Pearl Harbor Day

As much as I've heard and read (around dead services) about the horrors of Pearl Harbor Day, now a 55-year-old memory, I can't help but think that what happened to the soldiers and sailors in Hawaii that day ultimately paled in comparison to what the U.S. did in its response.

Japan attacked military vessels in Pearl Harbor in a time of relative peace.

But we fire bombed downtown Tokyo and we not only wiped out untold numbers of Japanese civilians in Nagasaki and Hiroshima - not to mention left generations affected by the radioactive damage - we used World War II as an excuse to enter the nuclear age which has changed the world in more negative ways than positive. Today, we still have not figured how to handle nukes even as the Bushies can't develop new nuclear weapons fast enough to suit King George.

By all means, join me in saluting those American soldiers who died 55 years ago today. But we should also recognize the far more massive collateral damage we wrought not only on Japan, but also on ourselves and the rest of the world.