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.
Exit Strategies for Iraq
(The Council on Foreign Relations)
http://www.qando.net/details.aspx?Entry=3050
Remember McGovern's "I'm behind Tom Eagleton 1000%?"
It's pathetic how the Dems think they can hind behind someone's medals to deflect criticism for their boneheaded and sometimes treasonous comments ["How dare you cricitize a decorated veteran such as . . . ]. As Ann Coulter pointed out, they never considered Oliver North's medals and service when they launched into attacks on him, and when liberals call our active troops "Baby Killers" I don't see a lot of outrage from their side.
I'd rather be a Donut Eating Patriot than a Cheese Eating Surrender Monkey.
Caller using the "it all depends upon what the meaning of terrorizing is" defense.
The are an embarrassment. Hateful, liars that care absolutely nothing about this country and it's citizens. All that matters to them is being in control and if flushing this country down the toilet, it's citizens.
Go for it Rush !!!!!!!
A DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS POEM
The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
a lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light.
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam,'
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
"I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?"
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.
Courtesy Subsunk via Blackfive
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2005/12/a_different_chr.html#more
Damn, Rush is back big time. Thank you Dems.
Amen Rush - "I Hate Bush!" is NOT a policy.
Six great grandchildren. How wonderful. My dad was a veteran of both WWI and WWII. He died on Independance Day, 1993. I still miss him.
He nailed that point. Democrats shouldn't be worried about the garbage being spewed by Kerry/Dean etc. because Rush will use their statements to attack them. They should be worried because their WRONG!
LOL On cue.
And Merry Christmas...
What you and Rush say is SO true...I posted last night, that I think these so-called "protests" at her speeches are staged...by HER...(Soros)
Wow... what a legacy, you have big time help in heaven.
One of my buddies sent me 8 emails in the last 3 minutes... geez... worse than Media Matters... lol
They are an embarrassment. Hateful, liars that care absolutely nothing about this country and it's citizens. All that matters to them is being in control and if flushing this country down the toilet, it's citizens is how to accomplish that fact than so be it.
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