Sixty-eight years ago on a Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, Imperial Japan launched an attack on the Untied States at Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. The result:
Ignoring whatever attitudes the citizens may have held on December 6, two days later the country became united in a struggle which would last until August of 1945. On that day alone the toll was 2402 servicemen killed, 4 battleships, 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers, 1 mine layer, and 188 airplanes destroyed. Just as important, the attitude of a nation changed from isolationist indifference to fierce defiance. With a declaration of war from Germany almost immediately thereafter, we found ourselves totally immersed in World War II.
Although Pearl Harbor marked our official entry in the war, it had been waged in various other theaters by other nations for years previous and finally involved nearly every country on earth and resulted in over 70,000,000 dead including civilian non-combatants. Since then, the world has had an occasional respite from the carnage of war but no final relief.
Our eventual success in WWII was a result of selfless resolve plus a near universal attitude of extracting revenge for the early outrages of the war. Before the final days, every American citizen was affected either directly by the waging of and the outcome of the war. We shared the pain of loss and the collective disruption of our lives. No person was exempt.
Sixty years later, on Monday September 11, 2001, we were subject to an equally cowardly attack from a far less understood enemy. The result:
The fact of misunderstanding our enemy did not lessen the severity of the attack. 2976 people (from 90 different countries) lost their lives plus the loss of America’s two largest buildings, several others in the vicinity, 4 civilian aircraft plus severe damage to the Pentagon in Virginia. Although outrage was rampant it was not universal. The responsibility was laid to al-Qaeda terrorists but many were reluctant to assign the guilt to radical Islam. It then precipitated a war in Afghanistan to seek the perpetrators of the heinous attack.
For those of us who were witness to the reporting of each event, although comparative in a one day scope of casualty and property damage, find further comparison unequal. After Pearl Harbor the national mood was one of reprisal and restoration of everything which was good in America. That attitude was unhindered by political correctness, tolerance, diversity awareness, and frankly—mercy. We had a clear objective and the national will to achieve it. The presence of the softening attitudes towards the avowed enemies of our constitutional government have prevented us from using the entirety of our defensive arsenal to achieve the unmistakable restitution which must be enforced to defeat our current foe.
Radical Islam today and Imperial Japan in 1941 are and were both blind rogues on the international stage. Neither is or was deserving of ameliorating language and attitudes to soften our response. Both personify pure evil and deserve the absolute destruction of their core. We accomplished that goal with Japan. It is time to commence the all-out effort to defeat our current enemy. We need to recognize that America has experienced two “days of infamy” and act accordingly.
In His abiding love,
1 comment:
If only our leaders would read your blog.
Thank you for being you, Mr. Cecil. The world would be a dimmer place if you weren't here.
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