The two authors use a colorful array of language to present their case. It is a dramatic and emotionally compelling work, written in an obviously bias tone, and replete with more logical fallacies than the last Canadian Alliance election platform. Granatstein and Johnston rely on the testimony of unnamed sources, unpublished papers, and blatant hearsay to develop their argument. They do not present one bit of conclusive evidence to support their controversial claims. In this article, the authors attempt to convey their impartiality as students of history. However, their tone, choice of wording and lack of supporting evidence leave the reader with the conclusion that they are biased. Their argument is that those in power were justifiably concerned with the Japanese problem, and that their internment was understandable under the circumstances. They begin by arguing on behalf of the Federal government's actions, however throughout the article they criticize the government for its lack of decisive action. .
The authors first criticize Canada for its lack of reliable intelligence capabilities. It is the authors" contention that the lack of Canadian intelligence resources was responsible for the lack of evidence against the Japanese. This is self-serving reasoning reminiscent of the Spanish inquisition. It is a supposition devoid of reason. It is based upon assumptions and hearsay. It is not in anyway a reliable argument. Although there is evidence, which indicates one government agency's intelligence service was ineffective, there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that they were all so poorly equipped. (Johnson and Granatstein 105). No evidence is provided to account for their assumption that the RCMP, army, navy, or RCAP suffered from the same incompetence. The authors assertion that "there is no reason to believe that the army, navy or air force by 1941 were any less clumsy or more sophisticated in their ability to gather and assess information over Japanese Canadians than the RCMP," rests upon their unproven assumption that the RCMP was totally ineffectual in it's intelligence work (Johnson and Granatstein 104).