Sunday; December 7, 1941 - 7:21 AM:
Private George Elliot, assigned to Pearl Harbor's new radar station, is casually going about his duty. Suddenly, the young soldier cannot believe his eyes!
On the circular sweep of the screen, a large swarm of airplanes - numbering in the hundreds - is approaching Oahu from the northwest. In panic, the befuddled private immediately phones his commanding officer and reports the alarming discovery.
Lieutenant Kermit Tyler, roused from his slumber, hastily informs Elliot it is only a formation of six B-17 bombers, dispatched from the States, on their approach to the islands.
Inexplicably, Private Elliot fails to mention that it was far too large an image to be just six Flying Fortresses, and nothing more is mentioned about it.
At 7:55 AM, the attack on Pearl Harbor begins. The Japanese aircraft have achieved complete surprise.
Within the first ten minutes, all eight battleships moored adjacent to Ford Island have taken either bomb or torpedo hits.
8:10 AM: the giant battleship, USS Arizona, is struck by an armor-piercing bomb dropped from 8000 feet by a Japanese "Kate" high-altitude bomber. The fast-plunging projectile penetrates the ship's deck - striking the forward ammunition magazine.
The apocalyptic explosion is so thunderous it shakes the entire harbor - rendering many survivors of the attack deaf for life. 1700 sailors are immediately incinerated, or slowly drown after the mighty ship settles into the shallow water.
8:27 AM; Suddenly, a second wave of 170 Japanese planes - launched 30 minutes after the first - appears over the harbor. They concentrate their attacks on the airfields at Hickam and Wheeler, and go about strafing Oahu until their fuel runs low.
9:53 AM: less than two hours after it began, Pearl Harbor lies in shambles: burning ships, oozing dark fuel oil. Screaming, horribly-burned survivors are everywhere, floating upon the water.
Final toll - 2,403 killed; 1,178 military and civilian wounded. The Americans have paid a bloody, fearful price.
Twenty-one ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet are sunk or damaged. Aircraft losses are 188 destroyed and 159 damaged - the majority hit before even having had a chance to take flight.
In the shocking aftermath, America is suddenly startled out of its neutrality slumber.
The entire nation is both dumfounded and profoundly angered; unbelieving that an enemy could be so dastardly as to pull off a Sunday morning sneak attack -slaughtering both civilian and military personnel alike.
Now, the no-longer-pacifist nation suddenly realizes the reality of war has finally hit home.
The next day, cries of revenge resound around the nation..."Remember Pearl Harbor!" is chanted amongst the long lines of the millions of young men who have flooded the nation's army, navy and marine recruiting offices.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the "author" who had conceived the cowardly attack, would write in his dairy.."the sleeping giant had been awakened..."
A furious Franklin Delano Roosevelt - in his declaration of war before Congress - describing the debacle as a "Day of Infamy," angrily declares..."America, in her righteous might, will win through to ultimate victory, SO HELP US GOD!"
In retrospect, one could aptly describe the Japanese as terrorists, who, without warning, struck a unsuspecting naval installation with a precisely-executed, well-planned sneak attack - hoping to cower a pacifist America into a conditional agreement; promising no resistance to Japanese territorial expansion in the Pacific.
But the aggressors had figured wrong - DEAD wrong:
America would go on to crush the determined Nipponese warriors; and after 3 1/2 bloody years - culminating in two atomic bomb attacks- it would be Japan who would unconditionally surrender.
Then, in remarkable co-incidence, near-exactly 70 years later, another determined foe would strike an even-deadlier surprise air attack, and collapse the two mighty Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in the heart of New York- killing 3000 - sending shockwaves reverberating around the world
Once again, an unsuspecting America, in her righteous indignation, sought revenge:
But unlike Franklin Roosevelt, President George W. Bush fails to capture the nation's mood - taking on the role of cheerleader, rather than the aggrieved angry commander.
Yes, it would be George W. Bush - bullhorn in hand - standing atop the smoking rubble (wearing a fireman's hat), reliving his college days when he was once a male cheerleader.
