Declassified documents reveal that Japanese ultranationalists with ties to U.S. military intelligence plotted to overthrow the Japanese government and assassinate the prime minister in 1952.
The scheme — which was abandoned — was concocted by militarists and suspected war criminals who had worked for U.S. occupation authorities after World War II, according to CIA records reviewed by The Associated Press. The plotters wanted a right-wing government that would rearm Japan.
We too easily forget that it was not a given that militaristic and defeated Japan would emerge as a democratic and prosperous ally. In the middle of the Korean War, perhaps when the militarists felt we wouldn't risk resisting them when Japan was critical to supplying our military in Korea, anti-democrats plotted to seize power. And in our worries about running post-war Japan, we worked with some of the thugs we had defeated.
So don't be so eager to let high ranking Baathists back into the Iraqi government. Don't be so eager to side with the Sunni Baathists in some false compassion or bizarre view of balancing Shia thugs.
I guarantee you there are Baathists who are dreaming of 1952. We have to work in order to make Iraq a democratic and prosperous ally. And siding with the Shias and Kurds is a starting point. Sunni Arabs come in from the cold on our terms--not theirs.
A pardon and rehabilitation can mean Baathists without blood on their hands are not arrested and are free to work in the private sector. Only thoroughly scrubbed Sunni Arabs who are really ex-Baathists of high rank should be given the privilege of serving in the government.
