A pleasure to read and digest your article.
I agree with much of what you attest to, in particular the goading of Japan not only by the US administration but also by the League of Nations. Yes, the plans of Isoroku Yamamoto were known to the US, in fact there were telegrams sent and ignored allowing the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the loss of 2,403 lives and as Churchill said it was fortuitous for the English to have America and its industrial might drawn into the war. Yamamoto was actually not keen on the war as he said if America could not be defeated in 18 months then Japan would lose. He was right, though mysteriously died in an air crash long before the end of the war.
(It must also be remembered that Japan and the Japanese were equally suppressed by egotistical military hawks keen on inflating their own grandeur.)
The one aspect I wish you would have addressed is responsibility or perhaps accountability for the atrocities committed by elected egomaniacs. When Japan was actively suing for peace in early '45, America still chose to bomb hundreds of thousands of civilians with incendiary bombs (thank you Le May) and follow it up by justifying the cost of the Manhattan project by radiating two other beleaguered civilian populations.
The disinformation of 'speeding up the end of the war to save lives' by radiating women and children, when one side is already pursuing peace initiatives is evidence of the falsehoods spewed on and swallowed guilt free by the gullible.
But who then is accountable?
Why were chemical weapons used on the Vietnamese? Saddam Hussein was vilified for using similar weapons but no American was, perhaps the tonnage he used wasn't enough?
Weapons of mass destruction? Really? An utter lie.
Gaddafi wanted to end the hegemony of the US dollar over the oil industry and NATO members saw the end of him.
How long will those who are elected as honorable representatives be allowed to pursue egomaniacal agendas and escape with no accountability?
It is not particular to only the US, it is an affliction of far too many societies.
In that, there is a global human sadness.
This Canuck commends your article.
Vive le 'truth'