The American Spectator

home
ADVERTISEMENT
Print Email
Text Size

Special Report

Days of Infamy

By on 12.7.11 @ 6:10AM

Marking the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, we cannot fail to remember another day of treacherous attack.

(Page 4 of 4)

Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack … Our first priority is to protect our citizens at home and around the world from further attacks. … We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.

And a few days later, addressing Congress on September 21, he explained the situation as he understood it: 

… Tonight, we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom. Our grief has turned to anger and anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.

… we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.…

Almost 60 years earlier, on December 8, 1941, President Roosevelt, too, had become a war president and as such addressed Congress:

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

… No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

One of the heroes at Pearl Harbor was Doris “Dorie” Miller, cook (and heavyweight boxing champ) on the USS West Virginia (one of the battleships that was sunk but eventually repaired and sent back to the war), who grabbed a fallen anti-aircraft gun and kept firing even as dive bombers were coming at him and putting torpedoes in the ship’s hull. Miller was awarded the Navy Cross by Admiral Nimitz personally, who noted he was the first “member of his race” so honored. He died in action in the Gilberts in 1943, aboard the escort carrier Liscome Bay. Manning Kimmel, the admiral’s son, went down with his submarine off the Philippines island of Palawan.

Men like these made that “absolute victory,” perhaps not inevitable, but most likely, as did the men who went after Osama bin Laden and persisted until they found him and killed him, as they have done to his deputies and his followers. Admiral Yamamoto went down with his aircraft in 1943, ambushed by American fighter planes following a radio intercept. At the crash site he was found gripping his katana.

Today, though, we can give some thoughts to those of our people who were lost on those days of infamy. Nearly 3.000 sailors and soldiers were killed during the two waves of Japanese attacks involving over 300 planes. In the attack on the World Trade Center, 2,600 were killed. Three hundred fifty New York City firefighters and 25 New York City policemen gave their lives to rescue and protect others during the attack. One hundred thirty military personnel and civilian employees were killed at the Pentagon.

We remember the great global war as one in which our nation was united and purposeful, and while this is a fair memory, we should not let the more ambiguous nature of today’s conflict enervate us or undercut our will to prevail against our enemies and preserve the last and best hope for a free civilization on this earth. 

Page: ‹ First   2 34

About the Author

Roger Kaplan, a Washington-based writer, covers the Middle East and Africa (and tennis) for The American Spectator.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (141) |

Appleby| 12.7.11 @ 7:06AM

My Daddy enlisted in the Army Air Corps days after December 7, 1941, and the 5 of his brothers who were old enough joined up in the other services. Daddy was 21 years old and weighed under 98 lb. -- underweight but they winked their eyes and let him pass. Here he had the first bed he had ever slept in alone, and within 3 months he had gained 50 lb. as he finally got sufficient good food. He was trained as a Weatherman and spent the War ahead of the Front Lines, bringing in the planes with their troops, their bombs, and their goods to keep the battle going in Europe. He met Mama at the USO, and in 1946 when he mustered out, they were married. The atom bomb saved him from service in the Pacific, whence he was headed when the news of Surrender came.

Like the young men (and women) who head off to battle today, he had everything to lose in heading off to a war at his age -- and remember in those days more young men were killed in 5 minutes than died in the entire Afghan campaign, and nobody knew until a week later what had actually happened Over There.

When they came back from that war, America had a 20 lap lead over the ruins of Europe and Asia, and thanks to Daddy and his brothers (all of whom came home, raised large families, and rebuilt Europe and Asia) America had twenty years of unprecedented prosperity that for some reason Americans thought was now the new normal.

The rest of the world caught up and here at the end of the race a lot of the cars are crashing out; but America has not yet caught on that we have squandered that 20 lap lead and now we are on the same lap as the rest of them; it will take all the running we can do just to stay in the race.

But Daddy and his brothers, and millions of fathers and brothers, risked everything to give us the world we grew up in, and today I will say a prayer of thanksgiving that I was able to live in the times when young men with everything to lose risked it all -- not to squat in a public park and shriek for more toys, but to save the world so we could go out and earn our own.

Jack in Wi| 12.7.11 @ 7:22AM

Mr Kaplan writes a pile of nonsense, using Pearl Harbor, to try to justify the disasterous American foreign policy of th last 20 years. The sanctions against Japan were a prelude to the world war that Roosevelt had long desired. He turned down numerous serious peace offers and offers for serious negotiations with the peace party in Japan. They were forced out by the war party.

Herbert Hoover's great, new, revisionist history written 50 years tells the true story of Pearl Harbor and what led us into WW2. There was a great review of this important book in this magazine last week. It is too bad Mr. Hoover did not publish this in his lifetime. It might have saved us from some of the disasters of the last 50 years. No serious student of American History should miss reading this book.

Mike Hawk| 12.7.11 @ 7:38AM

Your ignorance and stupidity is appalling, but it's yours. So revel in it to your own disgrace.

Lee Ghume| 12.7.11 @ 8:08AM

My guess is the dumbass in Wisconsin has not read the HH book, either.

Jack in Wi| 12.7.11 @ 8:46AM

I am reading Hoover's book of indictment of the criminal Roosevelt right now. Everyone should read it. But it is a huge undertaking for the warmongers here, who have trouble reading a comic book.

Lee Ghume| 12.7.11 @ 9:59AM

Does Hoover's book have pictures? At least the stories of Big Al, Little Al, and Charley Cigar had plenty of drawings to accompany the dialogue.

Al Adab| 12.7.11 @ 11:55AM

Ummm guys, While the Hoover book is out, and interesting, isn't it a little late in the day to be debating Americas' entry into WWII? Its been over for a while as I recall. The shoulda, coulda, woulda aspects might be fun but profit little.

$# should have taken the country to War after 9-11 instead of occupying and attempting nation building. That too is water under the dam. The question for us is whether we can and how we might save the Liberties of and the American concept of government as protector rather than master of free people. Failure now ends the experiment and will prove for ages to come that self-government is not possible.

Mac Jehoff| 12.7.11 @ 3:22PM

Fractured metaphor alert: Water goes over the dam, then under the bridge or verse vice-a. Water under the dam means catastrophe.

Al Adab| 12.7.11 @ 4:41PM

Thank you Mac. ESL you know. Aside from metaphors, contractions are about the worst to understand.

Occam's Tool| 12.8.11 @ 1:37PM

Apparently, the bodies of 274 air force personnel were disposed of in a dump before 2008, when the practice was stopped.

I honor those who fought against the inhuman Japanese Empire.

Mr. Hoover was a grossly incompetent President Good at relieving famine, crap at everything else..

Lee Ghume| 12.7.11 @ 3:26PM

Yo Mike, I was right. He didn't read the book yet.

Jack in Wi| 12.7.11 @ 4:14PM

The hero's of Neut Gingrich are Woodrow Wilson and FDR. What the hell is he doing in the Republican party? Well I guess Woody, Frankie, and Neut had a lot in common. They we all adulterers, who loved big goverment, and chickenhawks who loved big wars, as long as they didn't have to shed, any of their own blood.

The vast majority of Americans were against another war, because they thought that they had been lied into WW1. They would have nothing to do with Roosevelt's try to provoke Germany into attacking us. Main street conservative, Democrats and Republicans were against any American involvement. Manipulating Japan into an attack was the only way he could get the nation to move his way. Numerous books have detailed how Roosevelt knew about the planned attacks and did nothing about it. Hoover's book is just the latest.

Jack in Wi| 12.7.11 @ 6:47PM

Another Great book about Pearl Harbor and what Roosevelt knew and what he did about it is ' Day Of Deceit ' by William Stinnet. It is another must read for anyone intrested in the subject.

Jack in Wi| 12.7.11 @ 8:43AM

The entrance of Ameerica into WW2 was opposed by about 80% of the population. The only way Roosevelt could get us into the war was to provoke the Japanese. Any serious student of the subject knows all that.The idiots who name call here have no other way of showing their ignorance. Read the book and a couple dozen more and then come back to make a serious comment. The truth will set you free baby. By the way, the ancestor of the owner of this magazine was one of those pepople who opposed Roosevelt's efforts to get us into this mess. Read the great review of Hoover's book in this magazine last week.

canuckistani| 12.7.11 @ 9:52AM

Instead of demonizing the guy, is he factually correct or not?
Did FDR need a pretext to getting into the ETO or not?
Kaplan makes the loose parallel to 9/11, so it is now open to debate as to whether Junior et al needed a pretext to staging an attack on Saddam.
To deny the relevance of Wolfowitz's pronouncement a "Pearl Harbor level incident" would be required to adequately engage the American people in this operation is a wanton disregard for intellectual honesty.

I do not believe either allegation has been comprehensively refuted and are seemingly casualties to the "fog of war".
As spectators, we have a duty to insure the record is clear on these historical events.

Iran is next with the drumbeats from neocons starting to envelope our senses.

chuck| 12.7.11 @ 10:56AM

Are you saying that Bush was behind 9/11?

