The events of the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 changed not just the American way of life, but the way in which terrorism will forever be viewed. Moments after the first plane changed our way of life by crashing into the first tower, it also changed the way people will live their lives for many generations from that point forward. For the first time on Continental United States soil, America was under siege.
Months after the attack many political figures and citizens wondered about warning signs and if there were indicators that may have identified a warning or imminent attack. As the attacks were analyzed a correlation between the attack on Pearl Harbor and New York City had indicators of imminent attacks.
In 1941, radio communications, teletype and Japanese military activities were known by analysts in Hawaii and relayed to USARPAC (United States Army Pacific) Headquarters. On January 27, 1941, American Ambassador Grew learned about a Pearl Harbor attack from Peru’s Minister to Japan, Richardo Rivera-Schreiber, but his warnings went unheeded. Australian “Island Watchers” also relayed communications of numerous boats and Japanese vessels passing through certain areas. It was also reported they appeared to be linking up in an area not usually utilized because of the coral reef surrounding that area and forming a massive armada. This information went unheeded when sent via Morse code.
At 0630 hours on December 7th, the USS Ward engaged and sunk a Japanese submarine off the Hawaii coast. This information was logged and nothing further alarmed Pacific
Security and Terrorism
Command. This was still over an hour prior to the first wave of airplanes attacking Pearl Harbor. At 0753 on that calm Sunday morn...
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President Obama’s administration officials stated, “President Obama was not happy with the timing” (Shane & Savage, 2010). Until the mindset of offending others is removed from the equation, there will be no progress in securing our borders or preventing terrorist attacks.
Works Cited
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2008, February 26). First strike: Global terror in America. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/page2/feb08/tradebom_022608.html
McCain, J. (2004, February 10). (U. S. Senate, Trans.). Glendale, Arizona.
Ohlemacher, S. (2010, March 7). Number of illegal immigrants hits 12M. Retrieved from http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8G6U2ko8
Shane, S., & Savage, C. (2010, June 28). In Ordinary Lives, U.S. Sees the Work of Russian Agents. Retrieved July 23, 2010, from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/world/europe/29spy.html
This paper will discuss similarities between 9/11 and Pearl Harbor that describe the Presidential responses to the attacks, as well as investigate the roles that class, culture, religion, and nations of superiority played in these attacks on the United States.
“The Bomb Plot message” was a dispatch from Tokyo to its Consulate in Honolulu that the United States intercepted on September 24, 1941. This “strictly secret” message issued instructions to report gridded locations and detailed information on all ships in the waters of Pearl Harbor. The message was translated in Washington on October 9 by Colonel Rufus C. Bratton who found it significant as no previous Japanese intercepts requested or reported gridded positions of ships in the harbor. Bratton shared the message with his chief, General Miles, who interpreted the evidence through the confirmation bias lens and failed to analyze it as anything other than routine Japanese traffic regarding U.S. Naval movements. Still, Bratton routed the message to high levels of the War Department where it garnered very little
It was July 30th around 11:30 at night. Hashimoto, the captain of the I-58 Japanese submarine climbed up on the bridge. He picked up binoculars. Hashimoto saw a ship because the moon was behind it and gave the order to dive. Hashimoto was very concerned that it was a destroyer ship coming to attack the submarine. Hashimoto could not get a good look at the Indianapolis because it was not zigzagging.
Previous to the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7th 1941, tensions had been forming between the USA and Japan in the pacific. The US had cut of most supplies to Japan with the fear of Japanese expansion. The conflict that had been escalating between Japan and China since 1937 had the US treating Japan with great cautiousness. They had been monitoring Japanese Americans in anticipation of a surprise attack. However the attack on Pearl Harbour still shocked and outraged the American nation and affected the American psyche. After being assured that “a Japanese attack on Hawaii is regarded as the most unlikely thing in the world”(1), the sudden mass destruction of the U.S Navy’s Pacific fleet and deaths of roughly 2400 U.S soldiers and civilians as a result of such an attack undoubtedly lead to confusion and racial hatred amongst many US citizens. The assumption on the War Department’s behalf that Japan’s Navy were incapable of launching a full scale assault on the US Navy’s chief Pacific base was more than inaccurate. As a result, the US Naval base was unprepared and was quickly taken out. A hidden bias would soon become evident in both average civilians and higher positioned government officials. This bias against Japan aided in the formation of the Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) on February 19th 1942.
Pearl harbor was an attack led by the Japanese kamikaze. This event took place in Honolulu, Hawaii at approximately 8:00 am. Secretary Frank Knox announced the attack on pearl harbor
The attacks on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 were the first attacks ever to take place on American soil, the repercussions were devastating for the Japanese Empire; sadly, Pearl Harbor would not be the last threat America faced on her own land. On September 9th, 2011 (9/11) a radical Islāmic terrorist group known as Al-Qaeda attacked America. While America dealt with both of these attacks with unyielding resolve, executing that resolve was what is starkly different between the two tragedies. Pearl Harbor did have some quintessential similarities to 9/11; both attacks unprovoked by America, both provoked public support against aggressors by way of presidential speeches, both lacked prior intelligence on the attacks themselves, both sparked Within hours of the attack on Pearl Harbor, hundreds of Japanese-American leaders forced into high-security camps such as Sand Island at the mouth of Honolulu harbor and Kilauea Military Camp on the island of Hawaii where they were held without counsel or knowing what charges levied against them albeit the obvious bombing of the naval base 5. The day after the bombing on Pearl Harbor President Franklin Roosevelt delivered his famous Infamy Speech to a Joint Session of Congress, the speech called for a formal declaration of war on the Empire of Japan, congress granted it within hours of being requested 6.
