[Teetop]

Too bad the Arabs didn't remember what Yamamoto said after the attack on Pearl Harbor, "We have awoken the sleeping giant."

[cake_crumb]

"Too bad the Arabs didn't remember what Yamamoto said after the attack on Pearl Harbor, 'We have awoken the sleeping giant.' "

That would entail taking at least partial responsibility for their actions. The Islamakis prefer to whine, cringe and blame US 'imperialism' for their atrocities.

[LS]

Uh, sorry, but "Tora, Tora, Tora," said that, not Yamamoto. He never made the statement. But your point is well taken.

Let's ALL go back to the forcing down of that American plane in China, shall we? Remember all the conservative hawks were clamoring for war and "making China pay?"

Bush quietly, almost embarrassingly, spoke of the Chinese as our "friends" and that this issue would be resolved. It finally was.

Then Bush dropped the other shoe. He sold a slew of weapons (although not Aegis class anti-missile ships) to Taiwan, but even more important, he announced that any attack on Taiwan would initiate immediate American involvement in defending Taiwan! Buh=bye "one China" policy. Attention, "friends": you do not screw us and get away with it.

[George W. Bush]

Too bad the Arabs didn't remember what Yamamoto said after the attack on Pearl Harbor, "We have awoken the sleeping giant."

I've quoted this myself a number of times recently because it so aptly describes the change in American attitude. But upon further research, it seems there is no basis for it as history and can only be traced to the 1970 war film, Tora, Tora, Tora. At least, that's what the historians say. The historians say that Yamamoto actually was thrilled with the attack on Pearl and wrote a poem of celebration to the emperor and didn't reconsider the wisdom of attacking America until much later.

Too bad. It was such a good story. Probably belongs on snopes.com.