Day of Infamy Options

[cupcake]

65 years ago, on this day, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

When the Dec. 7, 1941, onslaught was over, there were 2,403 dead and thousands others wounded.

Besides the mass causalities in the two waves of attacks that lasted less than two hours, the Japanese also had sunk or damaged 18 ships and destroyed more than 180 aircraft.

It was, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt would declare, "a day of infamy."

The next day, America was at war.

Although it was a day of great tragedy, it was also a day that revived our national pride and strengthened our determination as a nation.

This spirit of unity and reborn patriotism had "awakened the sleeping giant" and ultimately led us to victory and the end of World War II.

I have a really hard time believing that if that happened today, America would have the mettle to carry out an all-out offensive on two geographic fronts, be able to accept the mass casualties (ours and collateral), indiscriminate carpet bombing, and eventual use of atomic bombs. The media would have none of that. The politicians would be talking out both sides of their mouths. The "call to arms" would fall on deaf ears.

We would have lost WWII had it been fought in the 21st century. No doubt in my mind.

[impala454]

I have a really hard time believing that if that happened today, America would have the mettle to carry out an all-out offensive on two geographic fronts, be able to accept the mass casualties (ours and collateral), indiscriminate carpet bombing, and eventual use of atomic bombs. The media would have none of that. The politicians would be talking out both sides of their mouths. The "call to arms" would fall on deaf ears.

We would have lost WWII had it been fought in the 21st century. No doubt in my mind.

this is impossible to speculate... i dunno why you would even try, it makes no sense. today's american society was molded by those wars, if they hadn't happened we'd live in a completely different society.

even if you thought society would have no change, there is no force from any country existing today that has the ability to wage any kind of conventional war on us. and imho the general feelings about collateral damage & nuclear weapons use in other countries far away would change drastically if someone was to actually start dropping bombs on us. remember the fire lit under the american population after 9/11? we wanted nothing more than to do the worst to those responsible. i'd bet that if we'd caught osama a week after 9/11 and he was supposedly "tortured" while in custody, you'd have had DVDs being sold of it rather than people investigating it.

[FORSAKENR320]

this is impossible to speculate... i dunno why you would even try, it makes no sense. today's american society was molded by those wars, if they hadn't happened we'd live in a completely different society.

even if you thought society would have no change, there is no force from any country existing today that has the ability to wage any kind of conventional war on us. and imho the general feelings about collateral damage & nuclear weapons use in other countries far away would change drastically if someone was to actually start dropping bombs on us. remember the fire lit under the american population after 9/11? we wanted nothing more than to do the worst to those responsible. i'd bet that if we'd caught osama a week after 9/11 and he was supposedly "tortured" while in custody, you'd have had DVDs being sold of it rather than people investigating it.

for once i actually agree with you. american history has always shown we are quick to mobilize for war, but usually we as americans tire of it really quickly. the thing i agree with you the most is about the 9/11 incident. yes, it lit a fire under our asses and got us lashing out, but imagine what the response would have been if it were a legitimate bombing attack from a country, similar to pearl harbor. i believe that americans would have taken it to such an extreme that the attacking country either wouldn't exist, or would be so torn apart that it couldn't easily recover, (risking another situation like world war 2)