December 7, 1941, started out as a relaxed Sunday. Looking back, there were reasons why we should probably have been on alert. Unfortunately, we were not. The war in Europe was in its third year; we were in a state of semi-belligerency because we were aiding Britain; we were beefing up our Navy and Army Air Corps; and the Axis powers had reason to expect us to enter the war against them at some time in the near future.

Japan had already conquered much of China and had made inroads in all of southeast Asia. It was building up its armed forces—land, air, and sea. In order to blunt our activities in Europe, the Axis powers were eager to recruit Japan to its cause. The bait consisted of promises to give much of Siberia to Japan over the prostrate body of a conquered Russia.

Accordingly, the military strategists of Germany and Japan agreed that their first strike against the United States would be aimed at crippling or destroying our fleet. They felt that in the time it would take us to replace the fleet and mobilize our land and air forces, the Pacific would have been conquered. The United States would then be surrounded and would be forced to agree to a humiliating peace.

Hitler was reported to have been euphoric at the Japanese attack. He was quoted as saying “Now we cannot lose the war. We cannot fail to conquer.” Their plan, however, had many flaws in execution. First, they crippled—but could not destroy—our fleet. Second, they underestimated the patriotism and capabilities of an aroused America.

The Axis also overestimated Japan’s ability to exploit the damage of the Pearl Harbor attack and its successful conquests in southeast Asia while simultaneously underestimating our ability to supply and arm Britain and Russia with the materiel necessary for counterattack in Europe. Additionally, the Axis displayed an amazingly short memory of the great American effort which turned the tide in World War I. An America provoked is not a power to be taken lightly; four and a half years later, both arms of the Axis had been defeated and conquered.

Recounting these historic events brings me to September 11, 2001, and the attack on America led by Osama bin Laden. The only reason that makes sense for this attack is Al Qaeda’s conviction that western civilization is negatively influencing the youth of the Middle East. They wish to show their young people that the United States could be hurt by them, and that the greatness of western civilization is a myth. They would mount another sneak attack, à la Pearl Harbor, and get by with it, with the result that their youth would return to and embrace radical Islam as they define it.