Reply #342: You might want to go back to history class yourself..

[Javaman]

FDR enacted an embargo on oil being shipped to Japan, after Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria.

His rational was that he wasn't going to sponsor a military dictatorships expansionism.

The Japanese looked upon this act as an act of war.

They attacked us because we didn't want to trade them the oil the desperately needed. That's the reality.

While Japan was part of the axis, they looked upon America's involvement in the lend lease act as an issue for Germany not them.

By the time the US entered the war in the Pacific, the Brits were just hanging on.

If given time and not bombing Pearl Harbor, the Brits would have been effectively driven from the Pacific theater as a fighting force by the Japanese.

However, since the Philippians were a huge prize on many levels for the Japanese, it was only inevitable that US involvement would become an issue. Because the Philippians was a US possession.

The Japanese having virtually no natural resources of their own, needed both the oil and rubber production of southeast asia to keep their military running.

So, using the false concept of the Lend Lease act as the predication for the Japanese to attack us, is weak.

The Japanese of the '20's, '30's and '40's were an expansionist military power.

They wouldn't have been happy until all of asia was theirs.

They looked upon the US, Britain and France as small obstacles to their overall goal.