Japan Labor and US Torture

The Japanese government admitted today that during WWII it used POW’s as forced laborers at a coal mine owned by the current Prime Minister’s family, Taro Aso. According to the report:

“300 British, Dutch and Australian prisoners of war worked at a mine owned by Aso Mining during the last four months of World War II in western Japan.”

During WWII the Japanese frequently abused military prisoners and civilians alike. And there are still controversies relating to Japan’s refusal to acknowledge its abuses in parts of China during the 1930s. It’s taken more than 60 years for Japan’s government to admit the abuse of “only” 300 prisoners for a term of four months.

We Americans of the 21st century were taught that Japan’s atrocities at the beginning of the century were reprehensible and unjustifiable. We are perplexed by Japan’s government’s reluctance to admit their own culpability.

So how and what do we think when we are increasingly certain that the uppermost officials in our own government condoned the use of torture against suspected foreign terrorists (and even against American citizens)? I hope for the sake of our country and the world that our government admits its mistakes soon and takes steps to make amends. I hope that in 60 years we as a country are not still struggling to come to terms with our past mistakes and making half-hearted admissions and apologies.

To do that, let’s take a hard look at indicting those responsible for the implementation of torture in US-run interrogation rooms. I’m thinking of you, Cheney, and you, Rumsfeld.