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Originally Posted by Roddoss72
Yes that maybe so, but if reading correctly that the Americans knew sooner or later that Japan was to be an enemy, America had imposed a raft of tough sanctions onto Japan, due to it's current invasion of China and that the Americans knew American territory was vulnerable to future attack, with the Philipines bearing the main attack but, this is where the American psychy of isolationism went against it, it needed to bolster its territories to attack but need an attack to overide their Neutrality Act, hence Catch 22. I will even entertain the fact MacArthur did not know of the impending attack, but he had 10s of thousands under his command but waisted them. And finally when he was given an opportunity to escape he did leaving behind thousands and then blamed them for his failure.
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Well many Americans didn't want to fight WWII in the beginning before Pearl Harbor and well others, remember the Nazi rally in Madison Square garden. There was a reason why Italians and Germans were not interned on the East Coast, too many. You mention sanctions, they don't work and more than not lead to war, so why bother. The defeat at Pearl Harbor prevented any challenge to the Superior Japanese Navy in the Phillipines. A defeat would leave both the Aleutians and the West Coast vulnerable. An Army did not matter unless it had both Naval and Air support in the Phillipines.