Hope and Fail

Obama: U.S. forced Hirohito to surrender to MacArthur

During an interview for ABC News’ “Nightline,” the president said he wants to avoid the word “victory” because it reminds him of the Japanese surrender during World War II:

MORAN: I want to shift gears here. Afghanistan — this has been the deadliest month for American and NATO troops in Afghanistan ever.

Define victory in Afghanistan, or maybe that’s not the right word.

OBAMA: I’m always worried about using the word “victory” because, you know, it invokes this notion of Emperor Hirohito coming down and signing a surrender to MacArthur.

Well, Emperor Hirohito wasn’t on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri on Sept. 2, 1945. From Gateway Pundit:

On September 2, 1945, on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay, the Japanese envoys Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu signed their names on the Instrument of Surrender. The time was recorded as 4 minutes past 9 o’clock. Afterward, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Commander in the Southwest Pacific and Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, also signed. He accepted the Japanese surrender “for the United States, Republic of China, United Kingdom, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and in the interests of the other United Nations at war with Japan.”