GOP Slams Effort To Study WWII Internment Camps in U.S.
The Jewish Daily Forward reports:
A plan to study the treatment of Europeans interned by the United States government during World War II is languishing in the Senate following unexpectedly strong opposition from GOP lawmakers.
A narrow majority of Republican senators, led by Jeff Sessions of Alabama, rejected a proposal to form a congressional commission examining the wartime experiences of Axis citizens and European-born Americans, thousands of whom were held in American internment camps. Co-sponsored by Democratic Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the bill would also create a separate commission to study the treatment of Jewish war refugees.
As Washington buzzed over the derailed immigration bill last week, wrangling over the so-called Wartime Treatment Study Act reflected an equally deep-seated, if less public, partisan divide. Republican critics of the bill, including Sessions, argue that it is based on flawed findings, and say they fear that it could lead to the paying of reparations. Its backers say the critics are simply loath to investigate possible government wrongdoing given the ongoing war in Iraq.
As a European I have to say that I believe that this investigation should be conducted: I would be eager to read its conclusions. I find it quite suspect that the GOP blocked this bill. The conditions under which Japanese Americans were interned were investigated, why not investigate the treatment Europeans received?
H/t my good friend and personal editor Holly.
