Karen Kraft
29
- Joined
- May 18, 2002
- Posts
- 36,253
Terrorism: The Inevitable Solution to the Problem
On December 7, 1941, the United States was attacked by a force sworn to bring America to its knees. People forget that WWII was not popular at all in the early months/ years of the effort, as it seemed to be a repeat of the go-nowhere losing position deplored in The Great War’s muddy trenches. The so called “war effort” didn’t really take hold and capture the hearts of the public until it looked like there was a chance to actually defeat the Axis powers. Wars are not popular until you are winning them. That’s not just true in USA, but pretty much everyplace.
Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, was a strong, proud, and brave soldier of WWII. He was Harvard educated and trained at the U.S. Naval War College. He understood America and Americans much better than I do, and probably a lot better than many of the people posting on the General Board do.
Life styles and patterns have changed a great deal since the Mayflower, Civil War, Westward Movement, and so on, but the basic characteristics of the American personality haven’t really changed that much, in my opinion. The strange blend of compassion, racism, cruel yet unflinching Bible thumping inconsistencies, zenophobic isolationist prejudices, etc., are now only partially hidden beneath the surface by the pressures of political correctness and the misguided confusing of equity with equality. Americans are, as individuals, pragmatic and common-sensed. Collectively, Americans often seem passive-aggressive. The live-and-let-live credo is easily replaced by hate-mob mentality and action when good and God-fearing people are sufficiently provoced. It was Yamamoto who wisely observed, at the outset of WWII, after the attack on the U.S. naval forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941 that "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."
People on the West Coast of the United States, for example, did little more than shrug as their neighbors of Japanese ancestry (both American citizens and Japanese Nationals) were ordered to report for relocation away from the coastline.
By 1945, the invasion of the Japanese mainland (Islands) was fully organized and prepared. However, the mindset and tradition of the Japanese people made it clear that the invading Allied army would face many years of house-to-house / hand-to-hand combat before Japan would be “pacified.” One can only estimate the number of Allied soldiers and Japanese people (soldiers and civilians) who would be killed as the invading forces slowly crept through Japan in a long, bitter twilight struggle of national debasement and humiliation, the occupiers “remembering Pearl Harbor” as they “pacify” the Japanese population.
President Truman gave the order to put a quick end to the war by dropping warning fliers and later two nuclear weapons, one on each of two Japanese cities, thus saving the lives of countless Allied soldiers and even more Japanese soldiers and civilians. Japan was quickly transformed and rehabilitated, through the efforts of the Allied Occupation Forces until, on September 8, 1951 Japan was restored to its status as an independent country. Indeed, it is a tribute to both the Allied occupation and spirit and resolve of the Japanese people that Japan grew from a defeated and humiliated nation to a major economic power by 1965.
The reasons Japan had “gone off the deep end,” and attacked the United States are complex. In short, throughout the 1920s and into the 1930s Japanese ultranationalists increased their influence and participaiton in Japanese politics, promoting their fundamentalist ideology of hakkō ichiu, the belief that God wishes the holy and righteous Japanese to take control of all Asia, by force if necessary. Death of an individual pursuing hakkō ichiu was no death at all, but a guarantee of entrance into heaven. (No mention of 47 virgins in this rendition of the familiar theme). Indeed, in November 1938, prime minister Fumimaro Konoe declared that Japan’s true and God-given purpose was the creation of the so-called "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere". In fact, he stated that a war in that effort was, in his words, in "conformity with the very spirit in which our nation was founded.” He characterized the upcoming battle as the fighting of a "holy war" (“Seisen”). Sounding familiar yet?
Many Japanese people, both the educated and simple folk, accepted this with religious zeal. To do otherwise would put one outside the fundamental fabric of Japanese culture and Nation. After all, these are People of Ferver.
