Posted on 12/06/2006 10:21:02 PM PST by neverdem
On Dec. 7, 1941 - 65 years ago this week - pilots from a Japanese carrier force bombed Pearl Harbor. They killed 2,403 Americans, most of them service personnel, while destroying much of the American fleet and air forces stationed in Hawaii.
The next morning, an outraged United States declared war, which ended less than four years later with the destruction of most of the Japanese empire and its military.
Sixty years after Pearl Harbor came another surprise attack on U.S. soil, one that was, in some ways, even worse than the "Day of Infamy."
Nearly 3,000 people died in the Sept. 11 attacks - the vast majority of them civilians. Al-Qaida's target was not an American military base far distant from the mainland. Rather, they suicide-bombed the United States' financial and military centers.
It's been five years since Sept. 11. After such a terrible provocation, why can't we bring the ongoing "global war on terror" - whether in Afghanistan, Iraq or elsewhere - to a close as our forefathers fighting World War II could?
Is our generation less competent?
Not really. The United States routed the Taliban from Afghanistan by early December 2001. America's first clear-cut victory against the Japanese, at Midway, came six months after Pearl Harbor.
Do we lack the unity of the past?
Perhaps. But we should at least remember that after Pearl Harbor, a national furor immediately arose over the intelligence failure that had allowed an enormous Japanese fleet to approach the Hawaiian Islands undetected. Extremists went further - clamoring that the Roosevelt administration had deliberately lowered our guard as part of a conspiracy to pave the way for America's entrance into the war.
Are we in over our heads fighting in both Afghanistan and Iraq?
Hardly. Within days after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. found...
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
Ping
*December 7th ping*
bttt
bump for later
In 1958, President Eisenhower proclaimed December 7 as Civil Defense Day, a day on which we should spend time learning about the facts of survival in the nuclear age.
good for you! I wish all americans felt the way you do.
And this is the signal characteristic which separates all succeeding wars from World War II. This is what the argument over MacArthur was about during the Korean War. This is why Johnson pussyfooted in Vietnam.(Anyone, especially Victor David Hansen who is given to arguing by historical analogy, who pretends to being a historian should immediately acknowledge that all history clefts with Hiroshima)
And this is why Iran must not be permitted to get the bomb. And this is why Iraq is such a catastrophe: because it has virtually guaranteed that Iran will get to the bomb.
The Pearl Harbor Investigation Listing ,
The "NINE INVESTIGATIONS" in chronological order
including the Joint Congressional Committee report and
the other eight official investigations
into the attack.
The Listing of Additional Files
holds several items that are of interest but weren't included in all of the proceedings.
They have been extracted and made available separately.
Sorry, didn't mean to...
Iran already has it my friend.
True
It's 2:30 in the morning here. (just got up, can't sleep). Thanks for the reminder. My flag just went up too.
Rest in peace, heroes, these many years later. We avenged the infamy that cut short your young lives.
They have been working on one since the mid 90's
It's very possible they do ..
The question is .. do we wait and find out the hard way if they do or not
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