not only that, an hour ago you didn’t even know this had taken place during WWII. That’s how tightly scripted the bogus, ‘we’re clean – everybody else is evil’ lie is maintained.
And of course . .. shhhhhhh!
Never admit to any faults, and if you do surely never apologize, or offer a honest look in retrospect – maintain your image that ‘we are perfect, we are the only decent folk on the planet, it’s them that are evil, we are the best . . .rah, rah, rah . .. etc’.
Great way to understand the world and its complexities. Great way to get people to really like you.

To my knowledge, the United States was never charged, tried or convicted of war crimes against Japan – much like Greg Craig.
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McNamara confessed.
Posted by: tierra | Nov 13, 2009 7:04:11 PM
Try to follow the bouncing ball, tierra. McNamara was Vietnam, not WWII.

Great way to understand the world and its complexities.
Posted by: tierra | Nov 13, 2009 7:02:35 PM
“Special Japanese military units conducted experiments on civilians and POWs in China. One of the most infamous was Unit 731 under Shirō Ishii. Victims were subjected to vivisection without anesthesia, amputations, and were used to test biological weapons, among other experiments. Anesthesia was not used because it was believed to affect results.
“To determine the treatment of frostbite, prisoners were taken outside in freezing weather and left with exposed arms, periodically drenched with water until frozen solid. The arm was later amputated; the doctor would repeat the process on the victim’s upper arm to the shoulder. After both arms were gone, the doctors moved on to the legs until only a head and torso remained. The victim was then used for plague and pathogens experiments.” -Wiki

That WAS off the top of my head. Sorry for the insult. Cheer up. You look good and I look bad. You should be thanking me for being so uninformed.
So I appreciate your patience but I’m still up for a little back and forth.
‘And I think he’s right,” says McNamara. “He, and I’d say I, were behaving as war criminals.”
“On April 17, 1972, I’d say I drove home at 3 am completely drunk.”
Both are confessions. The United States was never charged, tried or convicted of war crimes against Japan. Japan’s leaders were tried in the Tokyo Trials in 1946. After all, “History is written by the victors.”
Besides McNamara was in his mid-80′s when he made that statement. He was (probably) half daft and feeling like the grim reaper was looking over his shoulder. In fact, he probably should have been in a confessional.

What we have in the fire bombing of 67 Japanese cities and the incineration of hundreds of thousands of civilians by the United States case are TWO things:
We have a confession.
And we have the physical evidence. All of this has been documented and authenticated.
Posted by: tierra | Nov 14, 2009 12:10:18 AM
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“Presidents Roosevelt and Truman justified these tactics by referring to an estimate that seven million American troops would be killed if Japan had to be invaded. Additionally, the Japanese had intentionally decentralized 90 percent of their war-related production into small subcontractor workshops in civilian districts, making remaining Japanese war industry largely immune to conventional precision bombing with high-explosives.”
History is full of bad things around the world, tierra. To focus only on the United States is to ignore most of history as we are less than 300 years old. We have to stop being expected to apologize for everything bad or wrong we have done – especially during wartime, which I believe is what J. House was saying in his original post.
WWII was not Iraq. It was a “legally declared war.” We were at war with Japan who attacked us first. McNamara and LeMay were following orders from their superiors. I find it interesting that you did not bring for the information that “the Japanese had intentionally decentralized 90 percent of their war-related production into small subcontractor workshops in civilian districts.” Did you willfully withhold that?
Lemay said he expected to be tried for war crimes if Japan had won. As I said, history is written by the victors. Roosevelt and Hoover backed them up. Roosevelt would have been guilty of war crimes had we lost.

Posted by: tierra | Nov 15, 2009 3:25:15 AM
You want to discuss it legally or morally? Decide.

Posted by: Visualize Whirled Peas | Nov 15, 2009 6:24:39 PM
Obviously your parents taught you nothing about owning up to your own mistakes, but to always try to deflect the blame onto someone else.
Great, we need more like you in the world.