Dec. 7th & 9/11

December 7th, said FDR, is a day that will "live in infamy." Can the same be said for 9/11? On both dates, of course, a foreign attack on the U.S. propelled us into war. But despite the mismanaged mess in Iraq, it doesn't feel like we're at war today. At most it feels like we're inconvenienced because a good many folks dislike us enough to want to destroy us.


I was two when Pearl Harbor was attacked but I still can remember how frightening "blackouts" were along the east coast at the start of the war. In 1942, everyone in America knew they were at war. Of course, the enemy was more tangible then. You had someone more concrete to hate. Today we appear to be at war against "terror," against radical Islam, which is not a country but a set of ideas.

I also remember how strange I felt visiting the Pearl Harbor memorial on the sunken battleship Arizona some twenty years ago. I was partly there representing my mother, who lost a brother in the attack to whom she was especially close. I felt strange because I was greatly outnumbered by Japanese tourists and I kept wondering what they were jabbering about during their constant taking of photos. Were they gloating?

War has a deep legacy. I remember meeting locals in bars in Germany in 1960, veterans of Hitler's army, who treated world wars like the world series -- yes, we're down two wars to zero, but it's a best of seven series, watch out, Germany will rise again! I remember the gasthaus-owner who at midnight, after the German police went home, put banned Nazis marching songs on his jukebox. A fellow Russian linguist would recite Hitler speeches for free drinks to a room of cheering farmers. We thought it was pretty funny at the time. I don't think it's funny any more. I think it tells us something terrible about the human condition.


Last night I rewatched the last segment of the outstanding miniseries "The Road to 9/11" and again marvelled at how focused and dedicated our enemies are and how at the time it seemed so unlikely that anyone should hate us, especially by those in government who were reluctant to act upon clear intelligence that something was brewing. We had a dozen chances to stop 9/11 from happening but no one in authority would take control. I would say the situation is no better today. Was 9/11 just a prelude to something worse to come? When is the next "day of infamy"?

What makes the situation, this new kind of war, so difficult is that we become our own worst enemy. Our exuberant, arrogant psychology of "manifest destiny," believing we are the model for the world, clashes with cultures that do not share our values. Our activity in Iraq has made us less safe than before 9/11, primarily by recruiting countless enemies and future suicide-bombers. Additionally, we now face the temptation of redefining our cherished freedoms in the name of security, fighting the enemy by imitating them. Are freedom and security mutually exclusive goals? If so, which does a country choose?

In such difficult times, statesmen sometimes rise to inspire confidence in a people -- but where are they?