Beyond Pearl Harbor
TimeWatch Editorial
December 8, 2015
Seventy four years ago President Roosevelt, delivering a speech to Congress said the following: “Yesterday, December 7, 1941–a date which will live in infamy–the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” This assault was devastating, both literally and psychologically. It was indeed, the most horrific attack upon the United States military on historical record. More than 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,700 wounded in the early morning attacks on the Hawaiian Navy Base. Yuma Totani, in his book: “The Tokyo War Crimes Trial: The Pursuit of Justice in the Wake of World War II” published by Harvard University Asia Center on page 57 says that, because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, the attack on Pearl Harbor was judged by the Tokyo Trials to be a war crime .
The Second World War had begun since 1939; the United States was however not very disposed to enter, until of course the attack on Pearl Harbor. Then there was no question. The majority of the nation agreed upon the idea of entering the conflict. The Senate voted 82 to 0 in approval of war with Japan; the Congress voted 388 to 1. Ever since that event, there have been writers who believe that parties high in the U.S. and British governments knew of the attack in advance and may have let it happen (or even encouraged it) with the aim of bringing the U.S. into war. This theory has been expressed in books like “Design For War: A Study of Secret Power Politics 1937–1941,” by Frederic R. Sanborn, or “Back Door to War: The Roosevelt Foreign Policy, 1933–1941”, by Charles C. Tansill.
Zbigniew Brzezinski in his book “The Grand Chessboard” makes the point that Americans are usually not willing or ready for war unless they perceive that they are threatened by serious external forces. Brzezinski says on page 107:
“As America becomes an increasingly multicultural society, it may find it more difficult to fashion a consensus on foreign policy issues, except in the circumstances of a truly massive and widely perceived direct external threat. Such a consensus generally existed throughout World War II and even during the Cold War. Zbigniew Brzezinski, “The Grand Chessboard”1997
In other words, to get our attention, to bring us together, there must be a serious external threat. That is what the attack on Pearl was. This is why those were have expressed doubts about certain events since December 7, 1941 have wondered. David Ray Griffin, in his book, “The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11” as the name suggests, makes a similar argument. One of the reasons he makes this argument is a quote from a work entitled: “Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century” A Report of The Project for the New American Century, by Thomas Donnelly, the Principal Author, published in September 2000. Here’s that quote:
“To preserve American military preeminence in the coming decades, the Department of Defense must move more aggressively to experiment with new technologies and operational concepts, and seek to exploit the emerging revolution in military affairs….. Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor.” Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century, page 51.
John Pilger in an article entitled: America Needed ‘A New Pearl Harbor’ says this:
“The threat posed by U.S. terrorism to the security of nations and individuals was outlined in prophetic detail in a document written more than two years ago and disclosed only recently. What was needed for America to dominate much of humanity and the world’s resources, it said, was “some catastrophic and catalyzing event—like a new Pearl Harbor.” The attacks of 11 September 2001 provided the “new Pearl Harbor,” described as “the opportunity of ages.”
What is amazing is that even though most people, even some of the military hawks in our land, do not even remember the actual date of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the impact of the event is not lost on those who seek to make political points or to motivate. America does seem to not be easily motivated to any particular action. We do seem to await some horrific event to move. Let me therefore suggest, that the world is indeed changing on every level. What has been foretold regarding the times in which we live is indeed proving to be true. We must prepare for the reality ahead. Matthew 24: 1-8 says this:
“And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to [him] for to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying; tell us, when shall these things be? And what [shall be] the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all [these things] must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these [are] the beginning of sorrows.”
If these are the beginning of sorrows, we need a proper preparation. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.
Cameron A. Bowen