PolishKnight| 12.7.11 @ 11:45AM

I don't think he was if only he would have been more prepared when he received the news in the schoolroom. His face looked quite surprised so if he was a dunce as the left portrays him to be, he was quite a smart dunce.

What we know of the left is that they are ruthless. The word socialism has been associated with the murder of 30 to 80 million human beings with FDR's ally responsible for about 20 million of them. FDR has Soviet spies on his staff. FDR had the press repressing news that he was in a wheelchair. The Democrat party of the time, and today, are corrupt to the core engaging in crony politics with Blagojovech scheduled today to receive jail time.

They are capable of anything.

It would surprise me one bit if FDR, or one of his henchmen, got an intelligence warning from our allies about PH and simply chose to discard it hoping that the worst would happen and they would just say it got lost in transit.

canuckistani| 12.7.11 @ 2:46PM

Not at all, but was that event used as an impetus to include Saddam as a prime target? That's my question. If true, then more reflection is needed on why the American people could not be convinced by any other means. In 1941, Americans were quite prepared to wait for uboats to be parked on the Hudson before committing.

The security failures of 9/11 exposed, rightly, the gaps in the security net that did not account for low-tech suicide missions. This lapse was on previous admin's watches and was finally addressed on Junior's watch with better surveillance and security protocols not just here but worldwide.

I had been to Tel Aviv and Belfast airports prior to 9/11, and never felt safer. Their security program is seamless, unintrusive and focuses on conveying passengers through the terminal and filtering out likely issues. The door closes and you can be as sure as possible that you will not be harmed my nefarious parties.

Occam's Tool| 12.8.11 @ 1:38PM

Yup, Israel does it correctly. Pity you want them destroyed.

J.C.Eaton| 12.8.11 @ 12:37PM

"The idiots that name call here....." Priceless

Paul Bot| 12.7.11 @ 12:20PM

We were upsetting Japanese policy goals which forced them to attack us. It was again our fault and we needed to comply with Japanese needs and desires to avoid this unnecessary war. This is how we put America first. We identify rogue states and then do what they want. Somehow this had something to do with Israel as all of our unnecessary wars did.

chuck| 12.7.11 @ 8:28AM

...........................................................
...........................................................
...........................................................

See why I'm shunning this dumb ass?

Timothy L. Pennell| 12.7.11 @ 8:41AM

Oh my God. Chuck has become infected with POST AMERICAN Syndrome.
I knew this was gonna happen.
Everybody. Get under the desks!

chuck| 12.7.11 @ 9:18AM

Actually I'm trying to get everyone to just completely ignore Jack. I know it pisses him off, so he has to say things that are progressively more and more stupid, just to get people to react to him. Today, Pearl Harbor Day, he is saying that WWII was our fault. Wonder what kind of lunacy he will be spouting tomorrow.

I lost the tin hat a long time ago, and I think PA has cornered the market on tin foil.

canuckistani| 12.7.11 @ 10:10AM

Pearl Harbor was not our fault, it was a criminal act, but like 9/11, we were caught with our pants down...again.
The Pacific Fleet was situated at Pearl for the expressed reason to intimidate the Japanese. For us to be so completely caught off guard was a total failure of logistics, leadership and communication. The separation of battle ships from carriers and Short's ineptitiude at prepping ground defenses made the events even more aggravating.

As far as the pretext for the Jap attack, the US made their bed by siding with the French and Chinese, and Japan made the fatal error of signing the tripartite act removing any diplomatic solution altogether.

W| 12.7.11 @ 4:20PM

canuck,
Pearl Harbor was an act of war, not a criminal act.
Are you saying that we deserved the attack because we sided with the French and Chinese, whatever that means?
You are an asshole.

Con Chef (NB) | 12.7.11 @ 4:36PM

Acts of war against us are always "criminal" acts to regressives & Paulites. When WE do things like that to other countries, THEN its "war," "nation building" & "militirism."

Occam's Tool| 12.8.11 @ 1:40PM

Criminal in the sense of deserving a civilian, not a military, response, right Con?

Nick| 12.8.11 @ 1:35AM

Tom Hagen: "Well, we should've expected it after the oil embargo."

Sonny Corleone: "What do you mean, expected it? They got no right dropping bombs. What are you, a Jap lover? You on their side?"

Occam's Tool| 12.8.11 @ 1:39PM

Chuck---you're prime, my man. Merry Christmas if I don't see your commentary before then.

Quartermaster| 12.8.11 @ 7:21PM

I don't know what you lost, but it wasn't the tin hat. The lot of you have proven unable to refute the man. Don't say you've tried because all you've done is engage in playground "rhetoric." If you had been able to refute him, you would have done so.

Until then, you have described yourselves and not Jack.

C Smith| 12.7.11 @ 12:10PM

“In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way” ” (Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as quoted in None Dare Call It Conspiracy, Gary Allen & Larry Abraham, 1971).

“They hit us harder than we expected” (Eleanor Roosevelt, as quoted in Harry Elmer Barnes (editor), Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: A Critical Examination of the Foreign Policy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Its Aftermath, 1953).

"Yesterday, December 7, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy...." (Franklin Delano Roosevelt before Congress seeking a declaration of war against Japan, December 8, 1941)

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2007
For God and Country

That’s my father on the right with a string on his finger. On the left his younger brother David on leave from the Navy. Together again with their sister on that all so familiar Missouri farm late in November. The “Dust Bowl Days” were past and “Great Depression” over. It had been a wonderful time, that Thanksgiving of 1941. And it was after 2 AM as my father gently triggered the camera shutter. A few hours later, David was gone.

The U.S.S. Oglala, bucking the waves under full power, urgently propelled toward its Pacific destination. It had to arrive at the appointed time. However, fatigue eventually had its toll on the minelayer, a WW1 converted passenger steamer. Silently adrift, it summoned assistance. After a tow cable was attached and the feverish pace resumed, David commented to his superior: “If we go any faster that cable is ‘gona’ snap.” And “snap” it did!

The U.S.S. Oglala entered Pearl Harbor during the early morning hours of December 7, the last to arrive. It moored “side by side” with the U.S.S. Helena, completing the formation of "Battleship Row."

And as the sun rose on “December 7, 1941,” most of the Oglala crew, including her commanding officer, was still “out on the town.” However, the men in the boiler room, the cook, the second in command, and a few others including David were at their stations. When the sound of revving planes and whistling bombs punctuated the morning tranquility, General Quarters was sounded. The second in command screamed, “Man the Guns”! David screamed back: “What guns”! Someone found the keys, unlocked the magazine, and after some fumbling a 3"/50 cal. A.A. gun and three .30 cal. machine guns were manned and returning fire.

Then as several enemy planes strafed the deck, David remembered one flying low and amidships. Then a torpedo and its contrail as it converged on the Oglala. It would soon be over! The Oglala lifted out of the water, but he was still alive! The submerged munition had gone under the Oglala and struck the Helena on the other side.

They continued firing, reporting some “definite hits.” However, the Oglala’s hull had ruptured and was flooding rapidly. For an hour and a half the meager crew was uninterrupted in returning fire as the Oglala continued to list to her port side. 5°, 10°, 15°, 20°. Then as the commanding officer finally returned, the Oglala listed to its side, and those who could swam away.

Back on a farm in Missouri, a family had but one thought: “Was he alive.” The phone was never unattended. A speaker in the kitchen was connected remotely to the wireless in the library. And as hours turned to days, a mother listened and waited. And during the days before Christmas, sleep was haunted by the thought of “tapping” sailors trapped in the hulls of sunken ships….

http://popularapostasy.blogspo.....h?q=string

Herb| 12.7.11 @ 8:14AM

I too give thanks to my Dad for his WWII service and thirty-three additional years in the Army, and the blessings of our way of life that he and his comrades helped to secure. I am also thankful that the atomic bomb was used to shorten the war since Dad's infantry unit was ready to ship out for the Pacific from occupied Germany when V-J Day was announced. I'm here because of that.

Thanks, Dad, and I miss you.

PCC| 12.7.11 @ 9:33AM

Thank you, Herb. My father was also ready to ship out, from the West Coast, when the bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, saving the lives of a million Allied soldiers, and, by the way, millions of Japanese as well.

God bless you, Harry Truman, and all those who served in WW II.

BGP| 12.7.11 @ 5:24PM

My fater was also in WW2 and was going to be sent to the pacific, I think there is a high probability that I nor my children would not be here but for the A-bomb, So a TY to Harry also

chuck| 12.7.11 @ 8:26AM

Appleby,

Thanks for your thoughts, and if your father is still with us, hug him and thank him for all of us. If he is gone, cherish the memory of the great deed that he your uncles did for this nation. We are all in their debt.

And please just ignore these ignorant asses who try to blame the US for war. Did we make the Japs invade China, commit the rape of Nanking? Did we make them commit all the evil that they perpetrated on the nations they invaded? Did we force the Nazis and the Fascists to invade Poland, Belgium,France, most of Europe, and North Africa?
There is evil, pure evil in the world. Always has been, always will be. Thank God for men like your father and your uncles(I have an uncle who served in the Pacific, my father was 15 at the end of the war) who put their lives at risk to fight against it.

