And we could have easily sat back and waited until our continent (not just our
territory) was attacked, but we didn't. Sure the Sleeping Giant was awoke, but he
didn't respond back to Japan only (or even primarily for that matter). We can all sit
back now and question why we didn't enter earlier. It is easy to question policy when
hindsight is 20/20. However, what you can't question is whether or not America just
beefed up it's on shores and waited for Germany to bring the war to them or whether
they sent the kids overseas to stop a country that was attacking countries that are
geographically nowhere near the contiguous 48 states.
America provided all of the help that Europe asked for, for years leading up to Pearl
Harbor. At the time no one knew that America should have entered on principal because
no one was aware of the "Final Plan" and all that went along with it.
This is a perfect example of how people want America to stay out of "their issues".
This is was the attitude that De Galle and Churchill both expressed early on. We
provided them with what they asked for. Japan attacked us and instead of just
attacking them back America realized that it really needed to fight on both fronts.
It did so and helped the world pull through.
Contrast that to Russia's position. They were very similar to America and they were
"sticking it out" also. Russia entered into a treaty with Germany even. Russia was
then attacked by Germany. They didn't immediately send a fleet over to the
Philippines. They didn't get with England and say, "What do you need?" They
fortified their borders and defended themselves.
Whether or not America entered early enough will always be debated. Whether or not
they were primarily responsible for winning is not. Whether or not they could/should
have just turned their fury on Japan and left Europe alone seems debatable to me.
Whether or not they did so does not.
We didn't enter it as soon as we could (although I do believe it was as soon as we
were asked). But we most certainly did not fight this war as someone with "THEIR
security <snip> threatened." or it would have been handled on a different stage. We
had no known issue with Germany other than the fact that they were starting to beat
our neighbors.
"So in effect, America was fighting for itself as well." Not unless we fought our war
solely against Japan and I think a quick perusal of any history book will tell you
that this is not what happened.
Germany would have let us clean Japan's clock if it would have meant us not entering
into the European conflict. We chose to not even try this route. Again, I don't see
how any of this was not "helping our neighbors" as they were given what they said they
needed from us.
JayW
>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 09/12/01 10:13AM >>>
OK, I don't want to get into a huge debate or anything, but if I remember my
history correctly, America was sitting out WWII until Pearl Harbour. Sure
they provided equipment to the British, but Europe was on it's own until
someone hit the US and THEIR security was threatened. So in effect, America
was fighting for itself as well.
-----Original Message-----
From: Jay Woody [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 8:01 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Re: FW: NewYork Terrorist Attack
>> We all won the war...
>> The Allies. Their decendants. Those of us here.
>> We all lost people in WWII.
The point being here that until America entered into the fray, it was not
boding well for ALL of Europe. Numerous countries were defeated and had
already surrendered. Yes, we all won the war, but we all weren't
responsible for that win as many of the "teams" had already left the playing
field. And it obviously wasn't going well before America got involved.
This goes back to the point that America does care about it's "neighbors".
"We all won the war..." seems a little flippant and not in understanding
with what was going on at the time. I can tell you that we WEREN'T all
winning the war until America came over and gave it's kids for foreign soil.
Europeans were fighting to protect themselves. Americans were fighting for
Europeans, our "neighbors". To now say that we wouldn't care if this (the
terrorist attack) had happened anywhere in the world is just silly.
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