Well done, sir.
A side note...I recently read a book that, in part, detailed the build up to WWII. Prior to Pearl Harbor, the vast majority of Americans had no interest in getting involved, in large part due to the propaganda spewed during WW1. Apparently, almost everything the pols and media spoon fed to U.S. people about war atrocities committed by the Triple Alliance were largely exaggerated or totally made up. I was not aware of that. People in the U.S. were adamant about not putting their sons and husbands (and themselves) at risk. If Pearl Harbor (or something like it) had not happened, we may not have become involved until it was too late...if at all.
The mood did start to change after France fell, because up to that point most Americans just assumed it was going to be another long war of attritrion without either side gaining an advantage.
But once France fell, and it looked like the Germans were getting the upper hand, most Americans realized that we’d better start getting prepared.
Pearl Harbor and 9/11 were very similar in many respects in that they were sneak attacks (casualties were comparable) on an unsuspecting nation that could not understand the motive.
We know now that Japan aimed to conquer Asia for resources, wealth, and out of what they believed to be the divine providence of their Emperor.
We know now that Bin Laden and other radical Jihadists attacked us because they hated us and hated that our nation was in the Middle East at all. We did not give them much thought prior to 9/11, but their hatred was clear and they struck very effectively given their resources.
The majority of the nation did not understand either attack and as such, each and every American felt the sting and direct threat to themselves and their fellow countrymen. I still understand the main reason that Bush went into Iraq as he would have been a historical clown had Saddam armed the Jihadists with WMD’s. That is what he was being told, Iraq was not complying with UN inspections, and he acted as he saw appropriately with very few casualties (most self-inflicted).
It is the continued occupation of those nations and the precious blood and resources we have squandered that confounds most of us. Nobody told us before we went there that Rumsfeld’s “shock and awe” meant we were going to blow up 10k bridges with 100k missiles that we would rebuild for 10 million suffering casualties the whole time. It still makes me sick!