Jumping Blindfold: A Disastrous Decision in December '41

My memories of the last war haunted my dreams for years. Military service, to be plain, includes the threat of every temporal evil; pain and death, which is what we fear from sickness; isolation from those we love, which is what we fear from exile; toil under arbitrary masters, which is what we fear from slavery: hunger, thirst, and exposure which is what we fear from poverty. I'm not a pacifist. If it's got to be it's got to be. But the flesh is weak and selfish, and I think death would be much better than to live through another war. C.S. Lewis

The ever witty and wise, Paul Johnson once exclaimed, "Jumping blindfold off a temple is, in fact, an accurate image of the Japanese decision to go to war." (Modern Times, pg 391) 

The infamous Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto has been  erroneously quoted by Hollywood as saying, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant." He didn't say this but I am very sure he would agree to that misquote. He was very troubled after attacking the US and knew that Japan couldn't win a war against the US. In his striking book, The Reluctant Admiral, Hiroyuki Agawa revealed that "Yamamoto was alone" and was "sunk in depression" after the December 7th bombing of Pearl Harbor. 

Most of Japan, especially her military, were partying with barrels of Sake and Noh Mai'ing on tables. However, Yamamoto was alone and melancholy. Why was little Isoroku so sad? Well, he is noted by many historians and by works of history that he knew they couldn't win against America and her allies. Can you imagine serving your country and going to war knowing you are going to lose? Yamamoto was working for some ignoramus power hungry zealots who lacked reason. Yamamoto was not of that ilk. He was rationale, pragmatic, and intuitive; but he was a soldier who had his "honor" to his country. Tragically, bloodied-hand tyrants required his "honor." Also, you were threatened by assassination or worst, removal. Wait, that's backwards or is it?

 In Modern Times, Paul Johnson wrote that the Emperor himself was threatened with assassination if he opposed the war strategy (pg 389.) So, if your "god on earth" emperor (Divinity of the Emperor) is being told what to do and that war against the US was going to happen, then Yamamoto had to bury those worries deep with a bunch of Sake. This next quote will make you go for more rice wine. Another admiral, Nagano, said, "If I am told to fight regardless of consequences, I shall run wild considerable for the six months or a year. But I have utterly no confidence in the second or third years " (Modern Times, pg 389.) 

Sounds like a good start to begin a war, right? Why should this surprise us? Japan is not the only nation who "jumped blindfolded" with starting wars. They had a grand and glorious plan of controlling the ocean and all the islands in the pacific. They were going to use all those resources to make their country mighty and sustain power for centuries. They would be safer with a whole hemisphere in their grasp. No more oil embargoes would hurt them. Their plans were trumped up and legitimized through political rhetoric and flawed traditions that tasted sweet at first but once you really digested the noble plans or ideas, it became very bitter. It was bitter from the beginning with Yamamoto. 

 America, although, not an aggressor like the Empire of Japan was, has jumped blindfolded in our pursuits in noble wars that were not only foolish but illegal and morally wrong. Wars that were legitimized through rhetoric and fear mongering.  

I know what you are thinking? No! WWII was a necessary war.

Those bombs that dropped on Pearl Harbor were our invitation to join. America was attacked and the conquest of Europe threatened Americans and America's sovereignty. America and the rest of the free world was in danger and we rightfully awoke from slumber after December 7th, 1941. The greatest fighting force in the world took on tyranny and defended liberty. America fought and persevered from that "date that would live in infamy" and the small remnant of liberty that remains today is because of the sacrifices and unbelievable courage of Americans in those dark days. This great achievement must not, along with other necessary wars, be used to justify those unnecessary wars. We must not jump blindfolded for "spreading democracy" or some other rhetoric phrase. Conquest, aggression, and tyrannical occupation of other countries are not the only wrong reasons for war. 

Yamamoto was an officer for his Emperor's army who did his job as a soldier. Yet, he was blinded against his will by the decision of the leadership and they made one very disastrous decision in December of '41 that left their country decimated from two atomic bombs. Devastation and death was also suffered by our men and women of the military and civilians at Pearl Harbor. Over 1200 lives were lost. They are nothing less than heroes who's deaths should never be forgotten. Let us not forget the hundreds of thousands of Japanese killed because of their leaders jumping blindfolded. I am not asking for your sympathy towards the Japanese over the American's lives. War is the focal point here. War seems proven time and time again, over history and all the accounts recorded, to be a blindfolded jump with very few instances of clear justification. America was of course justified in engaging and war was legally declared and it was managed properly with liberty as the goal and nothing else. This disastrous decision in December '41 must never be forgotten nor should the impact and decisions to go to war. 

WW2 Pics (Pacific) 

P.S. The Japanese soldiers were vicious, cruel, soulless, torturous, heartless, rapists, murderers, and just animals. They needed to be dealt with brutal force and we gave it to them but not after much carnage, especially the women that were brutalized.