[QUOTE=ozjohn39;387717]

A question I cannot answer is how ANY country can draw on its own society and come up with MANY men (drawn at random) that are capable of such acts. They are too numerous and too vast to explain by simple propaganda and brain washing.
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John, without trying to excuse it, the Japanese had a long history of isolation and a tendency to view non-Japanese as less than human. Their society was highly structured, and military training was brutal. I'm guessing this long tradition created a lack of sensibility to the suffering of others, as well as themselves. I'm currently reading The Pacific Campaign by van der Vat, and it goes into some of the reasons for the brutality practiced by Japanese troops. I don't pretend to understand it, any more than I can explain or understand the Germans and what they did. It goes way beyond propaganda and brainwashing. It was an extension of historical and cultural conditioning that most of us find difficult to comprehend. It's one reason I was glad that John Demjanjuk was finally repatriated to Germany to stand trial for his war crimes. I don't believe anyone should be able to escape justice for that kind of activity.

It gives me chills just thinking about it.

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"Faint heart never won fair maiden", so I say "Go for it!"

Lou