Pearl Harbor vs. 911

by Ralph Brandt in History, December 5, 2009

How do the two events compare?

On December 7, 1941 the US Military base at Pearl Harbor was attacked by enemy aircraft flown off several carriers in the Pacific. Although historians disagree on the number killed it is very close to 2400. The Wikipedia number is lower but this source is considered by most serious historians as tainted by political agendas of the authors and editors. I believe they have used the phrase “Military Casualties” to ignore the civilians killed on that day. I would take the long standing number of about 2406 as accurate.

On 9/11/2001 three sites in the US (NYC, the Pentagon and Shenksville PA) were attacked by commandeered civilian aircraft Again historians disagree on the exact count but most agree is was somewhere just short of 2800. The loss of life in these two events is not vastly different.

But let us look at the differences.

The aircraft flown in the attack on Pearl were military aircraft carrying bombs, intended for war. They would have been recognized by almost anyone as a threat because they were in fact war planes. The torpedoes and bombs slung under them would have identified them as armed and the Rising Sun insignia as possibly hostile.

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The aircraft flown on 911 were civilian intended for peaceful use. No person on the ground looking up at them would have identified them as unfriendly. They were subverted by Islamic Fundamentalists.

The pilots who flew the Japanese aircraft at Pearl were skilled military pilots, the ones who flew the Jetliners on 911 were marginal pilots who were trained only to fly and crash a plane.

The Japanese pilots at Pearl were primarily attacking a military base not civilian populations. Although some civilians were killed at Pearl the thrust was an attack on a military base and military targets not civilians. Civilian casualties were the result of collateral damage and US anti-aircraft fire. The old addage, what goes up must come down applies to anti-aircraft fire. Those projectiles came down as much as a coouple miles from the gun. Some still had killing power if they hit someone. Even airburst flack shells can cause casualties when the pieces fall.

The first casualties of the 911 Islamo-terrorists were the civilian air crews of the Jetliners, not military forces. The next victims were the passengers of the planes and the people in the towers. The only military targets were the pentagon and the military personnel there.

The attack on Pearl was described by Admiral Yommato, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” He knew the American resolve of the time. It would take over 90,000 American Soldiers and Sailors dead and two nuclear weapons to end the Japanese aggression. He did not live to see the end, he died in Operation Vengence April 18, 1943 when his transport plane was shot down by a flight of P-38 aircraft dispatched to “Get Yomomato.” The planners of the 911 attacks are being treated as petty criminal defendants – like a shoplifter. There should have been speedy military justice and an execution at dawn but the American apologists have made it impossible to defend this country.

After Pearl the US mobilized to end Japanese and Nazi aggression. Churchill said, “You can count on the Americans to do the right thing after they exhaust the alternatives.” After 911 we keep looking for alternatives to doing the right thing. And the Obama administration has carried on the Bush plan of looking. I personally believe an attack on US soil is less than 90 days from execution. Recent moves by the administration indicate we are not willing to act.