December 7 .......

Today is the anniversary of the second worst attack on American soil in our nation's history. Unlike the 911 attacks and the Ground Zero mosque, the Japanese have not asked to build a Shinto shrine at Pearl Harbor. The Japanese have not announced their intent to break ground on December 7th for such a shrine; nor have they applied for taxpayer funds from a Pearl Harbor Fund for a Shinto Shrine at Pearl Harbor.

The very idea would have been unthinkable. Not anymore.

I suppose now we should be grateful to the Japanese for not building a Shinto shrine at Pearl Harbor or a Nazi memorial outside of Auschwitz -- the Islamic supremacists behind the Ground Zero mosque have taught us to take no act of common decency and human compassion for granted. They have also taught us that there are many different ways to wage a war on a people, a culture, a civilization......

 

The USS Arizona after being hit by torpedoes

The attack on Pearl Harbor. American exceptionalism defeated the enemy.

Victor Davis Hanson back in 2006

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.

[...]

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 itself in a three-front war against Germany, Italy and Japan - an Axis that had won a series of recent battles against the British, Chinese and Russians.

The most obvious is that, against Japan and Germany, we faced easily identifiable nation states with conventional militaries. Today's terrorists blend in with civilians, and it's hard to tie them to their patron governments or enablers in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Pakistan, who all deny any culpability. We also tread carefully in an age of ubiquitous frightening weapons, when any war at any time might without much warning bring in a nuclear, non-democratic belligerent.

The limitations on our war-making are just as often self-imposed. Yes, we defeated the Axis powers in less than four years, but it was at a ghastly cost. To defeat both Japan and Germany, we averaged over 8,000 Americans lost every month of the war - compared to around 50 per month since Sept. 11.

And in those days, peace and reconstruction followed rather than preceded victory. In tough-minded fashion, we offered ample aid to, and imposed democracy on, war-torn nations only after the enemy was utterly defeated and humiliated. Today, to avoid such carnage, we try to help and reform countries before our enemies have been vanquished -putting the cart of aid before the horse of victory.

Our efforts today are further complicated by conflicting Internet fatwas, terrorist militias and shifting tribal alliances; in short, we are not always sure who the enemy cadre really is - or will be.

UPDATE: Go. HERE NOW

Some of the best i have ever seen. John Jay has linked them here via  Barking Moonbat and the Denver Post. Very moving tributes to those who served. 

 

Comments

[elvis]

The Japanese have an ancient tradition of adopting the cultural characteristic of their conquerors. I guess the umah won't be be building baseball parks in the ME despite the propaganda that we are there to give them democracy.

[lilredbird]

The Japanese are grown-ups. Muslims are petulant, bullying children.

Perhaps it will turn out that the only way to get Muslims to grow up will be the same way we got the Japanese to give up the Empire and accept reformation to a democratic form of government. Why so many people refused to confront this fact and take any and all rational action to stop political Islam before it gets to this point would be incomprehensible if people hadn't done the same damn thing about Germany and Japan during the 1930s. It's still incomprehensible, but for whatever small comfort it brings it's not an anomaly and doesn't mean we've been taken over by pod people from outer space. It's the same brand of damnfools as before, they're just ignoring a different rumbling volcano.

[sean]

Our grandparents' generation were educated before the Marxists took over the schools, and had a rather different outlook on life. They would never have tolerated 9/11. Mecca would be heap of smouldering rubble and the Middle eastern oilfields would be seized and occupied by allied forces with any troublemaking inhabitants kicked out.

[American Infidel]

Pamela, what a brilliant and timely assessment. I put out my flag on our house first thing today, to honor all those who fought in WW2 to keep us free, and especially for all those who suffered and died at Pearl Harbor on this day in 1941.

The lesson we have not learned is well-covered in your last paragraph. We must never set about giving aid to and rebuilding any country within which America's enemies have not been thoroughly vanquished and eliminated. I was sickened to read the headline on Drudge today of the American military's new orders to "catch and release" Taliban enemy combatants in Afghanistan. So, then they'll be free to come at us again and kill us the next time, huh, Obama?!!?!? Just like the Jihadist-In-Chief wants!! That is treason, because he is providing aid and comfort to America's enemies in a time of war. He needs to GO!

No more aid to Muslim countries! America's enemies should be dead, not fed!!

[American Infidel]

Sean, exactly.

[jeffery.s.adair@boeing.com]

Just an fyi, the spectacular explosion is I believe the destroyer Sheffield and not the Arizona which is frequently associated with this photo.
Thank God for our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsman. And God bless America.

