Page 88 - Unit 731 Testimony

Soviet veracity was brought into question, as the State Department
compared these accounts of the trial with the Red Army newspaper's earlier
recounting of biological warfare activities. It is apparent that Moscow had

hoped to use the Red Star article as a goad (assisted by the fact that the New
York Times picked up the story, too, and brought it wide publicity back in
the United States): how could the other Allies—specifically the U.S.—
refuse to bring the former members of Unit 731 to trial when their own
citizens had been victimized? The timing of the Russian trial, and the
accounts of it, in which no special pains were taken to emphasize Japan's
use of biological warfare against countries other than the Soviet Union,

supports this viewpoint. The Tokyo war crimes trials had been wrapped up
four months after the appearance of the Red Star article without Ishii or his
cohorts ever making an appearance, and so the Soviets no longer had any
incentive to dwell on any suffering other than their own.

America wanted Ishii, Ishii's group, and the emperor protected. More
than that, it wanted secrecy and exclusivity. The Soviets pressed to bring
them all to trial, so that the secrets America had obtained from the Japanese
could be made available to everyone (especially them). America won. And
Unit 731 made its contribution to the Cold War. One might raise the
question of what role the transfer of Japan's biological warfare potential to
the U.S. played in pushing the Soviets to outdo America in nuclear

capability. Again, Japanese-American collusion has prevented the question
from being asked.