Air Raid - Pearl Harbor - This Is No
Drill
First of Two Parts
by Jennifer
King
COLUMN OF THE DAY!!
"The Heretical Housewife"
December 7th, 2001, will mark the 60th anniversary of the 1941 attack on Pearl
Harbor. Ironically enough, this anniversary comes at a time when America is
still reeling from the events of 9-11, recoiling from yet another unprovoked
and savage attack on American soil.
Older Americans remember just where they were on December 7th, just as we will always remember, with crystal clarity, exactly what we were doing on September 11th. In an instant, our world was vastly changed - much as theirs must have been. Suddenly, a weary America had to - once again - gird herself for battle in the age old defense of freedom against oppression.
Some have said that the Second World War was, in many ways, a continuation of the First. In Europe, that was true, as Hitler’s rise to power can be traced directly back to the shackles imposed on Germany by the vengeful treaty of Versailles. However, in World War I, Japan had sided with the Allies. During the intervening years, though, she had suffered through depression, recession and a population explosion. Japanese farmers found that their crop yields stayed stagnant. Rice imports to Japan tripled between 1910 and the end of the 1920’s. An increasingly radical group of young men began to argue for Japanese expansionism, pointing out the discrepancies between Japan - forced to feed 60 million mouths with 142,270 square miles and countries like Australia - which had more than 3 million square miles and only 6.5 million people.
Some even argued that the vast lands of China, populated sparsely and governed loosely, were Japan’s version of the “Manifest Destiny” doctrine, which had propelled the United States across the Plains to the Pacific. Expansionist ideologies began to call for a military dictatorship that would limit personal wealth, nationalize all private property and dominate Asia. As these socialist/fascists began to gain power, Japan began an undeclared war with China.
In 1931, the Japanese fabricated a bombing and blamed it on Chinese saboteurs. This flimsy excuse allowed them to seize Manchuria. In 1932, a Shanghai mob attacked five Japanese Buddhist priests, killing one of them. This occurrence incited the Japanese into bombing Shanghai, killing thousands of civilians. When sharp international criticism followed, Japan withdrew from the League of Nations, in 1933.
Few, at the time, realized how deeply Japan had prepared for war. The Samurai Code - known now as “Bushido”, was ingrained into the male psyche - almost from birth. Young boys were trained in schools which most closely resembled military academies. They were taught to use arms, and lectured on the importance of fulfilling Japan’s “ultimate destiny”, its’ sacred duty to rule Asia. Teachers instilled a bitter hatred and contempt for the Chinese people, at the same time extolling the virtues of the Japanese as the “Supreme Race“. Youngsters were taught that obedience was the utmost virtue, that their individual worth was meaningless, and that to die for the Emperor was the most glorious sacrifice one could make. Above all, the Japanese boys were taught to adopt a “will which knows no defeat.”
In 1937, Japan entered into a full scale war with China. The Chinese fought back with valor, vexing the Japanese High Command to no end. When the Japanese entered Nanking in December, they slaughtered thousands in unbelievably barbaric ways.
The West still slumbered. Because most of us couldn’t understand German, Italian or Japanese, we paid no attention to what the dictators were saying. Because we were ringed by the two great oceans, we felt safe.
Yet, the dictators were quite open about their plans. Hitler called for a “Third Reich”, following on the heels of Otto Von Bismarck’s Second and Charlemagne’s First. He set up his regime on four pillars - the superiority of the German race, the inferiority of the Jews, the destruction of the Communists and the evils of democracy. Japanese warlords were likewise quite forthcoming about their own superiority, the inferiority of the Chinese and Koreans, and their perception of the West as having a soft underbelly and lacking the moral strength to fight. We didn’t listen then, and we still not listening today.
For today, the Taliban and the Islamo-fascists are also quite open about their plans for the future. Radical Wahhabbi clerics preach fiery sermons, some from pulpits located in our very own cities, denouncing the West and vowing “Death to America”. We are derided as infidels, lambasted for our support to tiny Israel, viewed as being soft and corrupt. The very quarrels that we as a people have over policies brand us - in their minds - as a disjointed country ready to fall apart like a fluffy bisquit put to the fork.
Are we?
The events of September 11th, and the aftermath, seem to say not. Rush Limbaugh has coined a statement which is paraphrased thusly, “What makes America great is the fact that Americans are ordinary people, who (especially under pressure - added by author) do extraordinary things.”
Pearl Harbor accomplished exactly what its’ planner, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, feared most. Yamamoto had warned the Japanese High Command that he would have a year, maybe two, before the formidable American factories would be in full power. The hope, in attacking Pearl Harbor, was to get America to sue for peace.
Instead, they made us mightily mad.
Likewise, the attacks on September 11th.
The first “willing” casualties must be the heroes of Flight 93. Notified of the WTC attacks, they determined that their hijacked flight was, most likely, a continuation. They joined together. They prayed for guidance. They even voted on the plan of action. Ordinary men and women, Americans, foreseeing their own demise and embarking upon a path to thwart the hijacker’s evil aims.
And thus, does our quest for freedom unite us. And thus, does our empathy for our fellow man - and most especially our fellow American - enable us.
In
the now immortal words of Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer (right), my fellow
Americans, “Let’s Roll”. ***
© 2001 Jennifer King
COPYRIGHT © 2001 BY THE AMERICAN PARTISAN. All writers retain rights to their work.