In Vol. XXVII, Art. 15, we provided a full printout of Paul Craig Robert’s May 2, 2011 about “Osama bin Laden’s Second Death”. He likened the reported assault on bin Laden’s hideaway as an “April fool’s joke”, and pointed to the event “as more evidence that the U.S. has unlimited belief in the gullibility of Americans”.

“Well, why not?”, we figured. “Don’t Americans still believe that the USS Maine was blown up in Havana by Spaniards – even though U.S. divers subsequently reported that the explosion was initiated from within the ship’s hull and could not have been caused by an external explosive charge?

“And don’t Americans still believe that the Viet Cong attacked our Naval vessels in the Gulf of Tonkin? And what about all those ‘weapons of mass destruction’ in Iraq?

“And how about ex-NFL player Pat Tillman’s death from ‘friendly fire’ in Afghanistan? Or the ‘rescue’ of Private Lynch in Iraq? How many Americans have taken the time to learn the truth about those two events? Thank goodness Pvt. Lynch got back home safe and sound, but Sgt. Pat Tillman wasn’t so lucky. ‘Friendly fire’, they called it. A perfect description. Three bullet holes in the forehead – from an admitted distance of about five feet. With friends like that, who needs enemies?

“‘Gullibility’, Mr. Roberts? How true. We have in our possession the December 9, 1941 issue of The (now defunct) Boston Post. In blaring headlines it states that ‘Big Air Fleet Driven Off At San Francisco – 60 Enemy Planes Head Southwest On Being Intercepted’. We also have a copy of the December 9, 1941 issue of The Boston Daily Globe. Not to be outdone, the Globe used even larger headlines to report that ‘Frisco Drives Off Japanese Raiders – General Ryan said a large number of unidentified aircraft were turned back at the Golden Gate’. We panicked. Just what they wanted.

“We believed that rubbish back then and hundreds of thousands joined the armed forces that day. We’ve always been gullible. Even now we’re being assured by the controlled media that the ‘jobless recovery’ is coming along nicely. Hogwash. We’ve reminded hundreds of government officials that the only way to create legitimate peacetime employment is to emulate FDR’s initiative to end the Great Depression. We’ve faxed and e-mailed our patented container ship design to all the ‘right’ people, and those ‘right’ people know all about FDR’s moves and all about our shipbuilding patents. But those ‘right’ people are pocketing much more money from weapons manufacturers than they could ever get from commercial shipbuilders. When money talks, Congress listens.” –

But Congress has always listened – whenever there was a chance to pocket profits from the manufacture – and use – of weapons of war.

On page two of that same issue of the Boston Post – in much smaller print, of course – was a story that Americans completely ignored, or didn’t care to consider. Secretary of State Cordell Hull revealed that in a Japanese message sent to the State Department on the previous June 21st, Japan had offered to meet with us in August to discuss the problems that existed between the two nations.

The message revealed Japan’s peaceful intentions and a desire to create a friendly and cooperative atmosphere in the Western Pacific – actually, Japan’s primary sphere of influence.

“The Japanese government demanded that to maintain peace in the Pacific the United States must restore all commercial relations with Japan, unfreeze Japanese assets in this country, and supply Japan with oil.

“Japan agreed to undertake not to send armed forces into any other country in the South Pacific except French Indo-China.

“Japan would, it pledged, withdraw troops from French Indo-China under certain conditions, including the establishment of an equitable peace in the Pacific area.

“The Japanese note charged that the United States, ‘obsessed with its own views and opinions, may be said to be scheming for the extension of the war.’

“With Great Britain, the note charged, the United States was exercising severe economic pressure on Japan which the note characterized as ‘at times more inhumane than military pressure.’

“All the items demanded of Japan by the American government regarding China, such as wholesale evacuation of troops or unconditional application of the principle of non-discrimination in international commerce ignored the actual conditions of China,’ the note declared,’ and are calculated to destroy Japan’s position as the stabilizing factor of East Asia.’

“In conclusion, the Japanese note charged that ‘obviously it is the intention of the American government to conspire with Great Britain and other countries to obstruct Japan’s efforts toward the establishment of peace through the creation of a new order in East Asia, and especially to preserve Anglo-American rights and interests by keeping Japan and China at war.'” –

The Japanese knew which way the wind was blowing. Their intelligence personnel were well aware of the secret plans being constantly updated by the U.S. Navy for the ultimate conquest of their country. And now, after more than half a century, it’s public knowledge – for those who care.

In an earlier commentary, we suggested that you check out a copy of Edward S. Miller’s “War Plan Orange – The U.S. Strategy to Defeat Japan, 1897-1945”. Based on twenty years of research in formerly secret archives, the book revealed for the first time the full significance of War Plan Orange – the U.S. Navy’s strategy to defeat Japan, formulated over forty years prior to World War II.

In retrospect, then, the Japanese “sneak attack” on Pearl Harbor was the inevitable result of sustained provocation on the part of the U.S. “with Great Britain and other countries”. Freezing a country’s assets and imposing trade embargos have always been considered to be acts of war, and after months of patient pleading, the Japanese took the only avenue “opened” to them.

[When dozens of Pearl Harbor-style “sneak attacks” were executed by our side, however, our leaders called them “preemptive strikes” – and that makes them perfectly legitimate. It’s semantics.]