Re: "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail"

17 Dec 2003

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At 04:22 PM 1/26/96 +0100, Asgaard wrote:
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Jim Bell wrote:
...
While this may be based on the "classic" view of the start of the direct 
involvement in WWII, I agree with the opinion of an old college professor 
that the US KNEW that the Japanese were going to attack, SOMEWHERE and 
SOMEWHEN (but not exactly), and in fact WANTED the attack to occur to 
justify getting into a war that we "should" have entered.
Alan Horowitz added:
...
I've read that FDR had a humint source warning of a Japanese strike on 
Pearl Harbor. I also recall reading that J Edgar Hoover received a report 
of a diplomatic conversation detailing the planned attack, but sat on it.
And this is from a post I sent to the list last summer:
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I just read 'Infamy' by John Toland (1982), containing 'proof'
- very convincing, in my opinion - of the Pearl Harbour cover-up.
The US president, selected members of his cabinette and a
few admirals and generals knew - from Magic and the 'winds'
execute, radio traffic analysis, diplomatic sources, double
agents - exactly when and where the Japaneese were going to
attack, but didn't warn Hawaii, fearing that too efficient
counter-measures by the Oahu military might make the attack
abort and so not convince the isolationists. The unexpected 
tactical capabilities of the Japaneese armada then made a
cover-up all the more important.
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The unfortunate cipher expert Captain Safford spent most of
his post-war life trying to uphold the honour of his fellow
cryptanalysts, putting the blame on generals and politicians,
but in vain.
It's interesting that we even HEARD about Coventry, but of course that was a 
British decision, a civilian target in an attack during an era where there 
were already plenty of attacks on civilian targets, and the British 
UNDERSTOOD why Coventry had to die.  (But I don't know WHEN "we" (the 
general public) first heard about Coventry.  Anybody know?

(For the historically-impaired:  Coventry was/is an English town (small 
city?) perhaps most famous from the Lady Godiva legend...but I digress...    
 British found out, I guess through Ultra, that it was going to be bombed.  
Telling the inhabitants would have saved many lives, but (possibly) alerted 
the Germans that Enigma had been broken.  British made the correct choice:  
Let the city get bombed without (much?) warning.  The value of keeping the 
broken-ness of Ultra a secret far outweighed the value of Coventry.)

Re: "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail"

jim bell