Though arrested at the end of the Second World War, General Shirô Ishii was never prosecuted for his alleged war crimes. Why?

jmatt13

Arrested by the American occupation authorities at the end of World War II, Ishii and Unit 731 leaders received immunity in 1946 from war-crimes prosecution before the Tokyo tribunal in exchange for germ warfare data based on human experimentation. On 6 May 1947, Douglas MacArthur wrote to Washington that "additional data, possibly some statements from Ishii probably can be obtained by informing Japanese involved that information will be retained in intelligence channels and will not be employed as "War Crimes" evidence." The deal was concluded in 1948. Ishii was never prosecuted for any war crimes. He later moved to Maryland where he conducted research into bio-weapons and died of throat cancer at the age of 67. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shir%C5%8D_Ishii Feb 24 08, 6:43 AM