Legacy America | 12.7.11 @ 6:36PM

Chuck: Well said. As we recount the events of our involvement in WWII, we need to remember the horrific events occurring in Europe and Asia before the US got involved. Had America not taken up arms, imperial totalitarianism would have eventually landed on our shores and the world would likely be a far different place today, our loses unfathomable.

A recent reminder in Germany of the evolution of genocide in Europe in 1940, before America joined the conflict.
http://www.welt.de/kultur/hist.....njagd.html

Con Chef (NB) | 12.7.11 @ 12:45PM

Appleby, G*d bless you & your family for your service to our nation! Thank you.

Alan Brooks| 12.7.11 @ 8:31PM

What we did to Vietnam was as ugly as what Japan did to China.

GW| 12.7.11 @ 10:57PM

What, try and help the S. Vietnamese achieve freedom while preventing the spread of Communism? You are a retard. If anything, we were too nice, and that is why we lost. Go to Cuba you anti-American p*ssy.

Lawrence D. Cannon| 12.7.11 @ 7:26AM

World War Two was a total anomaly, in that it was the only American war where almost everybody supported it.

There were strong anti-War movements, or even open rebellion against, the US since the Revolution...Loyalists, Yankees threatening to secede in 1812, Abe Lincoln being anti-War in the Mexican War, Democrats during the Civil War, Communists and Socialists during WW I, etc.

Looking back at the past 10 years, I now understand why- the biggest event of the war wasn't Pearl Harbor, but June 22, 1941- the day National Socialist Adolf Hitler stabbed fellow-traveler Joseph Stalin in the back and invaded Russia. Suddenly, Saving the Left's Hero-Nation became all-important.

This explains why Lefties and even normal Pacifists all stood solidly behind Roosevelt and the War Effort. If it wasn't for Hitler invading Russia, the anti-War effort would've been just as strong as it was during the Vietnam War.

Timothy L. Pennell| 12.7.11 @ 8:27AM

I wonder what Ron Paul would say about Pearl Harbour? I know what he says about 911. He blames US. Our Foreign Policy. Our Friendship with Israel. Our Military Presence in the Middle East.

He DOESN'T mention our Bombing of Serbia, stopping the Mass Murder of thousands of Muslims. He doesn't mention that it was US, who made it possible for the Defeat of the Soviets, in Afghanistan. It was the UNITED STATES who came to the aid of the Muslim Victims of the Indonesian Tsunami.

No. It was our fault.

Someone from Wi should ask him about PEARL HARBOUR. Was that our fault, as well? I know that some Historians will say that the Japan lashed out, because of Sanctions that we put in place on Scrap Metals, and other resources that Japanese were in need of. Even at the WWII Monument, in D.C. there was an attempt at a Moral Equivalence, between US and THEM. "If only we had done things differently."

Maybe Clint can tell us? Maybe he can call Jackass in Wi? They can tell us if Ron Paul, when he's not LINING HIS POCKETS with EARMARKS, thinks that it's always our fault, when we're attacked? Maybe he wants to DISBAND our Armed forces? It's been done before.

Whatta ya say, guys? What is this idiot's position on OUR RIGHT to defend ourselves from all Enemies, both Foreign and Domestic? And, how much in Earmarks, has this Charlatan taken in, over the years?

We look forward to that number.

chuck| 12.7.11 @ 8:32AM

Spot on, again, TLP.

Ever notice how these Paul-bots, the self-proclaimed "true conservatives" have so many positions that mirror the leftists?

Jack in Wi| 12.7.11 @ 8:52AM

Chuckie the leftists wanted us in WW2 especially after Hitler attacked his partner Stalin. The people against the war were sane and sober conservatives like Mr. Hoover, the Kennedy's, and Charles Lindbergh.

DTOM| 12.7.11 @ 11:50AM

Now there's an impressive list.

Gee, wasn't Joe Kennedy an anti-Semitic, Hitler admiring, Joe Stalin loving bootlegger? Yes, he was. Now there's somebody to listen to.

So, I submit that Joe Kennedy was neither sober nor sane, but a criminal, embracing and embraced by that lover of the Constitution, the Supreme Court-packing FDR.

How can you possibly quote Joe Kennedy as a conservative?

Back to the drawing board.

Sorry, chuck, massive, ignorant stupidity that confused cannot be ignored.

Al Adab| 12.7.11 @ 11:59AM

Too many of the Libertarian policies bleed over into those of The eft. It is the error of Libertarians that they reject the concept of moral absolutes and fail to recognize that governments are instituted to protect our rights by recognizing the moral order necessary for a societies consensus.

Al Adab| 12.7.11 @ 12:01PM

Sorry, The Left.
I'm wearing out the "L" on my keyboard.

DTOM| 12.7.11 @ 12:24PM

Wouldn't it be great if we could get the "eft" the "L" outta here! HeeHaw.

Al Adab| 12.7.11 @ 12:28PM

LOL, thanks I needed that.

chuck| 12.7.11 @ 1:13PM

No problem, I almost had to break my own rule not to respond to dimwit about the Kennedy comment. Old man Joe loved Hitler and thought England should join his cause, or at least stay neutral and allow Hitler to have a free reign.

Timothy L. Pennell| 12.7.11 @ 8:35AM

I can't believe it. No sooner do I submit MY Comment, than I see that JACKASS in Wi, has already done what I knew he would do.

Hey Jack. Look out! There's a Jew behind that rock. KILL HIM!

That was brought to you buy a Children's Book, used to "Teach" Arab Children. A Book that Barry Soetoro surely read, in the 11 Years, he lived in Indonesia.

A Christmas Gift Idea, for Jackass in Wi.

Jack in Wi| 12.7.11 @ 8:58AM

Timmy boy how many Jews were saved by our entrance into WW2? Hitler put in his plan for killing the Jews in early 1942, when he saw he might be going down himself. Before that he was willing to let the Jews go from his empire, much like the Soviets did in the 70's and eighties. Like I say sane and sober policy could have negotiated the Jews out of Hitler's clutches.

DTOM| 12.7.11 @ 12:36PM

Jacque en Wisconsin, si'l vous plait!

BGP| 12.7.11 @ 5:36PM

No, He was only staving them in the camps and Ghettos (Warsaw Ghetto set up in 1940 for example)

Clint| 12.7.11 @ 10:49AM

Dr.Ron Paul,
" I have never voted for an earmark. I voted against all appropriation bills. So, this whole thing about earmarks is totally misunderstood.
Earmarks is the responsibility of the Congress.
If you cut off all the earmarks, it would be 1 percent of the budget. But, if you vote against all the earmarks, you don't cut one penny. That is what you have to listen to. We're talking about who has the responsibility, the Congress or the executive branch?

I'm saying, get it out of the hands of the executive branch. Just listen again about what I have said about the TARP funds. We needed to earmark every penny. Now we gave them $350 billion, no earmarks, and nobody knows..."

Dr.Ron Paul Gets It About Earmarks & Congress Having It's Responsibility Usurped By The Executive Branch.

The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here And In Iowa.

chuck| 12.7.11 @ 11:02AM

No, he just makes sure his pork, er... I mean earmarks are in the legislature that will pass even with his no vote. This allows him to bring home the bacon, while still sticking to his sanctimonious "I voted against it".

Paul is a friggin' HYPOCRITE!

Clint| 12.7.11 @ 11:34AM

Asked & Answered.

His District Voters Know That Dr.Ron Paul Has Never Voted For An Earmark Or An Appropriations Bill, On A Principled Constitutional Stand,Where Congress Has Allowed The Executive Branch To Usurp It's Constitutional Responsibility To Account For And Allocate Every Penny Of The Tax Payers Money.

Now, Tell Us About Congress Allowing The Executive Branch To Piss Away Tax Payer Money For TARP , RINO-CINO Flunkie Stooge chuckie.

The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here And In Iowa.

chuck| 12.7.11 @ 11:40AM

I was never for TARP, it was certainly the final nail in the McCain coffin.

Still doesn't change the fact that Paul gets his pork stuck in there with everything else.

Are you telling me that 100% of the money spent in his district is authorized by enumerated powers in the Constitution? If yes, my apologies to Dr. Paul. If not, then he's a friggin' HYPOCRITE!

Clint| 12.7.11 @ 12:03PM

Asked & Answered.

"In the United States legislative appropriations process, Congress is required, by the limits specified under Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution, to pass legislation directing all appropriations of money drawn from the U.S. Treasury."

Now Apologize, chuckie.

The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here And In Iowa.

chuck| 12.7.11 @ 1:22PM

The Question was
"Are you telling me that 100% of the money spent in his district is authorized by enumerated powers in the Constitution? If yes, my apologies to Dr. Paul. If not, then he's a friggin' HYPOCRITE!"

Somehow I believe that some of that money goes for pork-barrel projects, you know the type, funding for some research, building a library, or funding maybe, armadillo reproduction studies. None of this crap is authorized by the Constitution, so if he brought any money back home for crap like that, then he is a friggin' HYPOCRITE!
I'll apologize when you prove me wrong.

