In message <54.b12be6d.272b4f65 at aol.com>, LeoCasey at aol.com writes
>It was only a matter of time, I suppose, before Heartfield would starting
>calling me a 'racist,'
But when did I call him a racist? I only reported the well-known views of America's military and political leaders about the Yellow Peril. Intriguing that O'Casey's level of identification with the US leadership is so complete that one cannot criticise America without him assuming that the criticism is being made directly of him.
Given that Leo was claiming the war against Japan as a contribution to fighting fascism it seemed pertinent to me that the leading participants considered their war against Japan to be a struggle to restore the prestige of the white race.
Leo accuses me of placing a taboo on criticising Japan. It seems to me, rather, that Leo has placed a taboo on criticising America.
Of course it is true that the Japanese military dictatorship in Manchuria was brutal. It was as brutal in fact as the military dictatorships imposed upon Indo-China by America's French allies, upon Burma, China and India by Britain, and upon the Phillipines by the United States.
-- James Heartfield