Pearl Harbor
Many have compared the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 to the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. They argue that both attacks were just as astonishing, unwarranted and unpredictable. The World Trade Center buildings in New York City still lie in ruin, an icy reminder of the terrorist attack. Both the U.S.S. Arizona and the U.S.S Utah remain on the floor of Pearl Harbor, each a ghostly, decaying tomb reminding all of the thousands that gave their life on that fateful day, also, they are both reminders of seemingly how easily the attack was carried out and of how America, the world’s big brother and perhaps the most powerful nation in the history of the world, was caught with 'its guard down.' The attacks are also similar in that, generally, those who lived through them divide time: time before the attack and time after. After Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war on Japan, and thus Germany and Italy with the signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact and latter the Tripartite Pact, and after was slingshot into the Cold War, and after the September 11 attack, concepts that may have been unthinkable before the attack are being considered such as torturing detainees and racial profiling and,
[The] radar sets [were] not being operated on a regular 24-hour basis on December 7…no liaison officers [were] present or even assigned, therefore there was no possibility of correct and rapid identification and interpretation of aircraft…. Even with these officers present at the drills, there had been "considerable confusion," because of the great number of aircraft operating around the islands at all times….no one knew who possessed the final command responsibility for defense of the Hawaiian Islands in the event of an enemy attack. (Wohlstetter 9-10) The FBI embassy tap made an intercept of an uncoded plain-text Japanese telephone conversation in which an embassy functionary asked, "Tell me, what zero hour is. Otherwise, I won't be able to carry on diplomacy." The voice from Tokyo (K. Yamamoto) said softly, "Well then, I will tell you. Zero hour is December 8 (Tokyo time, ie, December 7 US time) at Pearl Harbor." (Willey)
Some topics in this essay:
Pearl Harbor,
Japanese Empire,
Kermit Tyler,
Fort Shafteer,
Revolutionary Japan,
Short November,
Ford Island,
Honolulu Harbor,
Prime Minister,
United Earlier,
pearl harbor,
attack pearl harbor,
attack pearl,
december 7,
human error,
warning signs,
morning december,
japanese empire,
morning december 7,
surprise attack,
japanese attack,
united states',
world trade center,
signs morning december,
pearl harbor attack,
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Approximate Word count = 3965
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page double spaced)
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