GW| 12.7.11 @ 11:00PM

Exactly. Ron Paul has his cake and eats it too. You either have principles or you don't.

Jack in Wi| 12.7.11 @ 8:49AM

Pearl harbor could have been avoided just like every conflict we have been involved in since the Revolution by sane policy and sober leadership. Idiocy is not learning from history and repeating your mistakes.

DTOM| 12.7.11 @ 11:57AM

You betcha! We could have surrendered dozens of times. That would have ended all those wars, in a jiffy. Bonus! We wouldn't have to listen to Jack, either. At least not in English, probably in German or Japanese.

Oh and we could have surrendered Ft. Sumter and Obama would be somebody's slave! Yea, that's the ticket.

No, wait. We could've surrendered to the English in 1812.

No, wait, we could have surrendered to the Dey of Tripoli in 1802 and become Libyan citizens.

Oh, no wait. We should have just surrendered at Valley Forge.

Jack! You are misspelling your own name! Isn't it supposed to be Jacques?

Jack, really. Do you ever listen to what you say?

Al Adab| 12.7.11 @ 12:21PM

Poor Jack, blinded by his Paulist ideology. Every generation at some point has to make the choice to submit to tyranny or to stand at great risk against it. Sadly, today, that choice comes down to opposing the tyranny of our own government. If ballots fail us, what alternatives are left?

One correction, Obama is not a descendant of slaves. His father was a foreign national, a Kenyan not an American.

DTOM| 12.7.11 @ 12:33PM

When one considers the consequent impact of alternative outcomes of earlier events, you have to make some implicit assumptions. I did make the implicit assumption that Barack Senior would have been 'imported' here as often occurred in the 1700 - 1850's. Naturally BHO, Sr. would not have been wed to the Hawaiian bankers's daughter either. So there would be no BHO. So now, I ask you for a little slack...Thanks.

Al Adab| 12.7.11 @ 1:47PM

Imagine, a world without BHO. Dreams can come true.

W| 12.7.11 @ 4:23PM

AL Adab
Kenya has demanded a DNA test and wants to see the original birth certificate.

Al Adab| 12.7.11 @ 4:45PM

W, :)

chuck| 12.7.11 @ 1:27PM

Jack is the kind of guy that if he was walking down the street, and saw Grandma getting mugged, he would look the other way. None of his business, sorry Grandma, you shouldn't have been here anyway. Besides, you look like a JOOOOOOOO!

Jack is not the kind of guy you would like for a neighbor.

Clint| 12.7.11 @ 10:46AM

Dr.Ron Paul,
"I would ask Congress for a Declaration of War against Iran, if necessary".

Gee, imagine A President, who would go to Congress and get A Declaration Of War, like Roosevelt did in 1941.

Ronald Reagan,
"Ron Paul is one of the outstanding leaders fighting for a stronger national defense. As a former Air Force officer, he knows well the needs of our armed forces, and he always puts them first. We need to keep him fighting for our country."

The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here And In Iowa.

Al Adab| 12.7.11 @ 12:23PM

Clint:
43 got a declaration of war from Congress, they simply called it an authorization of force. even Hillary voted for it, remember?

Clint| 12.7.11 @ 5:09PM

Then You Shouldn't Have A Problem With Dr.Ron Paul Asking For A Declaration Of War Against Iran, If Necessary.

The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here And In Iowa.

JFGalt| 12.7.11 @ 1:03PM

Do your homework on Ron Paul before you RINOs or Newtons automatically disparage us. Ron Paul is not a total pacifist, he supported going into Afghanistan because we had a clear enemy. Iraq was ephemeral at best and proved to be so. I think he would have supported WW2 as a righteous war and you will find few who think otherwise even with possible trechery on our side - war was inevitable. The enemies were open, notorious and plainly evil. Many of our enemies today are as well, but if you are stupid enough to believe that American foreign policy around the globe has no ill effects on those it is directed to then you should lose your right to vote because you are simply to stupid to be allowed to walk the streets unescorted otherwise you would probably walk yourself into the path of a bus. Does it make their reactions justified? Not to us but then think about how you would feel if the Russians had 20 military bases on our soil. While I enjoyed many aspects of this article, I must say that it sounds like another in a series of articles that have been coming out beating the drums of war for a coming Middle East conflict that is obviously heating up. The propaganda machine is out full force feeding us the pablum that some many are greedily scarfing up. You're all ready to fight to the last ounce of your neighbor's child's blood to defend American interests in Syria, Iran or Pakistan. All the while there is an army of interested parties here at home ready to become even wealthier from that spilled blood. Our foreign policy is a mess, our defense institutions operate more on profit motives than national defense and our politicians operate for their own pockets and not the nation's. What you are blind to recognize is that you do not know who your enemies are. The biggest enemies that this nation has are domestic not foreign and they are not armed with guns - they are armed with lawyers and your tax dollars. Again, try educating yourself before you show us your ignorance on the facts. Its up to YOU to do your homework not FOX news or CNN.

GW| 12.7.11 @ 11:01PM

No. Actually Paul's a coward.

JFGalt| 12.8.11 @ 8:24AM

Why because he doesn't want to kill your children in pursuit of corporate profits which are ahead of America's true interests. You call the only man that has stood up in CONgress and spoke the truth about the economy, foreign policy and the drive towards a police state. You must either be a fool or a profiteer on the blood of our troops. Maybe both.

Occam's Tool| 12.8.11 @ 1:41PM

TLP---I hope your Christmas season is a lovely one, my friend. (I'll be off on a cruise.)

Melvin| 12.7.11 @ 8:46AM

There is one thing that we must always keep in the back of our minds. There will always be bad men in the world, that envision themselves either through religion or visions of tyrannical grandeur.
Some are tin pot religious leaders, and some are tin pot dictators. Most of the time they are contained within their own borders and their lust is sated by torturing their own people.
But every few generations one escapes the farm and becomes hell bent on trying to take over the world or instill their religion, and has the means to do so, with weapons of mass destruction or building a offense military machine, to reach across the sea.
Does our Country Leaders past and present make foreign policy mistakes? Sure they do, there is no exact science in dealing with people like that.
But it is no less a mistake to stand on the sidelines and watch Mao Tse Tung murder over 55 million of his own citizens in his version social re-engineering.
Adolph Hitler was a light weight compared to Stalin and Lenin in they're transforming Russia and surrounding countries in Marxist States. There wasn't a calculator big enough to count how many citizens those two murdered.
Albeit we haven't always been perfect as a nation, but we have saved more peoples around the world, than the four amigos of Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, and Mao could murder.
Some say that we backed Japan into a corner with no way out diplomatically, which led to the rise of the militarists.
Who knows maybe both sides wanted war, the problem is Japan was ready, and we weren't. In the beginning Army recruits were training with broom sticks and Model T's driving around with the word Tanks on them.
The degrading of our military after WWI was all part of the, "Peace Dividend." Funny thing, I heard the same thing this week by the Capitol Hill and White House weasels smiling from ear to ear about the, "Peace Dividend," and all the money that would be available for new social programs. Oh well, I guess it's back to using broomsticks again, and Chevy Volts with the word Tank on they're sides.

hardcard| 12.7.11 @ 8:54AM

Please read: "The New Dealers War" by Thomas Fleming.

Louis Jenkins| 12.7.11 @ 9:01AM

Chevy Volts will have the word "Tommy Cookers" stenciled to the side. The article would have been best if written as a rememberance to the almost 3,000 men and women who gave their lives on Dec. 7th, 1941. A woman on the news this morning stated 1942, what a dolt. One thing though, the veterans are passing away now at an alarming rate. There's only about 219 left from Pearl. God bless each and every one of them.

Ken (Old Texican)| 12.7.11 @ 9:12AM

Mr. Kaplan, thanks for the article.
Have you read "The Corps" series by WEB Griffin?

Con Chef (NB) | 12.7.11 @ 1:00PM

What an AWESOME series!!! One of my faves.

RKaplan| 12.7.11 @ 7:54PM

Thank you, sir, for calling our readers' attention to the indispensable WEB Griffin.
rk

LarryK| 12.7.11 @ 9:19AM

Woulda, coulda, shoulda. The cry of 20/20 hindsight. Did FDR know what was coming? Did he engineer the attack by manipulating the Japanese into a position where attack was their "only" option?
Decisions made by fallible leaders based on information that may or may not be 100% accurate or information that tells only part of the story or even outright lies can always be picked apart by historians.

The best we can do as citizens is to pray that we have good leadership and pray for that leadership and guidance from The Almighty!

tdiinva| 12.7.11 @ 10:01AM

A great article that requires a two corrections.

