Happy Pearl Harbor Day...a day late?

Why am I intentionally writing belated "Happy Pearl Harbor Day" post? It's simple, really: the sacrifices made by that generations of Americans will never be seen again in this country, and I didn't want to bum everyone out on the day commemorating such an historical event. Therefore, I'll be the buzzkiller today.

Today's United States is more powerful and financially well-off than WWI's Great Depression era U.S. Perhaps we have become so arrogant as to honestly think that we can defeat the terrorists with a fraction of the power that we used against the powerful Nazi and Japanese militaries.

In World War II, we lost about 400,000 of our countrymen. Yet despite such a staggering loss of life, it wasn't even a fraction as controversial as the current war (not Iraq, not Afghanistan, but the global war on Islamic radicalism) that has thus far taken less than 0.01% of the WWII toll.

After Hirohito's sneak attack on us in 1941, Americans rightly felt that there was little-to-no margin of error in war that was essential for our nation's survival. After al-Qaeda's sneak attack on us in 2001, we apparently feel that defeat in Afghanistan or Iraq does not bode ill in the slightest bit for our civilization and way of life.

Part of the problem is that in WWII, we squared off against tangible nations and governments with conventional militaries. Today’s Islamic terrorists mingle with the civilian populations, thus making it politically difficult to tie them to their supporting government enablers in Iran, Syria, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia (among others) who all loudly deny any ties. While President Bush did state after Sept. 11, 2001, that we won't differentiate between terrorists and nations that harbor and suppor them, we appear to be doing just that. The fact that Iran and Syria are known across the world as being state sponsors of terrorism and yet have not been reduced to craters in the armpit known as the Middle East is a testament to the lack of will that our country has in eradicating an enemy that wants us deader than Michael Richards' acting future.

Finally, one of the biggest culprits in our nation's lack of unity in the battle for our survival is the failure to properly identify the enemy, for fear of pissing someone off of hurting someone's feelings. The enemy is Islamic radicalism (or "fascism", take your pick). We're fighting a war on "terror", which is as equally stupid as saying that retaliating against Japan was a war on "sneak attacks." You don't declare a war on tactics, people, you declare war against an entity: a country, a terrorist organization, etc. Until our leaders sprout some pairs of stones and correctly point out who the enemy is, we will be make the already daunting task of defending our country more difficult than it needs to be.

So to the Pearl Harbor generation of Americans, I thank you for your sacrifices, and I apologize profusely that today's generation of "me firsters" and linguine-spined leaders political opportunists have done their damnedest to render your sacrifices all for naught. Unity is expendible in this cut-throat political world we live in, because who has time for unity when there are cheap points to score against the REAL enemy, i.e. opposing political views?

My apologies for the tone of this post, my friends, but I'm in a foul mood over this.