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy . . .” These famous lines were spoken the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave this speech to the U.S. Congress on December 8, 1941. Many criticized the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but the decision to attack America was wisely made. The Americans were going to enter the war sooner or later, and on the allies’ side. The attack on Pearl Harbor would hurt the United States’ strongest defense and kill many Americans. This was the first terrorist attack on the United States, by another country, which came as a total shock to many people.
“AIR RAID ON PEARL HARBOR. THIS IS NO DRILL.” This is the message sent out by radioman Kyle Boyer at 7:58 a.m. Sunday December 7, 1941; a date which will live in infamy. The empire of Japan had attacked the United States’ Pacific Fleet based in Pearl Harbor. For months the US Intelligence community, as well as others around the world, had been intercepting and decoding transmissions from mainland Japan to their diplomats and spies in the US. We had cracked their Purple Code, and knew exactly what military intelligence was being transmitted back and forth. The Dutch also cracked Purple and informed our government of the Japanese plan and were shocked to hear reports that we were taken by surprised. Even more disturbing, months before the attack a British double agent, Dusko Popov, codenamed Tricycle, turned over to the F.B.I. detailed plans of the Japanese air raid, which he had obtained from the Germans. The government had the information, and did nothing with it.
On September 11, 2001 terrorists crashed two American airline airplanes into Twin Towers, killing thousands of people. It was the worst terrorist attack in American history and it showed us that we are not protected by Atlantic and Pacific. It showed us that we could be attacked by anyone at anytime. It showed us that if we will be attacked again that we can only depend on each other and not on other nations to help us. The 9/11 changed people forever, some lost family members or friends, others lost their jobs even so called “American Dream.”
September 11, 2001 is known as the worst terrorist attack in United States history. On a clear Tuesday morning, there were four planes that were hijacked and flown into multiple buildings by a terrorist group named al Qaeda. This group, led by Osama bin Laden, killed nearly 3,000 people. Out of those 3,000 people more than 400 police and 343 firefighters were killed along with 10,000 people who were treated for severe injuries. Many lives were taken, and to this day, people still suffer from the attack. September 11th is the most influential event of the early twenty-first century because it made an increase in patriotism, it caused a rise in security throughout the nation, and it had a tremendous effect of thousands of lives.
...ip, and moved it against the quays. It heaved up the port side, and you could feel the decks-the compartments-being penetrated…You began to get afraid. I don’t know about other people, but I though “Geez I might get killed”.” (Remembering Pearl Harbor page 16). The attack by Japan was a smart tactical move on the United States. It was a two-fold plan, first If they attacked the US, they would draw attention from what was happening in Europe and all sources would be directed to the west half of the US. Second since the attack was so quick and unexpected the US was caught off guard. Since Japan attacked the largest base in the Pacific, Japan believed they would be able to cripple the US defenses for a while. “The Japanese did not realize that the attack on Dec. 7, 1941 would be a rallying cry for the Americans that had not enlisted to enlist in troops.” (Hampton)
It was a Sunday morning, on December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor, US naval base located on Hawaii, was attacked by the Japanese. They caught unguarded the whole nation, and for that, this attack is considered one of the top ten failures of the US intelligence. The Japanese were able to attack Pearl Harbor by surprise because of the mindset of US officials, whom they saw Japanese as a weak enemy, who wouldn’t risk attacking US territory, caused by a supremacy factor; As well as the not good enough US intelligence efficiency to encrypt Japanese codes, and the handling of such information. After the negotiations between the Japanese and the United States ended, there was no doubt that they would make an attack, but they didn’t know the target of it.
In 1941, one of the largest American military defeats occurred. An entire naval fleet was destroyed, hundreds were killed, all before nine A.M. on a Sunday morning. The US did not have any knowledge of this attack, mostly because of their own ignorance, partially because of the military strategies of their Japanese opponents. The Japanese attack on the US naval base of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was a classic case of "It will not happen to me!" Although the US suspected the Japanese actions, they were not ready because they believed an attack would never happen on American grounds. Through an examination of military history, tactics and eye witness descriptions, it will be proven that the US had no knowledge of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, but had sufficient warnings from the Japanese and others that an attack was imminent.
September 11, 2001 was a day that Americans and the world for that matter will not soon forget. When two planes went into the twin towers of the World Trade Center and two others went into the Pentagon and a small town in Pennsylvania, the world was rocked. Everyone in the United States felt very vulnerable and unsafe from attacks that might follow. As a result, confidence in the CIA, FBI, and the airlines were shaken. People were scared to fly after what had happened.
This paper will compare Gordon W. Prange's book "At Dawn We Slept - The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor" with the film "Tora! Tora! Tora!" directed by Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, and Toshio Masuda. While the film provides little background to the attack, its focal point is on the Pearl Harbor assault and the inquiry of why it was not prevented, or at least foreseen in adequate time to decrease damage. Prange's book examines the assault on Pearl Harbor from both the Japanese and American viewpoints to gain a global view of the situation and the vast provision undertaken by Japanese intelligence.