HIGH POINT, N.C. - A congressman who heads a homeland security subcommittee said on a radio call-in program that he agreed with the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
Rep. Howard Coble (news, bio, voting record), R-N.C., made the remark Tuesday on WKZL-FM when a caller suggested Arabs in the United States should be confined. Another congressman who was interned as a child criticized Coble for the comment, as did advocacy groups.
Coble, chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, said he didn’t agree with the caller but did agree with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who established the internment camps.
“We were at war. They (Japanese-Americans) were an endangered species,” Coble said. “For many of these Japanese-Americans, it wasn’t safe for them to be on the street.”
Gee, I wonder who will say in 50 years that the targeted deportation of people form just Middle Eastern countries was needed.
It is amazing how stupid our leaders are. Even if they personally are for such moves, you would think that they would be smart enough to keep their mouths shut about it.
If he thinks Japanese-Americans should have been interned because it wasn’t safe for them on the streets, then how could he say he’s against Arab-Americans being interned now for the same reason?
What a repulsive shitstain. He better be off that committee by the end of next week.
I suppose that racism would be the obvious answer, though not necessarily the correct one. Could a (perceived, if not real) difference of culture had something to do with it? Japanese being more loyal to their homeland than Germans? Not being an expert on the internment, I can’t be sure, but could it have been easier to identify Japanese-Americans than German-Americans, and thus more practical?
And with respect to the OP, yes, this guy needs a history lesson - though shouldn’t this be a Pit thread? What’s the debate here?
Jeff
I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that voters elect an idiot like this to congress.
I heard the results of an ABC poll on CNN Headline News today. It seems that about 50% of those polled think that the WTC hijackers were mainly Iraqis. This despite that fact that it has been said repeatedly that most of them were Saudis and Osama bin Laden (who?) himself is a Saudi.
And reading what this congressmen thinks I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that Congress as a whole has turned over its war making powers to the president and fled to safety in the rear ranks. What poltroons!
I just want to say that I’m glad we Dopers are mature enough, adult enough to keep a clear head about this, and not stoop to some cheap partisan shot like pointing out that the guy is a Republican. That would be wrong.