September 19, 2005
In Defense of Internment by Michelle Malkin
I found this to be an excellent book. Like many I am not sure the evidence warranted the internment of so many innocent but I benefit from 20-20 hindsight. Profiling would have probably been a much better approach. At least this book does make the first honest effort to truly understand the issue as opposed to knee-jerk charges of racism that are so popular today. The United States was fighting for its very survival which justifies extraordinary actions. Michelle does an excellent job of footnoting and reference with many copies of actual documents involved. Something you will never see from internment critics. One thing is very clear; these were not even close to being concentration camps (like in Germany) as some would have you believe. If they are then we will one day be paying reparations to Boy Scouts for sending them to summer camp.
UPDATE: A recent hand written memo on food shipments has reopened the extent of internment as a method of protecting Japanese from vigilante mobs. Oddly this is being portrayed as evidence of the racist policies the part of our government when in reality it shows internment to be more of a practical response of maintaining order and saving lives in time of war. Granted it is a rather backwards method of maintaining law and order like placing people in witness protection programs on a large scale. But under the circumstances not a totally unrealistic approach even if only partially true. Michelle explores it more here.
Posted by Sid at September 19, 2005 12:12 AM | Book Review