Whenever God speaks to people, telling them to go kill other people, it’s hard to explain to many that perhaps it is not really God who is inspiring the notion, but leaders with their own personal agenda. Once one starts down that road (explaining this stuff to People of Fervor), one becomes the heretic, the outcast, the devil, and so on. This was probably the case long before humans emerged from the caves of pre-civilization.
There are few people in the world of Islam with the bravery of Isoroku Yamamoto. If there are any, they fear to speak out, lest they be targetted by the Zealots who have seized control of their faith – of their culture. Somewhere quietly, in their homes, with the drapes drawn tight, they look at September 11, 2001 and say to themselves (in not much more than a frightened whisper), "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." This is not the movies, folks. The retribution that is yet to come travels a long, tedious, frustrating, and terrifying road. But that juggernaut set into motion on September 11, 2001 cannot be stopped by any force in the Universe.
The Zealots and Persons of Fervor will continue their attacks, assuming that they are defeating the devil, in the name of God, of course, mission after mission. The military gamesmanship of the West, with such things as “surgical strikes” – which often are neither all that surgical nor that much of a strike – will grow wearisome in time, particularly as popular support for such efforts declines further and further. The Truman analysis and the Truman Solution will eventually be addressed and then reluctantly accepted. Ugly? You bet. But this is inevitable. Oh, perhaps not in [President H. Clinton’s] or [President R. Guiliani’s] administration but, at some point, that will be The Final Solution of the Terrorist Problem.
There have been a lot of crying rags understandably brought out today, in remembrance of those who died on September 11, 2001 and for their families and friends, but to quote the great 20th Century American poet, Bob Dylan:
“But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now ain't the time for your tears.”
[The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll – © 1964 Bob Dylan]
It is the wrath of the juggernaut set into motion that day; it is the suffering and cruelly of the generalized and non-specific wasting of humanity inevitably to follow, when the sleeping giant exacts its horrible and decimating toll – that will be the time for your tears.
Either, neither, or both sides most certainly have God on their side.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goiuEthCo1E
Lyrics:
Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.
Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.
Oh the Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I's made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side.
Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.
When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.
I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.
But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.
In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.
So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.
Copyright © 1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music
On December 7, 1941, the United States was attacked by a force sworn to bring America to its knees. People forget that WWII was not popular at all in the early months/ years of the effort, as it seemed to be a repeat of the go-nowhere losing position deplored in The Great War’s muddy trenches. The so called “war effort” didn’t really take hold and capture the hearts of the public until it looked like there was a chance to actually defeat the Axis powers. Wars are not popular until you are winning them. That’s not just true in USA, but pretty much everyplace.
Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, was a strong, proud, and brave soldier of WWII. He was Harvard educated and trained at the U.S. Naval War College. He understood America and Americans much better than I do, and probably a lot better than many of the people posting on the General Board do.
Life styles and patterns have changed a great deal since the Mayflower, Civil War, Westward Movement, and so on, but the basic characteristics of the American personality haven’t really changed that much, in my opinion. The strange blend of compassion, racism, cruel yet unflinching Bible thumping inconsistencies, zenophobic isolationist prejudices, etc., are now only partially hidden beneath the surface by the pressures of political correctness and the misguided confusing of equity with equality. Americans are, as individuals, pragmatic and common-sensed. Collectively, Americans often seem passive-aggressive. The live-and-let-live credo is easily replaced by hate-mob mentality and action when good and God-fearing people are sufficiently provoced. It was Yamamoto who wisely observed, at the outset of WWII, after the attack on the U.S. naval forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941 that "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."
People on the West Coast of the United States, for example, did little more than shrug as their neighbors of Japanese ancestry (both American citizens and Japanese Nationals) were ordered to report for relocation away from the coastline.
By 1945, the invasion of the Japanese mainland (Islands) was fully organized and prepared. However, the mindset and tradition of the Japanese people made it clear that the invading Allied army would face many years of house-to-house / hand-to-hand combat before Japan would be “pacified.” One can only estimate the number of Allied soldiers and Japanese people (soldiers and civilians) who would be killed as the invading forces slowly crept through Japan in a long, bitter twilight struggle of national debasement and humiliation, the occupiers “remembering Pearl Harbor” as they “pacify” the Japanese population.
