December 12, 1941
WASHINGTON DC (Routers) Despite yesterday’s declaration of war against the US by the German government, some in Congress are concerned about becoming embroiled in a war in Europe, when we are apparently so ill prepared to defeat the duplicitous Japanese, who only five days ago attacked and decimated our Pacific fleet in Hawaii without warning.
Many fear that the US, still mired in the deep economic depression of the past decade, lacks the resources to take on separate foes on three separate continents and two oceans, particularly when it seems so unnecessary, and a diversion from our true enemy.
A former State Department analyst put it in perspective. “It was Japan that attacked Pearl Harbor on Sunday, not Germany. We don’t have positive knowledge that the Germans deliberately attacked the Greer last September, and if they did, is that sufficient to risk our Pacific war effort with our more immediate enemy, the Japanese? After all, they didn’t sink her. And if it’s cause for war now, why not on September 4th?”
Many independent military analysts agree that America is ill prepared to fight a war against Japan, let alone one on multiple fronts. The nation’s aircraft are outdated by those of the enemy, our navy was inadequate to the task even before the loss of so many ships and brave sailors in the Pacific fleet on Sunday, and the armed forces are severely understaffed. Just to gear up to wage war on Japan will require massive rearmament and recruiting of personnel.
Roosevelt Administration officials, however, scoffed at the notion.
A high-ranking undersecretary at the Department of War said that, “America is quite capable of fighting all of our enemies as needed. The factories are already gearing up, and the American people have our full support. Enlistment has never been higher.”
“It’s ludicrous to think that we could ignore a government that has declared us our enemy, and simply wait until he’s become even more powerful to take him on, as we’ll have to do inevitably. This talk of ‘containment’ of Hitler by the Russians is whistling past the graveyard. We must engage him now, and force him into a multiple-front war. We can afford it–he cannot.”
But one high-ranking Senator who oversees the War Department, who wished to remain nameless, pointed out that “…yes, they’re allies of Japan, but Germany is no real threat to us. They have their hands full with the Soviet army right now, and this declaration is simply bluster on their part. Indeed, the President’s precipitate action in declaring open fire on all German and Italian vessels yesterday has unnecessarily widened this war, perhaps far beyond our present capabilities to wage it.”
Off the record, a former War Department analyst put it best:
“Until we’ve got Tojo’s head on a platter, this war won’t be over. Anything that distracts us from that is a victory for the attackers of December 7th.”
(Copyright 2002 by Rand Simberg)