Days of Infamy... No More Reruns, Please.
“On the morning of December 7, 1941, that Fleet’s planes bombed all the US military air bases on the island (the biggest was the US Army air base at Hickam Field), and the ships anchored at Pearl, including ‘Battleship Row’. Nearly every plane on the ground was destroyed; only a few fighters got airborne and opposed the attacking planes. Twelve battleships and other ships either were sunk or damaged, 188 aircraft were destroyed, and 2,403 Americans lost their lives. The battleship USS Arizona exploded and sank with a loss of over 1,100 men, nearly half of the American dead.”
The next day, President Roosevelt addressed Congress. [These quotes come directly from the noted speeches as found in Volume Two of the series "This is America My Country", 1952.]
“Yesterday, December 7, 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.”
“As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.”
“Always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us. 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.”
In his December 9th radio address to the Nation President Roosevelt said,
“The sudden criminal attacks perpetrated by the Japanese in the Pacific provide the climax of a decade of international immorality. Powerful and resourceful gangsters have banded together to make war upon the whole human race… Together with other free peoples, we are fighting to maintain our right to live among our world neighbors in freedom and in common decency without fear of assault…. We are now in this war. We are all in it- all the way. Every single man, woman, and child is a partner in the most tremendous undertaking of our American history. We must share together the bad news and the good news, the defeats and the victories- the changing fortunes of war.”
Let’s review the circumstances of the only day in US history that compares with the events that happened sixty-seven years ago today: On September 11, 2001, America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by powerful and resourceful gangsters in an act that is the climax of several decades of international immorality. After hijacking multiple airplanes, radical Islamic warriors of the Al-Qaeda network used them in kamikaze-like fashion, striking targets with the intention of nothing less than the collapse of the United States’ economy, government, and military. The tally of the day: 265 died on the planes; at least 2,602 people, including 343 firefighters, died at the World Trade Center; and 125 were killed at The Pentagon.
The similarities in the accounting of the two infamous days cannot be overlooked. Sixty seven years ago, the president predicted “absolute victory.” In the present time, our President has done the same. On December 7th, 2001, President Bush, in a speech commemorating Pearl Harbor Day said,
“Our war against terror is not a war against one terrorist leader or one terrorist group. Terrorism is a movement, an ideology that respects no boundary of nationality or decency. The terrorists despise creative societies and individual choice -- and thus they bear a special hatred for America. They desire to concentrate power in the hands of a few, and to force every life into grim and joyless conformity. They celebrate death, making a mission of murder and a sacrament of suicide. Yet, for some reason -- for some reason, only young followers are ushered down this deadly path to paradise, while terrorist leaders run into caves to save their own hides.”
Then President Bush made the connection:
“We’ve seen their kind before. The terrorists are the heirs to fascism. They have the same will to power, the same disdain for the individual, the same mad global ambitions. And they will be dealt with in just the same way. Like all fascists, the terrorists cannot be appeased: they must be defeated. This struggle will not end in a truce or treaty. It will end in victory for the United States, our friends and the cause of freedom.”
Said FDR to Congress:
“I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.”
The following statements come from those who will be our leaders as of 1/20/09:
Hillary Clinton:“Our message to the president is clear. It is time to begin ending this war -- not next year, not next month -- but today.”
“What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war.”
