Tom Hanks controversial war comments

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Tom Hanks is catching some flack after making some controversial comments to TIME magazine. Hanks was interviewed about the upcoming World War II miniseries "The Pacific”.

Hanks is on the cover of the magazine, which hits newsstands Friday. The article comes out just two days before the premiere of the HBO miniseries.

Hanks is an executive producer of the series. In his interview with TIME, Hanks said he wants Americans to understand the good and the bad of American history.

Hanks told the magazine, “Certainly, we wanted to honor U.S. bravery in 'The Pacific', but we also wanted to have people say, ‘We didn’t know our troops did that to Japanese people.’”

Hanks went on to say that he believes there are similarities between World War II and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as ‘yellow, slant-eyed dogs’ that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar by any chance, to what’s going on today?” Hanks said.

When Hanks was asked about the miniseries earlier this week he said, “The war in the Pacific was a war of terror and racism, of suicide attacks. Both sides viewed the other side as being subhuman dogs from a civilization that didn’t recognize the advancement of human kind. Sound familiar? Sound like something that might be going on?”

The ten-part HBO miniseries starts Sunday. It highlights battles on Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Mobile natives Dr. Sid Phillips and the late Eugene Sledge are central characters in the series.