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From: phil@amdcad.UUCP (Phil Ngai)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc
Subject: Re: AWACS and Pearl Harbour.
Message-ID: <13228@amdcad.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 3-Oct-86 02:57:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: amdcad.13228
Posted: Fri Oct  3 02:57:46 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 11-Oct-86 08:32:07 EDT
References: <789@mit-vax.UUCP> <15848@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <374@garth.UUCP>
Reply-To: phil@amdcad.UUCP (Phil Ngai)
Organization: Advanced Micro Devices, Sunnyvale, California
Lines: 28

In article <374@garth.UUCP> baba@garth.UUCP (Baba ROM DOS) writes:
>
>What a recall as being publicly acknowledged was that the Japanese codes
>used to transmit the orders for the attack on Pearl Harbor had been broken
>or compromised well before the attack, and that Japanese radio traffic was
>monitored.  The carriers were ordered out of Pearl, but no alarm was given.
>Innuendo, certainly, but it's not entirely unsubstantiated.

What you say seems to be true but it is not truthful. According to
_The Code Breakers_ by David Kahn, the US was routinely reading
PURPLE, the most secret Japanese system, and the cipher in which the
message that Japan was breaking off negotiations with the US was
transmitted. This final msg was sent to the Japanese embassy in
Washington DC at 1:37 AM, Dec 7. It was intercepted and decoded by 5
AM, Washington time. However, it was in Japanese and had to be
translated, which took until 9 AM. Because it was a Sunday and many
people were out, it wasn't delivered to the White House until 10:45.
General Marshall read the msg about 11:30 and ordered a warning sent
out to American forces in the Pacific. This warning had to be encoded,
taking more precious time. The msg was finally received at 7:33 AM
Honolulu time. At 7:55 AM, the first bombs fell.
-- 
 In Arizona they brag about how much water it takes to maintain their
lawns and golf courses. Can you say "aquifer overdraft"?

 Phil Ngai +1 408 749 5720
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