A Day of Infamy

--U.S. Government poster (1942)

We learned a lesson in Vietnam.
Don't go into Vietnam!
--Dana Carvey as George H.W. Bush
on Saturday Night Live

We will always remember -
how they died for liberty,
Let's REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR
and go on to victory.
--Remember Pearl Harbor song

Before we're through with them,
the Japanese language
will be spoken only in hell!
--Admiral Halsey (1941)
________________

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, so a few comments are in order.

First -- Happy Birthday to my sister Mary on her 70th.

Second -- We are quick to say we will never forget, yet we fail to remember what it is that we are even remembering! Whilst overhearing some young, hip Manhattanites at a bar on 9-11-01 musing that the events of that day were analogous to the Vietnamese bombing of Pearl Harbor, historian Susan Jacoby was prompted to write “The Age of American Unreason”.

Third -- The events of 9-11-01 do not equate to nor are they similar to the Japanese attack on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor. The 7 Dec 1941 attack was military, while the events of 9 Sept 2001 were criminal activity, which does not meet the standard of an act of war. A criminal event is not a military action, even when the outcome resembles a bomb crater. Moreover, both events could have been avoided.

Fourth -- It is instructive the the U.S. tried and executed the planners and enablers on the Japanese side immediately following the war, yet in 2011 we are not afforded recourse to the same justice by seeing the criminals of 9-11-01 tried. While the U.S. waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 183 times to no effect, we will not get the just satisfaction of his being tried before a court of law, the bedrock of our democracy for which we are supposedly fighting.

Why is now different from then, and why is Lady Justice hiding in an undisclosed location?

As an aside, Ranger will recommend two books on the topic he found helpful: Day of Deceit: The Truth About FDR and Pearl Harbor (Stinnett, 2000), and Infamy (Toland, 1982).

As of May 2011, approximately 2,079,000 World War II American veterans are still living (Department of Veterans Affairs). During this conflict, 464 United States military personnel received the Medal of Honor, 266 of them posthumously. Fifteen were earned at Pearl Harbor; only five of these men survived the battle.

The current median age for a World War II veteran is 89 years.