No kidding.
Posted on 12/06/2005 9:30:44 PM PST by HarmlessLovableFuzzball
IMPERIAL LEADERS 'IMMORAL' Pearl Harbor was mistake: attack vet, 89
By MIYA TANAKA
KOGA, Ibaraki Pref. (Kyodo) To Zenji Abe, 89, a former dive-bomber pilot, Pearl Harbor was a place where he headed to risk his life to defend his country. But more than 60 years later, it has turned into a place where he can nurture ties with American friends who had once been his foes.
News photo Zenji Abe poses in front of a bomber in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, in late December 1941, after returning from the Pearl Harbor attack.
He can clearly recall the day when he joined the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in the early morning hours of Dec. 7, 1941. The spry white-haired veteran spoke about his experiences in an interview at his home in Koga, Ibaraki Prefecture, where he lives with his wife.
"I put a photo of my (former) wife holding my 6-month-year-old son in my uniform's inner pocket. . . . I didn't feel fear, or such excitement as 'I'm going to beat the Americans!' Instead, I thought it's just like (an) exercise," Abe, then a 25-year-old lieutenant and squadron leader, said.
Taking off from the Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier, Akagi was part of the second wave of planes. The raid crippled the U.S. Pacific Fleet by sinking or severely damaging eight battleships, including the Arizona -- a symbolic figure of the largest U.S. naval loss in history.
"I nosedived from an altitude of about 3,000 meters and practically a 60-degree angle. It was like plunging headfirst and I released a 250-kg bomb," Abe said, adding that he was "lucky" that he survived..
(Excerpt) Read more at japantimes.com ...
You don't say...
Yamamoto himself was somewhat ambivalent about it "I fear we've awakened a sleeping giant" or something like that.
However, it was also a strategic disaster for the Japanese.
When they attacked Pearl Harbor, they ensured that the Pacific War would be a war to the death and it culminated in the use of the atomic bombs.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were NOT mistakes.
Yup. BIG mistake.
"I fear we have awoken a sleeping giant, and filled him with a terrible resolve." - Yamamoto
Funny, my hindsight is always "20/20" too.
One of the funniest headlines in many days. Ya think?
No more Hiroshimas? Easy, no more Pearl Harbors.
It'd be a pleasant change to hear the Islamofascists admit that what they're doing is terrible mistake. Probably there are plenty saying it right now, but the MSM would never report it.
The first clue they had that it was a mistake was the bright light over Hiroshima.
Will an Iranian soldier one day say that building the bomb and attacking Israel was a terrible mistake? WWII seems like a piece of cake suddenly.
I thought of those words on September 11th, though I'd like to note for the record that the men who planned and committed that act were not fit to lick Yamamoto's boots.
"It was a great tactical victory for the Japanese."
They missed the fuel depot and the dry docks, and most importantly, the aircraft carriers. Most of the ships they sank were back in the war within a year. It was a total failure of their tactical objectives.
He's probably a spokesman for Toileta or Hon-Duh who realize that their invasion was possibly slowed by using the war option.
"Yamamoto's exact words were, "I fear we have only awakened a sleeping giant, and filled him with a terrible resolve.""
In English no less!
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