for the umpteenth time—recently from ann coulter and this time from a caller to washington journal—i've heard a con justify our preemptive aggression against iraq by claiming fdr attacked germany after pearl harbor even tho they hadn't attacked us but were doing bad things and/or were japan's allies.
they seem blissfully unaware of the actual sequence of events.
here's a few lines from the time almanac to set them straight:
Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor, Philippines, Guam force US into war; US Pacific fleet crippled (Dec.7). US and Britain declare war on Japan. Germany and Italy declare war on US; Congress declares war on those countries (Dec.11).
further, on jan 13, 1942, germany began a u-boat offensive along the US east coast, but we didn't launch an offensive against the germans till we invaded north africa on november 8. the navy had already whipped the japanese at midway june 7, and the marines had landed on guadalcanal august 7. the first all-US air attack in europe came august 17.
Why do so many people forget this?
ReplyDeletenever knew it in first place.
ReplyDeletelousy education, dumb assumptions, &c.