War of anyone’s making is always an atrocity-generating phenomenon for fighters on all sides. Men of all persuasions are placed in untenable threatening environments in which friend and foe alike are often indistinguishable. In World War II many indigenous Marianas citizens, for understandable reasons, were Japanese collaborators. What I’ve said in previous writings stands in spite of the fact that realistic history notes that American policy sometimes errs. American democratic idealism, however, remains a noble set of notions.
I met former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey on July 4, 1976 in Minnesota. I asked him about the inequities in American social compact. He said, and I paraphrase, “The Constitution of the United States is noble promise made to the American people. It has yet to be entirely fulfilled, but we’re working on it.” I abide by the ideals of that document realizing that Mr. Humphrey was correct in his assessment and in his projection.
Furthermore, no responsible historian equates the illegitimacy of the current war in Iraq with the imperative of fighting and winning World War II. Mr. Castro has lost his balance. He exaggerates, distorts and perverts the legitimate points I make by embellishing his myopic interpretation of history with hyperbolic histrionics.
Furthermore, uncomfortable for some as the facts may be, the marriage between the Northern Marianas and the United States was agreed some time ago. And for better or for worse, the Americans are coming to visit the family, and they will likely stay for a while imperfect though they may be.
K.F.H. O’HARNETT
Saipan, USA