[allahobama]

BULLDUNG!!! We KNOW EACTLY who the ENEMY is. But the moozlim Communist USURPER is aiding and abetting the ENEMY! Blow the crap out of the moozlim terrorists, leave the terrorist AND all moozlim countries. Blow them to bits from the air. NO AID to ANY country that does not ask for aid AND supports the U.S.

[Stephen Rohaty]

Conflicting Internet fatwas are to our advantage because a house divided against itself cannot stand. We,the Western way of life, shall win this war, in large part because the mohammedans don't have a unified command AND no mohammedan individual has the foresight of Admiral Yamamoto. "If I am told to fight.... I shall run wild for the first six months.... but I have utterly no confidence for the second or third year." THIS sleeping giant is now awake, but still saying, "What's going on?".

[Eso]

The Pearl Harbor Memorial Chapel conducts Shinto services, as it is a multi-faith chapel. Also, there is a Hongwanji (Japanese Buddhist temple) a couple thousand feet from the USS Arizona Memorial. There's also the Rissho Kosei Kai Buddhist Center overlooking the harbor from a mountain nearby.

[john jay]

pamela, jeffery:

the arizona was done in by two plane launched bombs, if memory serves me accurately, one of which penetrated her main deck and several other decks to reach the arizona's main powder magazines.

the ship was partially lifted from the water, broken in two, and sank very quickly.

for many years "scholars" have questioned why the japanese did not "exploit" the pearl harbor attack by sailing to the american west coast. might i suggest that it is a very big ocean, and at the end of such a trip, a very large country.

the japanese planners were smarter than the "scholar's" who questioned them.

john jay
milton freewater, oregon usa

p.s. jeffery.s.adair, ... , what you said.

[Zilla of the Resistance]

Thank you, Japan, for being far classier than the islamic supremacist scumbags that we're dealing with now - including the one in the White House.

[john jay]

friends:

let me add this "post script."--

wwii demonstrated quite convincingly that port is no place for a naval fleet to be. ships belong at sea. simple as that.

the japanese attack at pearl harbor demonstrates very well the peril to which a fleet is exposed if in port. the attack is well known.

two other incidents in wwii, however, involving the final destruction of the vichy french fleet while in port, one attack carried out by the british in algiers, and the other an attempt by the german army to capture the vichy french fleet while in port in toulon, demonstrate the vulnerability of ships not at open sea. interesting articles on these attacks can be found at wikipedia, at the two included links following.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuttling_of_the_French_fleet_in_Toulon , and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_the_French_Fleet_at_Mers-el-Kebir . this post, also related http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dakar .

john jay

[I_Slam_Islam]

September 12, 2001, we should have nuked Mecca. I fear that we will live to regret the fact that we did not.

[Call me Lennie]

According to the Time Life History of WWII book that I had as a kid, the two spectacular explosions a the top of the page are the destroyer Shaw. The immense fireball that the sailors at the airfield are staring at (pic closest to the comments) is the Arizona.

The Arizona was hit by a shell of a 15 in naval gun that was dropped by a fighter bomber. They used this instead of a normal aerial bomb because the 2000 lb shell had more capacity to pierce the armored deck of a battleship. The Arizona's deck was hit at its weakest point by this bomb which went straight into the ship's magazine and touched off one mammoth explosion which broke the ship in two.

[Richard 2]

You have hit the nail on the head, the left has destroyed the educational system in their attempt to conquer the West, now the Moslems are using our ignorance to their advantage.

[Richard 2]

Admiral Yamamoto was a brilliant man, when ask to attack Pearl he told the high command that he could destroy the fleet at Pearl and run wild for 6 months, but after that all was in doubt. The battle of Midway was a little over 6 months later and the Japanese never went on the offensive after that. Of course that was in the days when we believed in winning wars rather then hearts and minds. Gen. MacArthur later said, "In war there is no substitute for victory." we have spent the last 60 years searching for and failing to find a substitute for victory.

[Richard 2]

I agree, but we will need a couple more wake up calls before most people realize we are in a war of survival, if the intelligence professionals I am reading are right those are coming sometime next year. And since Obama will treat them as crimes rather then attacks of war the follow up attacks will get through this time.

[Richard 2]

And they pray for the dead and forgiveness, the Japanese who visit Hawaii go to the Arizona and ask for forgiveness, something the Moslems will never do at any location they won a victory.

[Richard 2]

I predict someone will get around to this in the next decade. Probably not the US but someone else in the West.

