9/11 has become the yearly 2-Minute Hate

[Odin2005]

Keeping people terrorized and scared so they continue to give up their civil liberties.

[DavidDvorkin]

1. True.

[HopeHoops]

2. I don't know about that. Most people don't even know when Pearl Harbor occurred.

It's going to just fade into the "shit that happened" category as the new generation takes over. I'm more saddened by how many innocent people the shrub killed to get at Saddam. The fascist movement has taken a very strong hold on our country and we need to defeat it. I'm appalled to see men wearing WW-II veteran hats and a teabagger/GOP T-shirt or holding a sign in support of them. They fought and saw their friends die to prevent what they're now supporting from taking over the world. It makes no sense.

My late father-in-law fought in WW-II and he couldn't stand the GOP. He warned me 25 years ago that they were the fascists invading our country, and he was correct. They may be citizens, but so were the Nazis in Germany. It's still fascism.

[KansDem]

4. "Most people don't even know when Pearl Harbor occurred."

True. Remember when Bush the Elder thought it was September 7?

Today is Pearl Harbor Day

[HopeHoops]

6. That's exactly what I had in mind.

[jberryhill]

5. What did he think about mass internment of Japanese Americans in response?

[HopeHoops]

7. That it was no different than Nazi concentration camps. Same shit, different country.

[jberryhill]

8. But you said...

"They fought and saw their friends die to prevent what they're now supporting from taking over the world."

While they were fighting, the US was doing what you call "no different than Nazi concentration camps".

So if it was "Same shit, different country" as you say, then in what way were they preventing it? Or are you saying they were unsuccessful?

[HopeHoops]

9. Can't argue with that. I doubt any of the troops knew about it, but that's what we were doing.

I'm not sure if you're familiar with REX-84, more commonly known as FEMA camps now, but it was Reagan's vehicle for reinstating concentration camps (rail lines, guard towers, and razor wire required). One of Clinton's first moves was to shut them down. One of the shrub's first moves was to reactivate them. I still can't get a straight answer on how Obama has handled them.

[jberryhill]

11. "I doubt any of the troops knew about it"

You have got to be kidding me.

It was a huge public program. It wasn't some secret operation. It was carried out BY THE ARMY, so it's a safe guess that the army knew about it, as did everyone else in the country.





(and, yes, I am quite familiar with tinfoil hattery about FEMA camps. At the conclusion of the Vietnam war, we had an urgent need to temporarily house thousands of refugees who had cooperated with us there. Many underused military bases were used for that purpose. During ensuing base closings in the 70's and 80's, the ability to respond to an immigration emergency of that order was lost.)

[HopeHoops]

12. By "troops", I meant those deployed overseas. Obviously the ones here knew.

Meanwhile, the 442nd was out racking up medals on our behalf while their families were interned. And the FEMA/REX-84 camps are certainly not a "tinfoil hat" issue. They're very real but fortunately I doubt they will ever be used and certainly hope that's the case. Reagan shifted the emphasis from refugees to illegal aliens (hence the '84') and kept them on stand-by. I've got one within 15 minutes of me - the Naval Support Depot in Mechanicsburg, PA - rail lines, razor wire, and guard towers. I'd like to feel confident that they'll never be used, but we've still got people languishing in Gitmo with no end in site. The prisons in Iraq weren't a picnic either. It's nice to think your government won't cross the line, but history doesn't support that notion, pretty much anywhere.

[jberryhill]

13. Troops were rotating in and out during the entire war

And were perfectly aware of news from the home front.

How do you explain this:

http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/people_who_were_opposed_to_creating_the_WW2_Japanese-American_internment_camps

In fact, young men from the internment camps were recruited to go fight:

http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=ft1290031s;NAAN=13030&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=d0e3034&toc.id=d0e764&brand=calisphere

----
"Lt. Col. William K. Van Antwerp, of the 27th Division, General Staff, told this reporter in an interview, "we would have been twice as blind as we were on these islands without the Nisei. They were able to break down fear and superstition and obtain vitally important information from both Japanese soldiers and natives.

"Without a doubt,' Col. Van Antwerp declared, `our Nisei have saved many, many American lives.'

Many of the stories of Nisei exploits have not yet been published. The writer, reporting from Okinawa concludes: "Men in the 27th Division will stare at you unbelievingly when you tell them that there were some people and some newspapers in the U.S. that violently opposed the use of Nisei in the Pacific.
-----

Where do you get this ridiculous notion that the troops were not aware of the internment program? EVERYONE was aware of the program.

[HopeHoops]

14. That was just my impression. It was long before I was born, I'll concede I was wrong.

But the real point I was making is why would any WW-II veteran vote Republican today? I just can't comprehend that. Can't they see the analogies? I will NOT accept the answer that they're all senile (yes, I've heard that). My late grandfather would have some rather choice words for rMoney (and he knew some REALLY choice ones).

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Meh! That's the attitude most have at this point

In fact, ask people to point to you Afghanistan in a map. Like Pearl Harbor day it is already fading. In fact, faster than Pearl Harbor. It matters to service members, this is why we fight, and families...after that, meh.

You know how I can tell? My local colleges have to have remembrances now.

[Major Hogwash]

10. Odin --- Read this thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021318937

[Odin2005]

15. I have no use for twoofer horseshit.