Posted on 12/07/2005 8:04:14 AM PST by MNJohnnie
The 7 December 1941 Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor was one of the great defining moments in history. A single carefully-planned and well-executed stroke removed the United States Navy's battleship force as a possible threat to the Japanese Empire's southward expansion. America, unprepared and now considerably weakened, was abruptly brought into the Second World War as a full combatant.
Eighteen months earlier, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had transferred the United States Fleet to Pearl Harbor as a presumed deterrent to Japanese agression. The Japanese military, deeply engaged in the seemingly endless war it had started against China in mid-1937, badly needed oil and other raw materials. Commercial access to these was gradually curtailed as the conquests continued. In July 1941 the Western powers effectively halted trade with Japan. From then on, as the desperate Japanese schemed to seize the oil and mineral-rich East Indies and Southeast Asia, a Pacific war was virtually inevitable.
By late November 1941, with peace negotiations clearly approaching an end, informed U.S. officials (and they were well-informed, they believed, through an ability to read Japan's diplomatic codes) fully expected a Japanese attack into the Indies, Malaya and probably the Philippines. Completely unanticipated was the prospect that Japan would attack east, as well.
The U.S. Fleet's Pearl Harbor base was reachable by an aircraft carrier force, and the Japanese Navy secretly sent one across the Pacific with greater aerial striking power than had ever been seen on the World's oceans. Its planes hit just before 8AM on 7 December. Within a short time five of eight battleships at Pearl Harbor were sunk or sinking, with the rest damaged. Several other ships and most Hawaii-based combat planes were also knocked out and over 2400 Americans were dead. Soon after, Japanese planes eliminated much of the American air force in the Philippines, and a Japanese Army was ashore in Malaya.
I bet he starts the show by showing us a donut, or eating one on air!
In case you didn't see it earlier:
Fahrenheit 1861
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1153159073739939801&q="michael%20moore"&pr=goog-sl
BTW - I think our present batch of service people are showing "greatest" traits their children will be proud of!
God bless the soul of this man, one of our heroes.
Pearl Harbor
http://www.worldwar2database.com/html/us_war.htm
Please visit site today, amazing video, audio and pictures:
http://www.worldwar2database.com
Bamp, bamp, ba-da-da-daaaaa, dant-dant, dant-dant, dant-dant, da
Bamp, bamp, ba-da-da-daaaaa....
I wondered how that "Commander in Chief" show was doing. Not to well, it seems :)
Thanks for the great links!
Rush, prepare for battle:
http://oldbluejacket.com/General_Patton_Message.htm
The Big Black Book of Saddam's Horrors
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=20458
Paging John O'Neill
"The Big Black Book of Saddam's Horrors "
Sure to be on the NY Times Best Seller list! /sarcasm
Rush eats Boston Cream Puffs and spits them out. They taste like Ketchup. LOL!
If it goes off the air, my Mother in Law will be depressed.
Now I get the donuts comment. Guess that happens when working this 5 to 5 shift, can't listen to very much.
Boston cream puff...tastes like ketchup...LOL
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