With his characteristic, mischievous smirk, Mr. Bush addresses the nation as if leading a Harvard cheer: "The people who knocked these buildings down will hear from all of us soon.'' (rah-rah)
But what if Bush had instead reprised the role of Roosevelt, and angrily declared all-out war on al-Qaida?
What if Bush had vowed to a seething American public that Osama bin Laden - the cowardly author of the attack- would be pursued to the ends of the earth..."SO HELP US GOD!"
Picture a fiercely-aroused nation, led by a President who's unrelenting goal is to avenge the three thousand victims of 9-11 - not to be deterred!
Once again, the recruiting stations are flooded with thousands of volunteers chanting..."Remember 9-11!"
Within weeks, Commander-in-Chief Bush has garnered an overwhelming army of 500,000, champing at the bit to go to Afghanistan, and destroy the Taliban-run, al-Qaida training centers -hell bent to hunt down Bin Laden no matter how long the mission takes!
With a force this large, and a determination so fierce, would not the Americans have eventually found bin Laden? And would not the Taliban have been routed to the point of never daring to oppose us again?
Indeed; had all this been done in the aftermath of 9-11, how would the geopolitical map of the world look today?
- Afghanistan would be a stable country, with its own security force, and a population ever-loyal to America for having cleansed the nation of the Islamic extremism, and horrid misogynist violence of the Taliban.
- the world would be in awe; the Islamic extremists would have finally gotten the memo that - like 70 years ago - if you dare attack the United states, you will cease to be that which you were before.
- the Muslim extremist world realizes the futility of attacking America, and decides to "go back to the drawing board," turning their attention to Indonesia.
But President Bush - proving to be the fool that he is - did none of the above. He failed to capture the moment. He chose to treat the attack of 9-11 as worthy of retaliation, but not all-out war.
Then inexplicably - for reasons known only to him - "W" decides to turn the nation's attention away from bin-Laden - now declaring (lying) that "it's Saddam Hussein who's the menace - the evil one to be captured!"
On the night of January 29, 2002, George W. Bush chose to turn a State of the Union event into a mockery of the those who died on 9-11:
His bizarre "Axis of Evil" address would go down as perhaps the most calamitous speech that any President has ever made in American history: its permanent after-effects equal to losing a world war.
POINT: the United States becomes a splintered, weakened, bitterly-divided nation; arguing forever about having invaded Iraq for no other reason than "Halliburton"..."Cheney"..."Blackwater," and "getting Iraqi oil."
POINT: in the 2006 midterms, the division and partisanship results in a disastrous, democratic-majority Congress; and ultimately, the swearing-in of Nancy Pelosi, the most cold-blooded, Machiavellian Speaker of the House ever to wield the gavel.
POINT: after 5 years of a seemingly pointless, costly war, a disenchanted America- thoroughly wary of ALL Republicans - decides to "take a chance" and elects a president who is unknown, unvetted, indecisive, and with little experience.
POINT: Failing to capture bin-Laden now emboldens the entire Muslim extremist world: Afghanistan in pandemonium. Bin Laden planning his next 9-11; a resurgent Taliban in control of the Swat valley in northern Pakistan, threatening overthrow of the country, and capturing its cache of atomic weapons.
POINT: On the homeferont, Muslim extremists now carry the attack to military bases and recruiting centers. Two are shot (one dead) in Little Rock; thirteen murdered in Killian, Texas. A leftist-slanted, sycophantic media fails to call the attacks for what they are: part of a worldwide radical Islamist plot to make the families and personnel of the US military feel unsafe - discouraging volunteerism and re-enlistment.
Sure, Mr. Bush (and his upholders) can claim..."look at all we accomplished in Iraq!"
Yes, look at what has been accomplished:
Nancy Pelosi; Barack Obama; Harry Reid; Eric Holder; MSNBC; a resurgent al-Qaida and Taliban; an emboldened, radical leftist, out-of-control Congress; a national debt eventually to swamp the nation; and ultimately, the threat of full Socialism.
Have a wonderful life Mister George 'Dubya' Bush. America will suffer for a hundred years from your foolhardy blunder.