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Letter to the Editor
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COLUMN: Time to name terror response

COLUMN%3A+Time+to+name+terror+response

Commemorating  75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor

“Tora! Tora! Tora!” Commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Isoroku Yamamoto, instructed his pilots to take off the carriers and attack Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. Japanese planes began to appear on the horizons of the untouched islands at 7:55 a.m. and 110 minutes later, the Pacific fleet was reduced to a graveyard of carcusses of sailors and ships alike.

After the Japanese attack, the U.S. quickly responded by declaring war the next day, December 8, 1941. Today the world commemorates the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor and more than 3,500 lives lost or wounded during the ambush.

[/media-credit] On the attack on Pearl Harbor, more than 3,500 lives lost or wounded.

With an ongoing war against terrorism, the end does not seem near, as terror attacks continue in America and across the world. Extreme measures were taken during World War II with the dropping of  two nuclear bombs on Japan. An invasion of the Japanese homeland would prove to be too costly in lives that would be lost. With terrorism threatening western society, the fear of history repeating itself is an imminent threat.

Sixty years later, 19 hijackers took to the skies again, and managed to take control of four commercial airplanes. Three of the planes hit their targets, with the other plane crashing before it could reach it’s desired target. Sept. 11, 2001, would be another date that would live in infamy for the American people and the world.

Though there is sixty years separating these two attacks on the American people, both attacks still share similarities. Both attacks led to major wars, and joined the nation is rallying behind a cause worthy of action. I question if today’s terror attacks evoke the same patriotic response.

When Pearl Harbor was attacked, President Franklin D. Roosevelt immediately addressed the attack to the American people, and ascribed the attack to the Japanese Empire.

“Yesterday December 7, 1941,” Roosevelt said. “A date which will live in infamy.” The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attack by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”

The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I have directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinctions between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them. — President George W. Bush

After the attack on the Twin Towers, President George W. Bush also quickly responded to the attack through a speech he gave at the White House the night of Sept. 11, 2001.

“The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts,” Bush said. “I have directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. We will make no distinctions between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.”

In his address to Congress and the American people, Roosevelt clearly outlined the aggressors of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Bush did make the threat and enemy clear in his message. In a speech that was given nine days after the Twin Towers attack, on Sept. 20, Bush declared a “War on Terror” and outlined several groups he was going to pursue and destroy.

A “War on Terror” is an umbrella term and would require a more in-depth explanation and outline on who America would be fighting. Bush went into detail about these terrorist organizations who would be targeted, but our current president, Barrack Obama has failed to explain the war he is waging on terror. Obama does not call these organizations by what they are: radical Islam.

In Roosevelt’s speech, he made it very clear that America was going to war with Japan because of their attack on Pearl Harbor. This gave the American people a nation to look to as the enemy. Obama has failed to identify America’s enemies in the eight years he has been president.

[/media-credit] The morning of Sept. 11, marks another historic day in which the hearts of Americans were wounded.

The two attacks themselves share polarizing motivations as to why they were carried out. The Empire of Japan wanted to continue to expand their borders and territories deeper into the Pacific. In order to accomplish this, they needed to cripple the America’s naval fleet stationed in the Pacific. They carried out a military assault on a military target.

The Twin Tower terrorists however targeted a civilian landmark in the middle of one of the largest cities in the U.S. Their intentions were to cause anarchy, fear and destroy the western social structure.

The U.S. was able to end the war with Japan with two mushroom clouds that were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. If history repeats itself, America may need to use such devastating methods to end the war on terror. To prevent history from repeating, we need to unite as a nation and present ourselves as a unified front against our known adversaries.

As a nation we look to the next presidential leadership for the principles of strength and resolve to end the war on terrorism.

Slideshow: Images provided by Feather alumnus Kylie Bell. Bell visited Pearl Harbor Memorial during a family vacation to Oahu summer 2016.

[rev_slider alias=”pearlharbor2016″]

This writer can be reached via Twitter: Samuel Cross and via email: Samuel Cross.

For more top 5 articles read, Foreign language breaks barriers, accommodates in daily life.

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