Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/12/american-except.html Sunday, December 07, 2008 December 7, 1941, When men were men and America knew who she was <http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized /2008/12/06/pearl_harbor1.jpg> Pearl_harbor1 <http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized /2008/12/06/pearlharborattack.jpg> Pearlharborattack <http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized /2008/12/06/ussarizonapearlharbor.jpg> Ussarizonapearlharbor The USS Arizona after being hit by torpedoes and kamikaze planes. <http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized /2008/12/06/pearl_harbor.jpg> Pearl_harbor <http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized /2008/12/06/pearlharborussvirginia.jpg> Pearlharborussvirginia The attack on Pearl Harbor. American exceptionalism defeated the enemy .... then. Victor Davis Hanson back in 2006 <http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2006/12/december_7_livi.htm l> On Dec. 7, 1941 - 65 years ago this week - pilots from a Japanese carrier force bombed Pearl Harbor. They killed 2,403 Americans, most of them service personnel, while destroying much of the American fleet and air forces stationed in Hawaii. The next morning, an outraged United States declared war, which ended less than four years later with the destruction of most of the Japanese empire and its military. Sixty years after Pearl Harbor came another surprise attack on U.S. soil, one that was, in some ways, even worse than the "Day of Infamy." Nearly 3,000 people died in the Sept. 11 attacks - the vast majority of them civilians. Al-Qaida's target was not an American military base far distant from the mainland. Rather, they suicide-bombed the United States' financial and military centers. [...] Is our generation less competent? Not really. The United States routed the Taliban from Afghanistan by early December 2001. America's first clear-cut victory against the Japanese, at Midway, came six months after Pearl Harbor. Do we lack the unity of the past? Perhaps. But we should at least remember that after Pearl Harbor, a national furor immediately arose over the intelligence failure that had allowed an enormous Japanese fleet to approach the Hawaiian Islands undetected. Extremists went further - clamoring that the Roosevelt administration had deliberately lowered our guard as part of a conspiracy to pave the way for America's entrance into the war. Are we in over our heads fighting in both Afghanistan and Iraq? Hardly. Within days after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. found itself in a three-front war against Germany, Italy and Japan - an Axis that had won a series of recent battles against the British, Chinese and Russians. The most obvious is that, against Japan and Germany, we faced easily identifiable nation states with conventional militaries. Today's terrorists blend in with civilians, and it's hard to tie them to their patron governments or enablers in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Pakistan, who all deny any culpability. We also tread carefully in an age of ubiquitous frightening weapons, when any war at any time might without much warning bring in a nuclear, non-democratic belligerent. The limitations on our war-making are just as often self-imposed. Yes, we defeated the Axis powers in less than four years, but it was at a ghastly cost. To defeat both Japan and Germany, we averaged over 8,000 Americans lost every month of the war - compared to around 50 per month since Sept. 11. And in those days, peace and reconstruction followed rather than preceded victory. In tough-minded fashion, we offered ample aid to, and imposed democracy on, war-torn nations only after the enemy was utterly defeated and humiliated. Today, to avoid such carnage, we try to help and reform countries before our enemies have been vanquished -putting the cart of aid before the horse of victory. Our efforts today are further complicated by conflicting Internet fatwas, terrorist militias and shifting tribal alliances; in short, we are not always sure who the enemy cadre really is - or will be. Our efforts today are further complicated by the leftist appeasers, the enemy within and the loss of national self confidence. Posted by Pamela Geller on Sunday, December 07, 2008 at 02:55 AM in US MILITARY GREATNESS and Real American Heroes <http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/us_military_greatness/> | Permalink <http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/12/american-except.htm l> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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