Quote:
Originally posted by Timber Loftis:
Okay, Sir_ Tainly, have at thee:
1. The US was involved with large financial/supplies contributions prior to Pearl Harbor. Otherwise, point conceded - we were too isolationist then, and are trying to avoid that mistake now.
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Calling them contributions suggests that they were given for nothing. Everything was paid for whether in gold or in military bases.
"IN ONE OF HIS FAMOUS SPEECHES Churchill asked America 'Give us the tools and we will finish the job'. But America wouldn't 'give' anything without payment. After two years of war, Roosevelt had drained Britain dry, stripping her of all her assets in the USA, including real estate and property. The British owned Viscose Company, worth £125 million was liquidated, Britain receiving only £87 million. Britain's £1,924 million investments in Canada were sold off to pay for raw materials bought in the United States. To make sure that Roosevelt got his money, he dispatched the American cruiser, 'Louisville ' to the South African naval base of Simonstown to pick up forty two million Pounds worth of British gold, Britain's last negotiable asset, to help pay for American guns and ammunition!. Not content with stripping Britain of her gold and assets, in return for 50 old destroyers, he demanded that Britain transfer all her scientific and technological secrets to the USA. Also, he demanded leases on the islands of Newfoundland, Jamaica, Trinidad and Bermuda for the setting up of American military and naval bases in case Britain should fall. (Of the 50 lend lease destroyers supplied to Britain, 9 were lost in WW11) "
I'm not suggesting the US should have given us anything without payment BTW.
[ 02-18-2003, 08:00 AM: Message edited by: Donut ]