Reply #32: Not a chance! [View All]

[Pholus]

You have some interesting informaiton there but the conclusion
you'd have to draw was that Kimmel was either grossly negligent
or a willing participant.

Kimmel was ultimately responsible for the defense of his base. But
he was also responsible for the counterattack. So he was
getting ready for the offense at the expense of defense. He grounded
his PBY's so that they would be at peak levels for the start of the
war. His reason was that he didn't have enough of them to cover
360 degrees from Pearl anyway. This was *his* order, and didn't come
from above. He also never made sure the Army was included in plans
for the base defense either. Why should he? Pearl was "safe" to the
extent of our best intel due to its distance.

At no point during his defense did he ever indicate that this
decision was made for him, which would have been his vindication
in one sentence. So:

a) He took the fall for FDR "knowing"
b) He made one of the very few mistakes he ever made

Either way, he should have been demoted. A sorry end for a fine man,
but fitting no matter what the semantics. He was the local commander
with adequate resources to protect himself yet he still got caught.

Besides, why do so many people not beleive the Japanese were pretty
darned capable warriors fully able to pull off this attack?