On Mon, 8 Feb 2016 21:33:23 -0500, Dave Smith
> wrote:

>On 2016-02-08 6:11 PM, Je?us wrote:
>> On Tue, 09 Feb 2016 09:56:47 +1100, Bruce > wrote:
>>
>>> Pearl Harbor - military target - 2,403 killed
>>> Hiroshima & Nagasaki - civilian targets - 250,000+ killed
>>
>> Besides, Pearl harbour was allowed to happen for political reasons.
>>
>
>
>I cannot buy the idea that the US allowed Pearl Harbor to happen. The
>theory, as I understand it, is that Roosevelt wanted war and figured the
>only way isolationists would agree to go to war would be if they were
>attacked. It makes no sense to sacrifice the Pacific fleet to get
>drawn into a way when they needed that same fleet to fight the war.
>They would at least have been on a higher state of readiness to fight
>off the attack an minimize losses. It would still have been an attack
>and would have allowed them to get into the war... and to have a better
>chance against a formidable foe.

That is a good argument, but a little presumptuous not needing to
'sacrifice the fleet' to make the isolationists go along with entering
the war.