I agree with you Bill that it would have been unwise to try to strike the US bases while the fleet was forward deployed to Hawaii. I was really answering the question from a standpoint of if they had still been in the US as they were in 1940. The post by T.A. made it sound as if the Japanese would not have been able to perform the attack at all if the fleet had not been in Hawaii. I think if the US fleet would have been concentrated anywhere along the west coast of the US that they could have performed the attack. The location would have determined if it was militarily possible. Certainly only having to go to Hawaii made it easier. I was just thinking that it wasn't the only reason it was possible.

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PEOPLE SLEEP PEACEABLY IN THEIR BEDS AT NIGHT ONLY BECAUSE ROUGH MEN STAND READY TO DO VIOLENCE ON THEIR BEHALF. GEORGE ORWELL