President Truman gave the order to put a quick end to the war by dropping warning fliers and later two nuclear weapons, one on each of two Japanese cities, thus saving the lives of countless Allied soldiers and even more Japanese soldiers and civilians. Japan was quickly transformed and rehabilitated, through the efforts of the Allied Occupation Forces until, on September 8, 1951 Japan was restored to its status as an independent country. Indeed, it is a tribute to both the Allied occupation and spirit and resolve of the Japanese people that Japan grew from a defeated and humiliated nation to a major economic power by 1965.
The reasons Japan had “gone off the deep end,” and attacked the United States are complex. In short, throughout the 1920s and into the 1930s Japanese ultranationalists increased their influence and participaiton in Japanese politics, promoting their fundamentalist ideology of hakkō ichiu, the belief that God wishes the holy and righteous Japanese to take control of all Asia, by force if necessary. Death of an individual pursuing hakkō ichiu was no death at all, but a guarantee of entrance into heaven. (No mention of 47 virgins in this rendition of the familiar theme). Indeed, in November 1938, prime minister Fumimaro Konoe declared that Japan’s true and God-given purpose was the creation of the so-called "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere". In fact, he stated that a war in that effort was, in his words, in "conformity with the very spirit in which our nation was founded.” He characterized the upcoming battle as the fighting of a "holy war" (“Seisen”). Sounding familiar yet?
Many Japanese people, both the educated and simple folk, accepted this with religious zeal. To do otherwise would put one outside the fundamental fabric of Japanese culture and Nation. After all, these are People of Ferver.
Whenever God speaks to people, telling them to go kill other people, it’s hard to explain to many that perhaps it is not really God who is inspiring the notion, but leaders with their own personal agenda. Once one starts down that road (explaining this stuff to People of Fervor), one becomes the heretic, the outcast, the devil, and so on. This was probably the case long before humans emerged from the caves of pre-civilization.
There are few people in the world of Islam with the bravery of Isoroku Yamamoto. If there are any, they fear to speak out, lest they be targetted by the Zealots who have seized control of their faith – of their culture. Somewhere quietly, in their homes, with the drapes drawn tight, they look at September 11, 2001 and say to themselves (in not much more than a frightened whisper), "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." This is not the movies, folks. The retribution that is yet to come travels a long, tedious, frustrating, and terrifying road. But that juggernaut set into motion on September 11, 2001 cannot be stopped by any force in the Universe.
The Zealots and Persons of Fervor will continue their attacks, assuming that they are defeating the devil, in the name of God, of course, mission after mission. The military gamesmanship of the West, with such things as “surgical strikes” – which often are neither all that surgical nor that much of a strike – will grow wearisome in time, particularly as popular support for such efforts declines further and further. The Truman analysis and the Truman Solution will eventually be addressed and then reluctantly accepted. Ugly? You bet. But this is inevitable. Oh, perhaps not in [President H. Clinton’s] or [President R. Guiliani’s] administration but, at some point, that will be The Final Solution of the Terrorist Problem.
There have been a lot of crying rags understandably brought out today, in remembrance of those who died on September 11, 2001 and for their families and friends, but to quote the great 20th Century American poet, Bob Dylan:
“But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now ain't the time for your tears.”
[The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll – © 1964 Bob Dylan]
It is the wrath of the juggernaut set into motion that day; it is the suffering and cruelly of the generalized and non-specific wasting of humanity inevitably to follow, when the sleeping giant exacts its horrible and decimating toll – that will be the time for your tears.
Either, neither, or both sides most certainly have God on their side.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goiuEthCo1E
Lyrics:
Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.
Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.
Oh the Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I's made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side.
Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.
When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.
I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.
But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.
In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.
So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.
Copyright © 1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music
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