The New Road

Comparing Iraq and WW II

I had the privilege of spending a substantial amount of time with a WW II vet in South Carolina on my last trip out. During his time in the pacific theatre he spent a year in Japan after the war was over at a naval base. I asked him if he saw a prolonged insurgency similar to Iraq. He said no and that the only activity he remembers was stories of Japanese soldiers on the remote islands fighting because they hadn't heard about the surrender, but that those stories were rare. In fact the biggest battle they had was against amoebic dysentery which was very prevelant on land and was transmitted to the ships. They lost almost one in three on his boat to that.

Why is this important? Because I have heard pundits and pundititions (politicians who are really just right wing pundits) lie about how Germany and Japan were hotbeds of insurgent activity for years after the end of the war. Nothing could be further from the case. None of the history I have read says anything of the sort. And this personal account from a man who was there proves it to me. In fact, just the opposite was the case. In Japan the Emporerer ordered the people to submit, and submit they did. These Republican stooges lie like rugs.