Iraq War's Impact Spreads in Arab World

AP | 5/03/03 | PAUL GEITNER

[Cordova Belle]

Post #10

(visualize British parliament) Hear, hear!!!

[Cordova Belle]

I'm having fun, watching this!

[LS]

No, he did not say it. I am a professor of American 20th century history. This is an "urban [pacific] myth." The MOVIE said it.

[LS]

He DIDN'T say it. Even "pop" sources like these sites have mistakenly picked up on this. Look at Spector, "The Eagle Against the Sun." Look at ANY substantive history of the Pacific War. Nagumo said something like "I cannot predict what will happen after six months," but no one ever said anything about a "sleeping giant." Pure Hollywood.

[LS]

This is a WEB PAGE for crying out loud. Give me one established historian of the Japanese empire in the Pacific or WW II who claims this. It is not factual. Amazing how urban legends can even infiltrate the military.

[LS]

The way I learned that this was a phoney is that I got CAUGHT using it by a MILITARY GUY who since became a history prof, teaching military history was reviewing my mansuscript section on WW II, and HE HAD THE SOURCES.

I think Morison's Naval history of WW II correctly cites this. I'm almost certain Gordon Prange's books, "At Dawn We Slept" and "Pearl Harbor: the Verdict of History" discuss this mis-quotation.

[George W. Bush]

Looks like our professor settles it.

Don't feel bad, I was using this quote and paraphrasing it myself until last week. Just too good a line for real life, I think.

[toddst]

Well, it's what Admiral Yamamoto SHOULD HAVE said! Just no sense of history (or something.)

[caltrop]

I'm not referring to the quote about the sleeping giant. As I mentioned, I'm far more interested in the first Yamamoto quote - "You cannot invade the mainland United States. There is a rifle behind every blade of grass."

[LS]

Oh, sorry, I didn't look at every posted link, as I thought they were all further references to the same thing. Yes, this is a good one.

Yamamoto was AT SEA precisely because he had gently resisted the warlords in both the Army and the Navy, and that was his "punishment." Whether he said what is mythically attributed to him, the second quotation is likely accurate. Not that it would have stopped the militarists from trying.

[LS]

Like I said, I myself was "Ambrosed" in the process of a proof reading!

[Libertina]

The U.S. doesn't need to invade any more countries...We've got the message.
Iranian hard-liners are signaling a new willingness to consider the possibility of restoring ties with Washington
Tehran does not want any friction with Washington

My, my, my...Sounds as if the Reagan Doctrine of Peace Through Strength strikes again. Why would liberals think there could ever be "peace" through weakness? Better to be proud and strong. Thank you President Bush.

[Teetop]

Ok, so what you're saying is that the Army is plagiarizing quotes from hollyweird now, and posting them on their web sites? Ok.

I don't know for certain if he said those exact words, but I bet it was something close. He was in the US for many, MANY years leading up to World War 2, he knew what the US was capable of after an attack. So whether he said this exact quote or not, he said something close.

I knew better than to join the Army, that's why I went into the Air Force. (No offense to the Army or the personnel)

[George W. Bush]

I don't know for certain if he said those exact words, but I bet it was something close.

A gracious concession.   ; )

[stevem]

Dillon was the Marshall.

Actually, they made 3 or 4 "made for TV" movies something like 10 years after the series ended. In these movies, Dillon had retired as a US Marshall and had gone into ranching. While I was happy to see they didn't beat the idea to death, these movies were pretty well done and interesting to watch.