First, Mussolini's vision was to resurrect a new Roman Empire. The Empire was a multi-racial affair where citizenship was based on adherence to Roman ideas and not race. Hence an obscure Jewish intellectual name Saul of Tarsus could be both an observant Jew and a loyal citizen of Rome. If Mussolini had a racial theory it was hybridization of the races not racial purity,

Secondly, by December 1941 the US military had ceased being sleepy peacetime serivice. The draft was in its second year and National Guard divisions were being called up for active Federal service. My father, a pre-war regular soldier, told me about the drafties and the integration of NG units with regular forces.

Clint| 12.7.11 @ 10:56AM

Yup, tdiinva is right on.

Dad was a young horse cavalry recon officer, training his men for upcoming combat duty at Fort Jackson, long before Pearl.

Al Adab| 12.7.11 @ 10:40AM

One of the better comments posted elsewhere and so not original with me.

FROM: Officer commanding Alamo pallisade
TO: Signal Bridge, USS Arizona
San Antonio Remembers.

Ken (Old Texican)| 12.7.11 @ 11:32AM

Alhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxjJ9QMjHzo Adab,
you will love this one.

Al Adab| 12.7.11 @ 12:14PM

Thanks Ken. I lost a friend earlier this year who at about age 18 had landed on the beaches of Okinawa. We used to compare war stories and I told him I played golf in Baguio. He earned the honor that comes from having served.

Stammon| 12.7.11 @ 11:27AM

I have read tens if not hundreds of thousands of pages about the "war in the pacific" and I can't begin to formulate a response to a mal-educated idiot like "Jack in WI". I will say this; The destruction in Pearl Harbor eventually meant very little to our ability to overwhelm the Japanese Empire. By mid-1945 we had over 100 aircraft carriers afloat, and this was after we scaled back our building program when it became obvious that we were cleaning their clocks. Even if Hawaii had fallen we would've taken it back on our way to Japan. Germany was Stalin's war, we just held his coat during the fight.

PolishKnight| 12.7.11 @ 11:49AM

Stammon, Stalin practically had to run with his pointy tail between his legs out of MOSCOW when the Germans were banging on his door. Without our guns and butter, he's have been in a concentration camp (which would have been quite ironic.)

Stammon| 12.7.11 @ 10:20PM

I knew that sentence would be provocative. You're right, and he had seven times zones before he got to Vladivostok. We sent Uncle Joe a lot of stuff, and he lost about 14% of his population, over 20 million, about half of which was military.

Clint| 12.7.11 @ 11:57AM

U.S. Military Deaths were about equally spread over The European Theater And The Pacific.

229,000 American Military Were killed in Europe.

Stammon| 12.7.11 @ 10:27PM

About 10,000,000 Russian military died fighting Hitler. That's 50 of them to one of ours. And that again in civilian deaths. We did fight and bleed, but the Russians like to believe that we just held their coats. I can understand why they feel that way.

Cynthia Grenier| 12.7.11 @ 11:29AM

Bravo! Absolutely brilliant piece.Must reading for everyone but above all for the younger generation out there. Am e-mailing to all my nieces and nephews to help them learn something about courage. Cheers to the memory of Dorie Miller.

Cynthia Grenier| 12.7.11 @ 11:29AM

Bravo! Absolutely brilliant piece.Must reading for everyone but above all for the younger generation out there. Am e-mailing to all my nieces and nephews to help them learn something about courage. Cheers to the memory of Dorie Miller.

DTOM| 12.7.11 @ 12:00PM

You should see somebody about that stutter...

Al Adab| 12.7.11 @ 12:06PM

Oh come on DTOM,
We've all done it. Something about the ActiveX settings delays the posts. Drives me nuts technophobe that I am.

DTOM| 12.7.11 @ 12:26PM

Busted!

Sorry, Ms. Cynthia.

Con Chef (NB) | 12.7.11 @ 12:59PM

Jack the historically ignorant mentions prominent Jew haters & Hitler admirers who were against the war. Joe "Bootlegger" Kennedy & Charles "Buhnd" Lindbergh. What a shock. Jack thinks that the Jews would've been better off if we hadn't joined.

If idiots like Jack & Clint were running the country at that time, the West Coast, Alaska & Hawaii would all be Japanese Imperial Territories & the East Coast would be speaking German. All we need to know about Jack's warped worldview is that he believes Buhndists to be good people. Thanks for the insight Jack. As if we needed any more clarification of your Jew hatred after your whole "Zionist entity needs to disappear" business.

The enemy we faced in WWII in Japan is not unlike the enemy we face in jihadism. For the Japanese soldier, there was no greater way to do honor to your family & ancestors than to die in battle for the Emperor, whom they believed to be a living god (kinda like Clint views Ru Paul). The same is true of the jihadist. There is no greater honor than to die in the act of killing the infidels. And isn't it just coincidental that there was an entire SS division made up solely of Bosian Muslims. Himmler himself said that Nazism & Islam were compatable, for G*d's sake.

Yes, folks, if Ron Paul were President on that fateful day in 1941, he'd call the attack "an act of violence," not an act of war. And he'd then proceed to blame our "militirism" & "imperialism" in the PI & in China as the reasons for the attack.

I just love isolationists & Nazis who claim the Jews would've been better off had we not gotten involved & cites Buhnd members as backup for these insipid statements.

chuck| 12.7.11 @ 1:34PM

Well stated,cc.

Clint| 12.7.11 @ 4:22PM

Ronald Reagan,
"Ron Paul is one of the outstanding leaders fighting for a stronger national defense. As a former Air Force officer, he knows well the needs of our armed forces, and he always puts them first. We need to keep him fighting for our country."

Dr.Ron Paul,
“Our military’s purpose is to defend our country, not to police the
Middle East.

“As the President prepares to send even more support to Egypt, we should
be reminded that it was our foreign aid that helped Mubarak retain power
to repress his people in the first place. Now we have to deal with the
consequences of those decisions, yet we keep repeating the same mistakes.

“I am not the only one who can see the absurdities of our foreign
policy. We give $3 billion to Israel and $12 billion to her enemies.
Most Americans know that makes no sense.

“We need to come to our senses, trade with our friends in the Middle
East (both Arab and Israeli), clean up our own economic mess so we set a
good example, and allow them to work out their own conflicts.”

The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here And In Iowa.

Con Chef (NB) | 12.7.11 @ 4:42PM

And this has to do..... exactly NOTHING with what I posted. Thanks for even better illustrations of your delusions of adequecy.

Clint the Ru Paul Spambot Rule #1: When you cannot refute on merits, post another canned screed.

This is like the modern version of Cicero's, "If you have no basis for argument, abuse the plantiff."

Clint| 12.7.11 @ 5:26PM

Israel Firster Neo-Chickenhawk Con Job Is The Israel Firter Propaganda Squad Liar,Who Just Wrote.

" Yes, folks, if Ron Paul were President on that fateful day in 1941, he'd call the attack "an act of violence," not an act of war. And he'd then proceed to blame our "militirism" & "imperialism" in the PI & in China as the reasons for the attack."

Dr. Ron Paul voted with the majority for the original Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists in Afghanistan.

Dr.Ron Paul,
" I would ask Congress for A Declaration of War against Iran, if necessary.

The Tea Party Rebellion Is Here And In Iowa.

Con Chef (NB) | 12.7.11 @ 7:09PM

WOW! Another canned screed that I've seen almost 20 times in the last 3 months, with my own comment added in to mix it up!

You're doing good, Clintie! Next thing you know, you'll learn that just because you capitalize every word in the post doesn't make your points any more valid. It just makes you look even MORE ignorant when you write things like, "Wanna MAKE Me Cupcake."

You & Jackboot (nod to whoever came up with that nickname) are the best anti Paul advertising anyone could ask for. As if taking $$$ from Stormfont wasn't bad enough for him, he's got YOU 2 inbred, meth head shithooks to shill for him.

With friends like y'all, who needs enemies?

Mike Hawk| 12.7.11 @ 7:28PM

Just reruns. No big deal.

chuck| 12.7.11 @ 8:05PM

con chef,

"YOU 2 inbred, meth head shithooks"

I know you're a navy brat, but I think you would have made a helluva Marine Drill Sergeant.

Occam's Tool| 12.8.11 @ 1:45PM

Indeed. But the man knows his cooking very well. Happy Hanukkah, Con! (I'll be cruising off Belize when it starts)

sears | 12.9.11 @ 10:35AM

Thank you for this nice idea

W| 12.7.11 @ 4:27PM

CC
Well said.
There was a connection between Nazi Germany and the Iraquis that formed the Bath party.

Stefan Stackhouse| 12.7.11 @ 1:18PM

The one big, overarching fact about the lead-up to Pearl Harbor is that the US Navy in the Pacific was deliberately allowed to become inferior to the Japanese Navy as a matter of official government policy. This wasn't just on FDR's watch, it had began with the Washington Naval Treaty some two decades prior. It is only because we were clearly inferior that the Japanese even considered attempting to land a knock-out punch in the first place. Had we maintained a position of clear superiority throughout the inter-war period, I have no doubt that the Japanese would have followed a very different calculus, and probably gone out of their way to avoid conflict with the US.

