Durka-Durka-Muhammed-Jihad!!
Taking a brief pause in the Hurricane Katrina nightmare, I'd like to mention that 60 years ago today in history a great struggle was finally coming to an official end:
Formal Surrender of the Empire of Japan on Board USS Missouri, 2 September 1945
"We, acting by command of and on behalf of the Emperor of Japan, the Japanese Government and the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, hereby accept the provisions in the declaration issued by the heads of the Governments of the United States, China, and Great Britain 26 July 1945 at Potsdam, and subsequently to by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which four powers are hereafter referred to as the Allied Powers.
"We hereby proclaim the unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters and of all Japanese Armed Forces and all Armed Forces under Japanese control wherever situated.
"We hereby command all Japanese forces wherever situated and the Japanese people to cease hostilities forthwith, to preserve and save from damage all ships, aircraft, and military and civil property, and to comply with all requirements which may be imposed by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers or by agencies of the Japanese Government at his direction.
"We hereby command the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters to issue at once orders to the commanders of all Japanese forces and all forces under Japanese control wherever situated to surrender unconditionally themselves and all forces under their control.
"We hereby command all civil, military, and naval officials to obey and enforce all proclamations, orders, and directives deemed by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers to be proper to effectuate this surrender and issued by him or under his authority; and we direct all such officials to remain at their posts and to continue to perform their non-combatant duties unless specifically relieved by him or under his authority.
In late 1941 these warriors thought that by launching a suprise attack and attempting to cripple the American fleet at Pearl Harbor that they would be given 'free reign' throughout the Far East to do whatever they desired.
It is a possible myth that the admiral that planned the Pearl Harbor attack, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, was noted to have remarked after attack: 'I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.' Whether it was a myth or not, it is what Yamamoto felt concerning a protracted war with the United States:
"I can run wild for six months … after that, I have no expectation of success."Having studied at Harvard University from 1919 to 1921, he knew of the fierce determination of the American people and exactly what they were capable of if motivated. Yamamoto found this resolve out the hard way when long-range P-38 Lightnings intercepted his transport and blew it out of the sky.
Certainly after the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor while the two nations were technically still at peace was the catalyst to forge anger into resolve for vengence created, that vengence culminating in the detonation of atomic devices over Hiroshima and Nagasaki little than a month before stepping onboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay and signing an unconditional surrender.
For those that still bellyache about the United States nuking two Japanese cities, realize this: in 1940, the United States was content to stay out of the war just starting in Europe. But with the attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent declaration of war on Japan - followed by Germany delcaring war on the United States - the American people were dragged into war and as history has shown, they finished it.
The moral of the story? Do not mess with Americans unless you want to have your ass handed to you on a platter....
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