Sanders took the document to General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP), and from there the balance of options was weighed. There was information that America wanted, and on an exclusive basis. That would mean America’s turning its back on the forthcoming war crimes trials and striking a deal, independently of the judiciary proceedings, with the men who had the data. Sanders recalls MacArthur as having said, “Well, if you feel that you cannot draw out the information, we are not given to torture.” So, deprived of the stick of physical duress, the American
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