The bottom line, of course, is that we must never again allow ourselves to get into an inferior position with our naval and air fleets in the Pacific theater. Downsize and pull back from other parts of the world if we must, but wielding the budget axe in a way that leaves us too weak in the Pacific is definitely being penny wise and pound foolish. It would be better for every one of us to be reduced to nightly meals of Ramen noodles and life in a cardboard shack rather than allow our Pacific forces to shrink too much.

Rich Rostrom| 12.9.11 @ 1:41AM

The Washington Naval Treaty locked in a 5/3 advantage for the U.S. over Japan. When the treaties expired in the 1930s, the U.S. started construction of the "two-ocean Navy". In December 1941, the U.S. had 20 battleships, 41 cruisers, and 7 carriers to Japan's 12, 37, and 13.

(Japan's big edge in carrier numbers is misleading, because all U.S. carriers were full-size, but four Japanese carriers were half-size lights.)

Yamamoto insisted on the Pearl Harbor attack because he couldn't see any other way for Japan to level the odds, even briefly. (The U.S. had an avalanche of new construction already laid down.)

It should also be noted that most observers (e.g. Admiral Pye, commander of the Battleship Force) didn't think the Japs would be crazy enough to attack the U.S. which was so obviously stronger.

They underestimated how crazy the Japs could be. The Japs persuaded themselves that their superior dedication and willpower would crush the weak, decadent foreigners. The actual forces didn't matter to them.

Thom| 12.7.11 @ 3:04PM

The ironies of Pearl Harbor are many.... One of many enduring costly lessons of WWII is that you cannot deter aggression without the "means". Consistent with the historical records those claiming to be non-interventionists practice isolationism in effect by denouncing the "means" or simply refusing to maintain the "means" to deter aggression. Prior to the rise of Air Power as a force into itself on the battlefield, naval power was the dominate strategic weapon of seafaring nations. Between the 1922 and 1935 Naval "arms control" agreements the US seeded naval superiority to the Japanese in the Pacific. Add to this that both Germany and Japan exceeded those limitations by gross margins while Nations like Britain and the US adhered to them to our determent and the "means" to deter attack in Dec 1941 in the Pacific simply did not exist. The massive mobilization and build up put in play after the fall of France in mid-1940 was way too little and too late to influence Japan's decision in late 1941 after having been at war for 5 years and on a steady buildup of naval, air and land forces in the Pacific. Roosevelt like Chamberlain had nothing to put on the negotiation table and sanctions of any kind were in effect poking a stick in the eye of a Tiger who was considering eating you next week not this week. ..... To this end this Nation has perfected self-delusion about the way of the world and the nature of man in general. Some of us aren’t capable of learning from history as a general statement.

Our present day situation has its own ironies with regard to Pearl Harbor. Technically speaking it would be far easier to accomplish what the Japanese were trying to accomplish with overt means on Dec 7th using 1970s technology we developed and launched from covert sources like commercial ships. The center piece of our naval strength is centered around 10 carriers or about half the number of capital ships we had in Dec of 1941 which spend much of their life tied to a fixed location that modern satellite GPS positioning can pinpoint with absolute precision and be programmed into an inertial terrain following guidance system giving UAVs (cruise missiles) the ability to fly hundreds of miles 15 feet off the surface of the ocean and then slam into whatever it finds at a pier where 100,000 tons of diplomacy sits half the year... Virtually our entire fleet of ships could be targeted this way at any time by anyone with the "means" and audacity to actually attempt to pull this off. The audacity to use our own commercial airlines against us by 19 true believers of Islam was the kind of "cheap kill" that war planners can on dream of (or have nightmares over, take your pick). Without a forward "defense" infrastructure and all that entails this nation has very little "defensive" capability and capacity to deter or stop "external" threats that modern technology provides. Heavily damage or destroy half our fleet tied to a pier and we couldn't overcome that for over a decade given our limited "means" for shipbuilding on that scale today. Yamamoto knew he could not win and yet prepared an attack using the very means our own Navy had practiced in 1936 against Pearl Harbor. General Short was convinced that Pearl could not be attacked from the air despite a smaller scale attack of such already being successfully conducted by the British in the Med with Bi-planes no less. Go figure.....

One of the nations of the world that has practiced "nonintervention" for over 400 years sits amid a piece of geographic land defined by wars going back several hundred years. They actually practices what ISO-BOTS claim to be the answer to all things and also has a first rate militia system as compared to anything we have by comparison on a per capita basis. To many, Switzerland is the model for ISO-BOT thinking but the sad truth is that while the Swiss can put up a determined "defense" against conventional military ground based attacks it has zero capability and capacity to "deter" aggression from external sources like air attacks via long range missiles. The Swiss have put an enormous amount of effort into cultivation of a rational among its less passive Border States for not invading them over the decades even to the extent of ignoring massive human suffering and destruction that simply cannot be justified on moral grounds. Being the West Virginia of Europe and having no resources anyone else wants hasn't hurt their situation either. Israel likewise has practiced "nonintervention" for the bulk of its 63 year history but has had near continuous war at its footsteps and had to go on the "offense" twice to preempt massive "means" on its border or constant infiltrations and attacks upon its civilian population. At least Israel has some "means" to deter conventional military ground attacks against it and some strategic means to project power external to its own territorial interest. Without our carrier based Naval Air power and foreign bases from which to operate our Air Force Wings this Nation today has less overall capability of "defense" than it did on Dec 7th 1941. Consistent with ISO-BOT religion, you can always count on the followers of Isolationism to see no evil until after the bombs start falling and then their first reflex is always to blame the "victim".

The reason Pearl Harbor will ultimately live in infamy is that on Dee 7th 1941 decades of self-delusion and denial fell from the sky with telling results in a time when the "material facts" were easy to count and measure.... The parallels with 1941 are there for anyone to see. Our enemies pretty much practice letting their supporters and proxies here preach the lunacy of the past and just buy their time. If another day of Infamy comes a calling it will be because we simply refuse to learn from past mistakes of people who for whatever reasons simply "see no evil" in the world but can find plenty of it at home it seems.....

The five Rules of a Loon's religion:
See no evil external to the US (or hear it speak either).
When aggression comes to those that do not commit it, blame the "victim".
When #2 fails, blame the "jews".
When #2 and #3 fail call those that disagree interventionists, warmongers or some flavor of that.
Never ever admit your position has ever been wrong in the history of the planet.

Like a religion, the central tenet of isolationism is that only bad things happen to people who deserve it...

chuck| 12.7.11 @ 3:35PM

Excellent analysis.

Stammon| 12.7.11 @ 10:34PM

Excellent Thom. For a real time proof of this, watch Argentina try to take the Falklands again, and soon. For Britannia has lost it's navy.

MachiasPrivateer | 12.7.11 @ 4:02PM

Visit Pearl Harbor today and you will see the USS Missouri. From its deck Douglas MacArthur said this...

"We stand in Tokyo today reminiscent of our countryman, Commodore Perry, ninety-two years ago. His purpose was to bring to Japan an era of enlightenment and progress, by lifting the veil of isolation to the friendship, trade, and commerce of the world. But alas the knowledge thereby gained of western science was forged into an instrument of oppression and human enslavement. Freedom of expression, freedom of action, even freedom of thought were denied through appeal to superstition, and through the application of force. We are committed by the Potsdam Declaration of principles to see that the Japanese people are liberated from this condition of slavery. ... To the Pacific basin has come the vista of a new emancipated world. Today, freedom is on the offensive, democracy is on the march. Today, in Asia as well as in Europe, unshackled peoples are tasting the full sweetness of liberty, the relief from fear."

REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR AND TOKYO BAY!

John Brody| 12.7.11 @ 4:57PM

Well written! The parallels are obvious...to most of us. Lefties like Jack (no surprise in Wisconsin) are very capable of Monday morning quarterbacking, but they ALWAYS lack the guts to get in the game! Take note that Jack only criticizes. He never offers up what he would have done (or what he wished the leaders of the time 'should' have done).

MEN take action. We hit back when hit / attacked. I laughed to read that the first woman in congress was the lone dissenting vote against war (both WW1 and 2). Me thinks Jack is a pacifist as well. Don't worry though Jack!!! MEN like me have and will continue to protect the fairer half of our species (you included) from evil. While you don't have the courage to pull the trigger to protect yourself, I do.

Con Chef (NB) | 12.7.11 @ 7:12PM

Jack has told us on this site that he was a "proud 4-F" & that his father told him it was "better to be a live coward." Its nice to see that the apple didn't fall far from the tree. The coward begot a coward. How unsurprising.

Thom| 12.7.11 @ 7:26PM

When I went for my 18th birthday draft physical, out of 22 that got on the bus I was the only one that “passed” and several were repeat “4_Fs” due to recurring “high blood pressure” that can be induced by a variety of measures. There were a lot of “Jacks” on that bus that day….. I had a winning loto ticket number, “15” and elected to enlist when my time came and serve with honor doing something I already had the “training” for vs. dishonor like a “Jack” would. Dishonor knows no bounds or depths it will not stoop to in the service of cowardice.

