6. The US Grants Immunity to War Criminal in Exchange For His “Research”
Dr. Josef Mengele, the infamous “doctor” in Nazi Germany who conducted “medical experiments” on Jews at Auschwitz, particularly identical twins, tends to get all the credit for medical evils conducted in the twentieth century. His name should not ever be whitewashed, but he was far from the only doctor to perform cruel experiments on unwitting subjects. Enter Dr. Shiro Ishii of Japan, who, beginning in 1932 and until the end of World War II, conducted tests in biological warfare by performing unnecessary surgeries on people without the use of anesthesia.
The experiments of Dr. Mengele were considered to be pseudoscientific at best, but for some reason, the United States wanted the data that Dr. Ishii had gleaned through such horrifyingly cruel means. At the end of World War II when war criminals were being prosecuted, Dr. Ishii and all of his colleagues were scheduled to face a tribunal.
However, Dr. Edwin Hill and General Douglas MacArthur believed that the data on biological warfare was invaluable, especially considering that it could not be gained in the United States because of ethical restrictions. Dr. Ishii was not only granted immunity for his crimes but was also allowed to travel to the United States, where he continued to carry out experiments on biological weapons.
Related: Unit 731: The True Story Behind Japan’s WWII Human Experiment Division.