Text 35244, 81 rader
Skriven 2006-07-30 13:27:18 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
     Kommentar till en text av Dan Ceppa
Ärende: Re: Israel
==================
> WD> In March 1941, 8 months before Pearl Harbor, the US seized 69 ships
> WD> under German and Italian flags. 775 Italian civilian seamen and 100
 
> Do you know the rules of war for interning combatant forces in
> neutral countried?
 
Certainly. Are you saying we now need to occupy every American vessel in our
waters because you guys are waging a war somewhere?
 
Anyway ...
 
Do you know WW2 started in 1939, 2 years prior? Some Americans keep believing
it started on Dec.7th 1941 ...
 
The Italian luxury-liner "Il Conte Biancamano" was litterally ambushed when
stuck for 19 months already in the Panama-canal on a commercial cruise with
passengers from a number of nations. Italy was not at war with the US, there
was not a single Italian or Axis-country military person aboard in any
capacity.
 
There was absolutely no talk about "combatant forces" in the whole deal, I'm
appaled you know your country's history that bad.
 
It was US Attorney General Robert Jackson (later that year to be appointed
Suppreme Court Justice and in 1945-.. chief-prosecutor of the main trial at
Nürnberg) who justified the action although there was no state of war.
 
He said: "Under modern methods of warfare, the most critical period for a
nation under attack is the period preceding the actual employment of military
force. The secret weapon of the Nazis has been the failure of nation after
nation to recognise and deal with this non-military invasion. Our statute law
has in many respects failed to take into account this non-military period of
attack."
 
Jackson therefore stated that although the US were not in a state of war they
were under "a non-military kind of attack".
 
<Duh!>
 
Jackson's explanation was quite lame because the Espionage Act under which the
government detained those ships, permitted such detention only in times of
emergency.
 
Where was the emergency? Nowhere in sight!
 
So on March 30 1941 28 Ialian, 2 German and 35 Danish ships were seized by
military force. The US government had no clue that Denmark was not an
Axis-country BTW. But let me not dwell from the issue.
 
To clear the legal status of the operation Congres passed a bill on May 6th
1941, a month and a week after the seize, to allow such an act and use the
ships for its own purposes.
 
By April 12th 1941 about 1,300 Italian civilians were in custody. What to do
with them? They committed no crime, they were not military, they were not
'combatant forces' (a term which Americans since recently like to use).
 
The US issued formal warrants that the merchant-seamen had overstayed the
60-day limit permitted of alien seamen in US territories and deported them to
Ellis Island. Later in 1941 they were transported to "Fort Missoula" in
Missoula Montana...
 
Completely ridiculous as about all of these vessels were unable to leave port
due to either not having the fuel and/or supplies needed for the trip and on
the other side because the Royal Navy said it would not guarantee a safe
passage of these civilian ships.
 
Many of these sailors had been stuck for 2 years on their boat without being
able to move an inch, courtesy US authorities ... and then were charged with
overstaying their 60-day permit ...
 
HAH!! What a joke.
 
Combatant forces my ass. You don't know the first bit of your own history.
 
Take care,
 
 \%/@rd

--- D'Bridge 2.54
 * Origin: "Leonard will be free" - http://www.leonardpeltier.org (2:292/854)