Con Chef (NB) | 12.8.11 @ 8:54AM

I was HEARTBROKEN when they told me that I had an automatic 4-F because I'd had my colon removed at 14. My Dad was a retired Navy Captain from the Dental Corps. He wrote admirals in the Medical Corps, stationed at the Pentagon, who'd he'd been friends with across the span of his 20 year career, to get me a waiver to join. No luck. I wrote Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) who was my Senator at that time, & also a heart surgeon, for a waiver. To no avail.

All I EVER wanted to be from the time I was 6 was a Marine. And I cannot tell you how upset I was that I couldn't do it. Then you have Mr. Proud 4-F, aka Jack, who's obviously decended from cowards, calling those who serve & their families & friends who support them "chickenhawks." Astonishing.

Dipesto| 12.7.11 @ 8:02PM

No one has brought up yet what hot info was in the envelope full of documents General Marshal sent to Tom Dewey in '44, when there was a chance the Repubs were going make PH a campaign issue. Supposedly the papers showed that in '41 we were trying to keep the Japanese from knowing we had broken their naval codes already. Supposedly Dewey read the true background of the PH Attack and kept quiet, but afterwards said FDR was a Traitor.

Thom| 12.7.11 @ 8:47PM

I can’t speak to the rumors about such stuff since all those involved are deceased but the Machiavellian nature of intel work is kind of “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” since taking action on such intel gives the enemy every motivation they need to change their code methods, cyphers etc while doing nothing at all runs the risk of a serious moral question only Machiavelli could stomach. As to FDR being a traitor I think it is more of a case of incompetence tightly coupled with a very naïve view of the world common to his “class” of elites. We see a similar view in King Obama today. What the Navy knew should have been sufficient well before the 7th to shift to a war time footing. The Japanese did not broadcast their operational orders over the air waves before Pearl Harbor. The operational orders were all delivered in secret by hand and the mission and timeline was put into play with only either an affirmative or recall being sent over the air waves being required. They went for maximum operational cover not simply to deceive us but keep many of their own in the dark too. What FDR knew was that the Philippines were high on the list of possibilities as the Japanese moved south into Indochina. Having all six of their large flattops disappear should have set off some serious alerts and searches well before even Dec 1st since there was no comparable naval air power in the western Pacific but the same mindset that can’t fathom an attack such as was carried out can’t also muster up the nerve to error on the side of caution with half our fleet in the Atlantic including three battle capable carriers and one on the three remaining on the West coast in overhaul in Washington state. This is what tends to happen when you put people with only a Plan A mindset into positions of power. The number of things that went wrong on the 7th that could have made a difference tends to spread the blame around a bit. The Philippines turned out to be a far worse situation and we really had no capability to either defend it effectively or rescue those trapped there regardless of Pearl. We were several years behind the power curve and the Japanese weren’t blind to that situation.

Dipesto| 12.8.11 @ 12:16AM

My wording may have been murky about FDR being a traitor; Dewey supposedly said that after reading Marshall's package of documents. Everything in this story seems to be "supposedly." Doing History involves trying to find out what happened in some past event, even if everyone in the event is dead, and if written documents are nonexistent. Sometimes you have to use "rumors," if you let the reader know they are rumors. The New Dealers War begins with someone a week before Pearl Harbor leaking the national war plans to several newspapers. Tom Fleming accuses FDR himself of the leakage.

POST American| 12.7.11 @ 9:07PM

---------------------BOTTOM LINE---------------------

Putting to one side the ever dubious background
to Pearl Harbor (SEE Teddy Roosevelt's
'understandings' with Imperial
Japan --and the Baruch 'Fu Gu Plan' that
DEMANDED the militarization of Japan and
the EUGENICS occuptaion of Korea and
Manchuria in exchange for bankster
'bennies' etc. etc. etc.)

AGAIN, consider what's FAST becoming
obvious:

----The KOREAN WAR, and NOT the long
gone WWII, was, and is yet, the pivotal,
the KEY conflict of the 20th century
viz a viz the 21st.

--------------------CONSIDER IT FAST.

---------YOUR LIFE NOW DEPENDS ON IT--------

POST American| 12.7.11 @ 10:46PM

----------------BEYOND BOTTOMLESS---------------

JUST IN---

"GOV'T Activating FEMA CAMPS NATIONWIDE"
-InfoWars
(hours ago)

"Understand, this IS happening.
THIS ---IS TO BE THE NEW 'E--CON--O--ME'.
Personnel to man the camps ---and you yourself
WORKING in the camps."

Further understand

-----the Globalist RED China TREASON OP
---------------------IS REAL

----the 'RED China model' ------IS HERE.

---------------------UNDERSTAND---------------------

----------------IN THE NAME OF GOD----------------

----------------------UNDERSTAND--------------------

BackToBasics| 12.8.11 @ 1:09AM

It is interesting to see the different response thus far that America has had after 9-11 than after December 7, 1941.

There may be reasons for it other than saying the nation is more divided, or that the enemy is not a cohesive nation-state, etc.

One big difference between the 2 attacks is that the full aftermath of 9-11 has yet to be felt even after 10+ years. Our reaction in 9-11 may yet be more comparable to december 7 since I think we have only delayed an inevitable very large-scale war between Muslm nations and predominantly non-Muslim nations. I also think there will be much future internal strife and terrorism in the West as the war with extreme Muslim fundamentalists expands.

But ultimately, 9-11 will not be our more recent day of infamy. From the response we've had so far, it will take a larger attack to equal the resolve we had after Pearl Harbor was attacked. Unfortunately, I think that day will come. I hope America as a nation has enough resolve left to deal with it when it comes.

Stefan Stackhouse| 12.8.11 @ 11:44AM

I can understand why the Bush administration didn't want to fan the flames into a raging conflagration of undifferentiated pan-Islamic hatred. However, I do think they missed a unique opportunity to rally the nation's citizenry around something a little more unifying, constructive, and enobling than merely "shop on as usual". People were willing to make some inconvenient, costly and unpleasant lifestyle changes en masse for the sake of their country. You don't get moments like that more than a few times each century, and the Bush administration really squandered the opportunity.

BackToBasics| 12.8.11 @ 1:44PM

Good point. With the nation shocked, it would have been a good time to secure our southern border and deport all holders of expired visas as well as begin working on steps to cause many illegals to self-deport. How can we take the Federal government's efforts to secure our nation seriously when they did absolutely nothing about these major problems. they even encouraged the opposite, more illegals and handcuffed our border patrol agents even more!

I was for the Afghanistan invasion but I was not for the Iraq invasion. Yet, in Afghanistan we sould have deposed the Taliban regime and left within a year. Maybe the Taliban would have come back but we needed to do something to respond to the 9-11 attacks.

BackToBasics| 12.8.11 @ 1:49PM

Bush squandered a lot of things and I voted for him 2 times but without enthusiasm. He did a few good things, but he had both houses from 2004 to 2006 and thought it better to move more to the left than to please his base which was large and enthusiastic after the 2004 elections. In light of what you've mentioned and in light of losing Congress in 2006, he was an abysmal failure in my opinion.

BackToBasics| 12.8.11 @ 1:50PM

PS and because of his weakness we got Obam too!

Dipesto| 12.8.11 @ 3:36AM

In the Des Moines morning paper for Dec. 8 was a comment from an Iowa congressman, who had sent out a press statement after the news of the attack, telling everyone to not get out of control about the news from Hawaii till "we get all the facts." Maybe the ways the news was getting across the Pacific to the US the congressman had the right attitude--or he made the stupidest press statment in US history.

Dipesto| 12.8.11 @ 3:37AM

That was Dec. 8, '41"

POST American| 12.8.11 @ 3:59AM

----Gov't sanctioned 'DIS--appearances' of
Americans abroad ---AND at home

-----Gov't 'activation' of FEMA CAMPS
nationwide.

-------The SIS-tematic DIS-Abeling of the
American economy, soveriegnty, manhood
---and people

---------The deliberate destruction of the
U.S. Constitution

--------PSYCHOPATHIC fractional reserve USURY
allowed to become the ALL in ALL of human policy
here ----and worldwide

--------------Globalist RED China sellout and TREASON

-----------------Unfolding EUGENICS X-speediency

---------------IN THE NAME OF GOD------------------

----------WHAT ARE YOU NOT GETTING?----------

nathan| 12.8.11 @ 9:08AM

Many of you make this too easy don't you? A number of history magazines are looking back 70 years and doing what ifs. The questions are come down to these:

Was there any real national interest on our part what Japan was doing in China? Yes, they were doing horrible things there but there were any number of ghastly horrible things happening around the globe. Was it our job then or now to play world's policeman "white man's burden" all that or not? Japan in China, probably posed no direct threat to us. Furthermore there was strong evidence they recognized they were losing and were formulating an exit strategy that would have kept them in Manchuria only. We probably should have given them the time to do it.

