Lord, [b]raf[/b], but you do take these posts much too seriously! [:D]
Where do I begin?
Oh yes, from the beginning!
I clearly stated in my original post that I was speaking about "major wars". Any subsequent clarifications were simply that, not self-serving re-definitions.
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Hmmm, maybe if I tried to 'size=5' the Happy Face, you'd get my point a tad better, but I don't think that works.
One could easily present a good case that the US was interested in assuring its economic pre-eminence in the Pacific, to the detriment of Japan.
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One could attempt to make that case, but he or she would be dead wrong, wouldn't they? The US was pledged to Philippine Independence by 1945.
Why give up your major possession in the Pacific if you thought you were going to be in a ruinous economic war with Japan?
We wanted no competition from that militaristic dictatorship whose ambitions threatened the property and trade of not only the US, but of most other nations in the Pacific.
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Competition? We were worried about Japanese competition in China? In Southeast Asia?
Are those your thoughts or the thoughts of the hypothetical proponents of the position that WWII was an economic war for the US?
Japan was out to seize territory, people, and raw materials at everyone's expense, not the least ours.
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Once again, your views, or the hypothetical proponents of such a view?
Our (and others) repeated attempts at economic sanctions against Japan were one of the factors in the Japanese decision to wage general war in the Pacific. Thus, the economic basis for US entry into WWII.
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Now if that don't beat all! I surely hope that you're talking about the purely hypothetical proponents of such a silly view and that you don't partake of their ludicrous notions yourself!
We went to War simply because we were attacked!
Plain and simple!
Even Democrats understand that![:D]
Or should I say 'understood that'?
respect your father's service too much to make flippant remarks about it or him.
Same for Gen. of the Army MacArthur.
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Thanks, but I genuinely feel that the flippant remarks would be those of the hypothetical proponents of the view that the War in the Pacific was fought by the United States for economic reasons!
That sort of view does more to mar the memory of a great deal of heroic men who thought they were fighting for reasons other than financial!
Eric The(ScrewEconomicsForAMinute!)Hun[>]:)]