From Pearl Harbor to 9/11

It might be said that the enemy is different, not a nation state but a dispersed and diffuse array of "lone wolves."

It might be said that we are different now, soft, frivolous, and self-involved with tweets.

It might be said that while the Japanese forces withdrew to new positions, the 9/11 perpetrators all died in the suicide attack: it was over as soon as it began.

It might be said defeating Japan was a military problem, whereas defeating Islamic fundamentalism is a philosophical problem or a cultural problem.

It might be said that both were contrived by conspiracies internal to the government of the United States.

It might be said that both were the result of failures to understand the enemy and the threat.

It might be said that both were the consequences of American actions that caused a reprisal from them that looked like an attack to us.

It might be said that the world of 1941 was not much different from the world of 1841, but that 2041 is going to be very much different.

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