-Caveat Lector- Pearl Harbor chiefs cleared FROM BEN MACINTYRE IN WASHINGTON London Times May 27 1999 UNITED STATES TWO American military commanders blamed for failing to foresee the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor have had their ranks and reputations posthumously restored nearly six decades later. Admiral Husband Kimmel, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, and General Walter Short, commander of the Hawaiian Department of the US Army, were punished for dereliction of duty after the devastating Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. They were relieved of their ranks and forced into retirement. This week the US Senate voted by 52 to 47 to clear their names and to reinstate their wartime ranks. Many historians have argued that the two men were made scapegoats for the military disaster. "There is no longer any reason to perpetuate the cruel myth that Kimmel and Short were singularly responsible for the disaster at Pearl Harbor," William Roth, a Republican Senator and veteran of the Second World War, said. Strom Thurmond, the 96-year-old Republican senator who parachuted into Normandy on D-Day, described the soldiers as "the two final victims" of Pearl Harbor. "These men were doing their duty to the best of their ability, and without full co-operation from superiors in their chain of command," he said. Yet the issue of their guilt or innocence remains a divisive one, particularly among the Senate's ten surviving Second World War veterans. John Warner, a Republican Senator who volunteered for the Navy in 1944, pointed out that nine formal inquiries in the past had failed to clear the two men of responsibility. He issued a warning against attempts to rewrite history by legislation. "What we are faced with here is one generation trying to provide revisionist history upon another," Mr Warner said. Defenders of Kimmel and Short point out that military leaders in Washington were aware that an attack was imminent, but failed to pass on intercepted Japanese radio messages to commanders in Hawaii. The latest Pentagon investigation, in 1995, however, concluded that the disgraced commanders must still be held accountable as leaders, even though blame for the disaster should be "broadly shared". ------------- note-read John Toland-Infamy DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
