[fa.arms-d] Arms-Discussion Digest V1 #26

arms-d (05/20/83)

>From ARMS-D@MIT-MC Fri May 20 01:35:19 1983
Arms-Discussion Digest                            Volume 1 : Issue 26

Today's Topics:

GRUESOME, millions for defense, but does it buy anything?, Nuke the
poor and give it to the military, Zig's options: appease or oppose,
star wars

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Date: 18 May 1983  11:30 EDT (Wed)
From: _Bob <Carter@RUTGERS>
To:   James A. Cox <APPLE@MIT-MC>
Cc:   Arms-Discussion@MIT-MC, WDOHERTY@BBNG
Subject: GRUESOME
In-reply-to: Msg of 17 May 1983 02:05 EDT from James A. Cox <APPLE at MIT-MC>


    From: James A. Cox <APPLE at MIT-MC>
    cc:   ARMS-D at MIT-MC

    	But then again, I guess we confiscated their property and
    	threw them in camps too, when they were unfortunate enough to
    	be american citizens.

    I certainly don't want to defend Roosevelt's inhuman action in doing
    this, but I think it is a bit more understandable and less racist when
    viewed from the conditions in 1941.  There was a war on, after all,
    and prospects for human rights in the western US if Japan invaded were
    not very good.  With the Pacific Fleet destroyed (it was thought), the
    chances of a Japanese invasion seemed far greater than they do from
    retrospect.  It was easy to see the thousands of Japanese-Americans in
    Hawaii and California as a security risk.  (Again, I want to point out
    that I find Roosevelt's extreme action unjustifiable.)

It is difficult to exaggerate the fear of Japanese invasion felt by
reasonable people in California in the first years of the War.
Lightning War in Europe was fresh in mind, the attack on Hawaii had
been a stunning surprise, and it was thought that nothing stood in the
way of an imm