To me, while Pearl Harbor and 9/11 had their similarities and differences, they were both seminal attacks on America. Likewise, our reactions were both similar and different.
Some thoughts:
— You did not hear FDR urging Americans to “go shopping” after Pearl Harbor (vs. enlisting).
— After Pearl Harbor, we acknowledged the true nature of the Enemy. We did not say that either Nazism or Imperialism were essentially “peaceful”
— We did not increase immigration from Germany and Japan after Pearl Harbor
— We did not declare war or mobilize as a Society after 9/11
— We did not have the Press cheer for the other side in WWII
— We did not try to fight WWII with a volunteer army
—
And we did not elect a US President named Akitoshi Tojo seven years after the attack, either. :)
Here are some other differences:
1. Germany, Japan, and Italy were established states with millions of soldiers, ten of thousands of combat aircraft, and thousands of ships.
2. Germany, Japan, and Italy posed an existential threat to the western alliance that opposed them.
3. Germany, Japan, and Italy were (and still are)established geopolitical states with significant territories, populations, industrial capacities, natural resources, and financial assets that formed the basis of their military and political power.
4. Germany, Japan, and Italy, although certainly imperfect in their execution, fought the war following the generally accepted rules of warfare.
5. The subordination of the military in Germany, Japan, and Italy to their national civilian political leadership was an established fact.
6. Average daily US military KIA rate during WWII: 299 KIA/day
(407,316 KIA/1364 days (7 Dec 42 through 2 Sep 45)
(Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties#Military_casualties_by_branch_of_service)
(Daily rate calculation is my own.)
7. Average daily US military AND civilian KIA rate during the War on Terror: 2 KIA/day
(10,008/5744 days (11 Sep 01 to present)
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=War_on_Terror&stable=1 (Although very recently edited, I suspect these numbers do not reflect American deaths in the most recent attacks in Europe.))
(Daily rate calculation is my own.)
8. Estimated number of Muslims in the world: 1.5 billion
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_world#Demographics)
9. If x% of the world’s Muslims were terrorists:
a. 1% = 15,000,000
b. 1/10 of 1% = 1, 500,000
c. 1/100 of 1% = 150,000
10. Estimated number of Muslim terrorists: No accurate number available. Highest number cited was 325,000 “subject to extremist radicalization.” Let’s say the estimates are off by 300% and make it an even 1,000,000.
At that figure, Muslim terrorists would constitute less that 1/10th of 1% of the world population of Muslims.
Different kind of enemy, different kind of war.
All this said, it would sure would be nice if the 99.999% of Muslims who are probably not radicalized extremist Muslim terrorists would start sounding off very loudly and continuously that the actions of the terrorists do not represent them or their religion.
Western non-Muslims talking about Islam have no credibility within Muslim communities. The War on Terror won’t end until the Muslim community itself turns anyone preaching, teaching, or practicing terror on behalf of Islam into a pariah and an outcast.