12/15/2001
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09588
THE LESSONS OF PEARL HARBOR
This month, Americans are observing the sixtieth anniversary of what then-President Franklin Roosevelt called "a date that will live in infamy". On December 7th, 1941, a force of over three-hundred-fifty Japanese aircraft attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The Japanese sank or damaged scores of aircraft and ships, killed over two-thousand-four-hundred military personnel and civilians, and wounded over one thousand.
The Japanese struck U.S. territory without a declaration of war. The attack was plotted in secret and waged without mercy. It led to U.S. entry into the Second World War.
Three months ago, the United States suffered another sneak attack. On September 11th, several thousand civilians were killed in terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon by Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaida. In the wake of those attacks, the U.S. and the rest of the civilized world declared war against international terrorism.
In an address commemorating the attack on Pearl Harbor, President George W. Bush compared that day of infamy to the September 11th terrorist attacks. "What happened at Pearl Harbor was the start of a long and terrible war for America," said Mr. Bush. "Yet out of that surprise attack grew a steadfast resolve that made America freedom’s defender. And that mission – our great calling – continues to this hour, as the brave men and women of our military fight the forces of terror in Afghanistan and around the world."
The U.S.-led coalition has already routed the Al-Qaida network and its Taleban supporters from power in Afghanistan. But this is just the beginning. As President Bush said, "Terrorism is a movement, an ideology that respects no boundary of nationality or decency. The terrorists despise creative societies and individual choice – and thus they bear a special hatred for America. They desire to concentrate power in the hands of a few, and to force every life into grim and joyless conformity. They celebrate death, making a mission of murder and a sacrament of suicide."
As President Bush made clear, the struggle against terrorism "will not end in a truce or treaty. It will end in victory for the United States, our friends, and the cause of freedom. Just as we were sixty years ago in a time of war, this nation will be patient, we’ll be determined, and we will be relentless in the pursuit of freedom."