Furiously scratching in the sand, dre <b> wrote:

Edgar Wolphe schreef:

Do you know one of the major reasons Japan attacked the US in '41?

There were many in the US government who felt that maintaining a
large, visible, modern army was not conducive to friendly relations
with the rest of the world.  In December of '41, we had almost no
arsenal at all, and most of what we did have was already 20 years old.
We were sometimes fighting with wooden biplanes against the Zero!

The Japanese figured that although their populace, manufacturing, and
economic size was diminutive compared to the US, the fact that we had
almost nothing to fight with would win the day for them.  But, they
failed to follow up aggressively after their initial victories, and
alowed US manufacturing to kick into high gear.  Once that happened,
the end result was inevitable.  

What we can learn from this is that there will always be someone out
there that wants what the other guy, or country has.  It is perhaps
the most sickening part of human behaviour, but history does teach us
that this has been going on forever.  It would be nice if everyone
could simply just get along with each other, but in all of recorded
history, that has never happened.

you forget the oil embargo wich the us imposed on 
japan before the war,this forced them to get the 
oil in asia themselves.

I didn't forget-  I clearly stated that the lack of any significant
military capability was _ONE_ of the reasons Japan attacked.  And, as
the subject at hand was whether or not the US should continue to
maintain a modern arsenal, I was clearly addressing the question.

If in 1940 the US had a significant military capability in the
Pacific, such as we do today, it is highly unlikely that Japan would
have risked a full-scale war with the US.  Effective and visable
military strength is a proven deterient against empire building via
military conquest.  Unfortunately, this strength is not very effective
against well-organized guerrilla forces, and we are now getting our
second lesson in this truth.

EW


Reality is nothing more than a mathematical abstraction...
or a really good steak.