Pearl Harbor Human Rights

On December 7, 1941, 366 Japanese pilots launched a surprise attack on the United States naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (Pearl 1). The attack killed over two-thousand military staff and personnel, and damaged several American aircraft (Pearl 4). The attack on Pearl Harbor gained great significance as it was one of a very few attacks on the American Homefront since the war of 1812 and would be the leading reason for the United States to enter into World War Two(). Immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor, federal officials arrested several Japanese immigrants, who were not United States citizens, believing them to be sympathizers to the Japanese war effort (Enemy 11). Two months later the executive order allowing the removal of

In the United States came under attack for depriving terrorists of human and constitutional rights. These non-citizens should be protected under international human right laws, however just as in 1942, the united states uses the grounds of protecting national security as justification for their actions. Many Americans agree that terrorist should be tortured for information, as they pose a threat to national security, however this view is not held worldwide. Torture of these captives goes against international humanitarian efforts. "In its treatment of the detainees at Guantanamo, (the United States) has been unwilling to fully apply international humanitarian law ... [and] has flouted international human rights standards (Lapkin 11) ". There is also concern raised over the fact that those who are remain in jail for many years no longer have pertinent information and therefore no longer pose an immediate threat. The treatment of japenese detainess whop refused to renounce their japense citizenship, and as such were deemed disloyal to the united states, increased the support of extreme measures Then, as now, United States government is much less reluctant to suppress the humanitarian rights of those who are

Before world war two the American government had limited intelligence gathering capability. The attack on Pearl Harbor led to the creation of the office of strategic services, the forerunner of the central intelligence agency, national security agency and the plethora of other government run intelligence gathering organizations. The formation of the National Security Agency (NSA) occurred after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when observation of other countries was done with traditional airplane and camera surveillance during the cold war(Todd 2). The NSA was then upgraded in the 1990’s when the invention and the threat of the internet became realized (Todd 5). The invention of the internet created a new means for terrorist communication and dissemination of terrorist ideology. The technology introduced by the internet was so powerful that monitoring it became one of the highest priorities for American intelligence agencies. The NSA scans bulk internet content for “keywords” to determine their surveillance targets. This is done with little limitation and no court approval (Todd 7).The NSA operates with few restrictions on what content