[Richard 2]

I had an Uncle in the Philippines in the Army Air Corp, he was in the fighting retreat back to Australia and was the flight engineer on the last plane out of Java before it fell to the Japanese. The family didn't know if he was still alive until he came home with TB and he was disappointed that he was discharged because he could no longer fight, he wanted more revenge.

[LizardAZ]

My father was in the 101st, he was in the jump in Normandy. He fought all over Europe. Luckly he came home. My dad said if it wasn't for Japan hitting Pearl Harbor, FDR wouldn't have helped Europe.

[xavier 823]

The Japanese had planned other attacks, fortunately Admiral Halsey had pull the aircraft carriers out of Pearl days before the attack. Not being able to knock out the American carriers and not knowing where they were the Japs decided not gamble , take the win and run.

Of course if this were to happen today both the major mass media outlets and the countries universities would be finding ways to blame the whole thing on our fault, our racist attitude, our colonial policies, our misunderstandings of the Japanese culture and of course the Jews in dessert of what is now Israel had something to do with it.

[k9gs]

I have also read...don't know if true or not, that it was mentioned that American civilians had guns and they didn't want to deal with that.

[k9gs]

Thanks for remembering Pearl Harbor. I know people that ask "what is Pearl Harbor?"....(and D-Day) It breaks my heart.

[Doug Nicholson]

My Dad, Capt. A.T. Nicholson, USN (Ret.), who passed away in 1996 at 79, was the Officer of the Deck aboard the battleship California the morning of December 7, 1941. He was a lowly ensign, but was in charge of the ship in the absence of the C.O. , who was ashore. Although he's gone, thank God we got him to sit down while we videotaped as he told us about his 30 year Navy career and his experiences that day. He participated in several of the operations pictured here. He was also aboard the light cruiser Columbia in Tokyo bay when the Japanese surrendered on the USS Missouri. I sure like to know how many people were at both Pearl Harbor and Tokyo bay. Probably not many. I don't think I'll ever meet a man I could respect more.

[Tom TB]

In 1941, my father was a college grad starting out in the NYC business world. By V-J day in '45, he had served on two destroyers in both theaters, from North Africa to New Guinea. Bless the men and women of that era; all gave some, some gave all.

[Stephen Rohaty]

I know what you mean. 'Til he died in his eighties, my uncle was bitterly disappointed because the Army stopped him from capturing Berlin. He was a company First Sergeant and his company was at the tip of the spear when they were told to halt in place, the Russians would be allowed to capture Berlin. That MORALE still exists in this country, but the inept government is too dumb to make use of it.

[Stephen Rohaty]

Even worse, German Bunds were politically active among the millions of Germans immigrants on our East coast and they wanted us to join that war on Germany's side.

[Stephen Rohaty]

Not a decade, more likely 2 or 3 years, and MOST likely some mohammedan, from some place like Pakistan. We don't have to nuke the city; one Hellfire is enough to destroy the Kasbaa, indicating allah's displeasure with what mohammedans have done with his religion AND setting those mohammedans into a frenzy of self-slaughter. Where, oh where, is the Red Rascal when we need him? Actually, though, the ONE man operating a drone could start a whole new ballgame for us.

[Stephen Rohaty]

Yes, those follow up attacks will get through, killing hundreds, maybe thousands of us, again. No clown who bows down to a filthy desert arab can possibly understand AMERICA, the GREATEST nation this world has ever known! He does NOT understand us, so cannot possibly work for our best interests. Mohammedans have 2 more years to kick us in the shins until we kick obama OUT of Washington and lop off some heads of OUR choosing.

[karl anglin]

If Obama had been President in 1941,he would
have blamed the attack on Pearl Harbor on
the USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cornell]

Thanks for all these great comments. I hope we learn from them.
Pamela, you have the most intelligent and thoughtful posters in the blogosphere.

[Eso]

You do not know what people think when they pray. You cannot prove that statement. What an arrogant thing to say, that you know what people pray for.

[Eso]

'September 12, 2001, we should have nuked Mecca. I fear that we will live to regret the fact that we did not.' - One of 'the most intelligent and thoughtful posters in the blogosphere'

'The Japanese are grown-ups. Muslims are petulant, bullying children.' - One of 'the most intelligent and thoughtful posters in the blogosphere'

So you support killing thousands of innocent people? You cannot prove (or even think!) that everyone in Mecca supported what those terrorists did on 9/11. How many innocent people would you be willing to kill?

And Muslims are children. That sounds like a mature thing to say.

[not just you EVERYBODY]

start teachin' 'em - get 'em "the 5000 year leap" by skousen