Republican Web site defends WWII Japanese internment

Monday, May 24, 2004 - AmericaBlog.org
Republican Web site defends WWII Japanese internment

Texas: http://www.gopusa.com/texas/

Natiional: http://www.gopusa.com/

First I thought this site was a joke. Then I thought these guys were just kooks with a Web site. Now I'm not so sure.

According to USA Today, "GOPUSA.com, a Web site run by Bobby Eberle, a Houston engineer with no previous journalism experience, scored an interview with President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove." Karl Rove doesn't just do interviews with any old kid's Web site.

Here's what the GOPUSA article said, then a look at who they are:

GOPUSA:

We took 120,000 Japanese Americans - two thirds were citizens of the United States - and locked them up during World War II. We put them inside barbed-wire fencing; we didn't strip them of their clothes - we stripped them of their dignity; took them from their homes; caused many to lose their businesses, because we could not take a chance that any one of them might hurt us. None did, but we still couldn't take that chance . . . we were at war.

Emotions were high; we had just been hit like never before, but now we've been hit worse, and we're afraid of humiliating the prisoners?
Bad, huh? Even worse, that paragraph comes in the middle of an essay justifying the torture at Abu Ghraib. These are the people we're fighting against, folks. God I need to write a book exposing these monsters. And by the way, someone needs to now ask Karl Rove if he agrees with this essay.

Among GOPUSA.com's board members:

Bobby Eberle:
- delegate to the Republican convention of 2000
- In 1999, Bobby was recognized with a unanimously approved resolution of commendation by the Republican Party of Texas for service and dedication to the Republican cause.
- He served as President of the Houston Young Republicans, the Director of Club Development of the Texas Young Republican Federation, and as a three-term State Chairman of the Texas Young Republican Federation. On the national level, Bobby served as Chairman of the State Chairmen's Association. Most recently, Bobby served as Vice Chairman at Large of the Young Republican National Federation, Inc.
- Bobby is a member of Texas Christian Coalition and Texas Right to Life

Bill Fairbrother
- Bill currently serves as Chairman of the Williamson County
- At the 2000 Republican Party of Texas Convention, Bill was elected by his fellow county chairs to serve as the Texas Republican County Chairmen's Association's liaison to the State Republican Executive Committee. He was also selected as an alternate delegate to the RNC Convention in Philadelphia.

Kerri Houston
- Based in Dallas, she is director of American Conservative Network, a state outreach project of The American Conservative Union (ACU).

Richard Powell:
- He is a former policy advisor to Texas Governor Rick Perry,