Second: Cutting off their essential supplies, like it or not can be viewed as an act of war. You will recall that during a similar "embargo" during the 73 war there was talk about taking over the Middle East oil fields. Why should they react different? The Dutch in what is now Indonesia weren't going to give them oil. Given a scenario where they're confronted with a "surrender" or fight option, well if we're given that same option even with the near certainty of losing, and they more or less knew they would probably lose against us, would any of you voluntarily surrender? Probably not. Why should they?

Three: Translation issues. This was brought up many years ago. John Toland wrote in one of his books that the Japanese thought Cordell Hull was demanding a retreat from all of China including Manchuria. That was unacceptable. Hull later said that he didn't care about Manchuria. Had that been clear in the meetings would the course of history have been changed? Maybe.

Fourth: One of the greatest what ifs is this, what if instead of attacking Pearl Harbor the Japanese had only attacked Dutch East Indies and British possessions. That would have solved their resource problems and denied FDR his pretext for going to war. Now what?

911. Buchanan said in 1999 that if we insist on being in/at places where we have no legitimate business in/at, sooner or later people will respond in asymetric ways. 911 proved him right. Did we HAVE to have troops in Saudi Arabia did we have to be all over the Middle East, do we now have to have a presence in half the countries in the world? Not really. Most of you get Ron Paul wrong, very wrong. He's not opposed to defending the country, he strongly favors that. He's just opposed to an empire that irritates a lot of people for no good reason.

I remind you all again by the way that President Bush routinely mispresented what he was supposed to be doing. He did not take an oath to defend the people of this country. His oath, and that of all federal employees including all those serving in the armed forces is to uph0ld and defend what folks THE CONSTIUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. That means that neither he nor Cheney nor service men abroad get to violate the principles imbedded in that document to SAVE ONE LIFE even a lot of them. That means that contrary to what McCain says, the Fifth Amendment doesn't get thrown under the bus here to save the lives of men in uniform.

911 was tragic as is any loss of life as is the loss of life on our highways due to drunk drivers. But Bush declaring a world wide war on a group that numbered less than a thousand members was a gross over reaction. Most of the groups we went after like Abu Sayyef in the Philippines are local in nature and could care less about us. When the group who attacks you numbers less than a thousand, and you attack two countries, spend around four trillion dollars, engage in the longest war in YOUR history, the results of one of those wars ends up with maybe one million civilian deaths and a sharia based "democracy", and the sacred principles on which your country is founded get thrown under the bus, all of you, tell the class who won. It wasn't us.

And for the gentleman who praised the intervention in Bosnia, there were not major massacres there leading up to that. Go back and look again. We were played. And look at what happened afterwards. The muslims engaged in their own version of ethnic cleansing. You all are familiar with the camp the Dutch were guarding right? A muslim paramilitary group came up, wanted access. The Dutch should have told them no way, threatened to call in an air strike. Instead they walked away and a massacre took place. This would be repeated in Afghanistan when American SOF troops stood by as Dostom's forces massacred thousands of helpless POW's and did nothing to stop him.

The real problem with the neocon interventionist empire building is that as we saw with Libya, we often don't know who are the good/bad guys. For that reason we're usually better off staying out and minding our own business. If you all would look closesly at what Ron is saying, it's exactly that. Defend the country, yes, empire, which hasn't worked and cannot work, no.

Occam's Tool| 12.8.11 @ 1:47PM

Nathan---they lie. We would have been attacked regardless of where our troops were. The Saudis ASKED us to put the troops where they were.

Paul fails to understand a central tenet of War and Medicine---deal with problems when they are small.

nathan| 12.8.11 @ 3:16PM

Sir I'm sorry, since when are obligated to do as the Saudis direct? It should not have escaped anyone's attention that putting "infidel's" in the most holy of muslim places would be more than a little provocative. Let's put it this way. If for whatever reason, troops from an islamic country were stationed in the Vatican, how would you and everyone on this site feel and react, first about the islamic troops being there and second towards the country whose troops they were?

Remember too that one of the complaints raised prior to the attack concerned the injustices done at Versaille. We are too quick to dismiss this. The famed Lawrence of Arabia himself spent all the remaining days of his life seeking to undue those very same injustices.

It's worth noting that after the attack the troops in Saudi WERE removed. Tell you anything? Maybe?

Pat was right in 1999. And we cannot expect people who dislike us to attack us on our terms. The goal is to win, not get glowing editorials in the New York Times. Like it or not asymetrical warfare works which is why it has been employed so often over the last 1,000 years or so.

POST American| 12.8.11 @ 11:53PM

"George Washington got wise to the
ILLUMINATI. They were thrown
out around 1800 ---but snuck back in
via the China opium money funded
Yale secret societies."
-ALEX JONES
(days ago)

----Bolshevism was sourced out of London
and New York USURY cabals. ---FACT---

-------EUGENICS was ENTIRELY the creation
of degraded 'HEIR--IS--TOXIC-racy' and
elite INTER-national USURY. It, like
'SO--SHELL--ism' , EUGENICS etc. are
the spawn of actuarial psychopathy

---------Rockefeller/ CARN-egg--he/ Ford
and ROT-child were behind such horrors
as the EUGENICS/GENOCIDE planners
at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in the 1920's
----LONG BEFORE Hitler's installation

-------'MARKS--ism' was deliberately sown
in Old China by London via LORD Bertrand Russell
in the early 1920's

-----------JAPAN was aggressively
urged into full-blown
militarism and conquest of, first,
KOREA and later MANCHURIA by
Bernard Baruch. Aside from the
usual engineered famines ---'warm' EUGENICS
was unquestionably 'on the go' ---big time!

------------Chiang Kai Shek was undermined
and BETRAYED by the Globalist Rockefeller
et al op OSS/CIA in the 40's

---------DAVID ROCKEFELLER,probably
the 'on the go' man behind BOTH Mao and
our current RED China-Globalist world TREASON OP
-----was KEY in hailing the
'achievement' of MAO in annihilating traditional culture
-----and exterminating what's now
reckoned to be OVER 90 MILLION ---in
'peacetime'.

MEANWHILE, the nature, reach and unspeakable
doctrines of CAPSTONE 'FREE MAY-SIN-Re'
are, even now, NEVER discussed.

CHECK OUT those NOW online Anthony Sutton
interviews ---from the 1980's! (YOUtube)

--------That is ----IF you can handle it.

----------------------ESSENTIAL------------------------

ADM| 12.9.11 @ 1:55PM

Historical comparisons have to be made carefully. If we had truly responded to the 9/11 attacks as we did Dec 7/41, the war would be long over and Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran - amongst others - would now be smoking ruins. Two of our so-called allies, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan - actively facilitated the 9/11 terrorists either through funding & religious ideology, or through support of the Taliban who gave Al-Quaeda a secure base. Sadly, we have NOT distinguished between those who support terrorism and those who carry it out. Unlike 70 years, ago, our actions don't match our rhetoric.

sears | 12.10.11 @ 4:54PM

Thank you, Enough!!!

More Articles by Roger Kaplan

More Articles From Special Report

Tornado Chasers

May 24, 2013 | Claire Healey

The Inoperative Jay Carney

May 23, 2013 | Jeffrey Lord

Disabling American Sovereignty

May 22, 2013 | Iain Murray & Geoffrey McLatchey

IRS Union Chief Stonewalls

May 21, 2013 | Jeffrey Lord

Obama and the IRS: The Smoking Gun?

May 20, 2013 | Jeffrey Lord

http://spectator.org/archives/2011/12/07/days-of-infamy

ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Headlines

Real Immigration Reform Requires Free Markets

Ross Kaminsky|66 comments

Enough With the Bipartisanship

Matt Purple|36 comments

The United States of El Norte

Larry Thornberry|44 comments

Vodka = Vodka = Vodka

Daniel J. Flynn|70 comments

Laying Down My Pen

Quin Hillyer

Tornado Chasers

Claire Healey|23 comments

We Will Remember

Roger Kaplan|17 comments

The Chinese Waltz

George H. Wittman|1 comment

The Spectacle Blog

NBC News: Holder Personally Approved Fox Reporter Warrant

Ross Kaminsky | 12:45PM

BBC World Survey Ranks Israel Near Bottom in Global Popularity

Aaron Goldstein | 12:36PM

Obamacare is a Big and Growing Problem for Democrats

Ross Kaminsky | 11:03AM

Stein on IRS Scandal

Patrick Ryan | 10:29AM

The Restricted Engine

Yogi Love | 6:00AM

Muslim, Er, Youth Riots in Sweden

Aaron Goldstein | 12:41AM

Good Luck Quin

Aaron Goldstein | 12:13AM

One of The London Soldier Beheading Suspects British Born

Aaron Goldstein | 5.23.13

SPONSORED LINKS

FLASHBACK TO: 1995

Clip of the Day

H/T to National Review Online

ADVERTISEMENT

Home |About |Contributors |Advertise |Donate |Privacy Policy |Contact

The American Spectator Foundation is the 501(c)(3) organization responsible for publishing The American Spectator magazine and training aspiring journalists who espouse traditional American values. Your contributions are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. Each donor receives a year-end summary of their giving for tax purposes.

Copyright 2013, The American Spectator. All rights reserved.