[Vision2020] Learning From History

[lfalen]

Tom
There is no comparison between the incarceration of US citizens of japanese descent and those at GIMO. The japanese were innocent law abiding citizens. Most of those at GIMO were captured on the battlefield, others were arrested for terrorist activities. The US citizens who were arrested for terrorist activities might legitimately be subject to the US Court System. Those that were capture in battle should not be. As previously stated by other there were German and Italian prisoner of war camps in the US. These were legitimate as are the battle field detainee at GITMO.
Roger
-----Original message-----
From: Tom Hansen thansen at moscow.com
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:37:58 -0700
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] Learning From History

> >From Michael Josephson of "Character Counts" at:
> 
> http://tinyurl.com/4xljs4
> 
> ---------------------------------------------
> 
> Learning From History
> By Michael Josephson
> 
> In a split decision, the Supreme Court recently ruled that people labeled 
> as �enemy combatants� confined at the military base at Guantanamo Bay, 
> Cuba, must be given limited access to federal courts. Before I talk about 
> the ethical issues involved, it�s helpful to review another major 
> detention situation.
> 
> In 1941, a surprise attack by the Japanese government at Pearl Harbor 
> brought our country into war and engulfed the nation in fear and hatred. 
> In response, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, asserting special war 
> powers, issued an Executive Order requiring all persons of Japanese 
> ancestry living on the Pacific Coast of the United States to be forcibly 
> confined in hastily constructed �War Relocation Camps.�
> 
> Ultimately, about 110,000 men, women, and children of all backgrounds were 
> indiscriminately imprisoned in facilities that often lacked plumbing and 
> heating. The Order applied to all residents who were at least 1/16th 
> Japanese. Detainees were confined without the benefit of any process to 
> determine whether they were actually a threat to national security.
> 
> Three years later, though the war was still raging, a Supreme Court ruling 
> induced the President to release all the detainees. They were each given 
> $25 and a train ticket home.
> 
> In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation that apologized for 
> the internment, stating that the action was based on �race prejudice, war 
> hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.� Surviving detainees were 
> awarded $1.2 billion dollars in reparations. In 1992, President George H. 
> W. Bush issued another formal apology from the U.S. government and added 
> $400 million in reparations.
> 
> There are parallels to that Executive Order and our reaction after the 
> terrorist attacks of 9/11. Looking back, who was right � President 
> Roosevelt or Presidents Reagan and Bush?
> 
> Is there anything we can learn from this chapter of our history?
> 
> As a footnote, the 2001 national budget decreed that the former Japanese 
> detainee camp sites are to be preserved as historical landmarks 
> to �forever stand as reminders that this nation failed in its most sacred 
> duty to protect its citizens against prejudice�and political expediency.�
> 
> This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
> 
> ---------------------------------------------
> 
> Seeya round town, Moscow.
> 
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>  
> "We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students. The college 
> students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."
> 
> - Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------
> This message was sent by First Step Internet.
>            http://www.fsr.com/
> 
> 
> 
>