Nobody likes war; it is so costly in so many ways. Lives are lost, property is destroyed, people are injured and some are disabled mentally and physically. Because of this many people think war must be avoided at all costs. All these facts regarding the high cost of war on a country are true. On the other hand there are situations in which a nation has an obligation to go to war. Their were many times in the United States history when the decision to enter a war was in question. World War II was a time when people were arguing about whether or not the United States should enter a war against Germany, Japan and their allies. When this war started WWI was still fresh in people’s memories. The citizens knew how bad war could be. Many people felt that these new problems were not the United States problems and war should be avoided. Author Jon Bridgman tells us in an article in the Seattle Post- Intelligencer “The nation was deeply and bitterly divided on the question of our participation in the war. American isolationists felt that the war in Europe and Asia was not our problem and that we should stay out of it”. Of course other people knew that war was going to come, because Germany and Japan were proving they wanted to take over the world. The argument was settled by Japan. There sneak attack on Pearl Harbor solved the argument. They forced us into the war. The attack they made in Pearl Harbor was a direct attack on the United States military and a direct attack on United States land. Now US citizens knew it was all out war for the countries survival. On September 11, 2001 the US was again attacked. This time it wasn’t by another country but by terrorists. It was similar to the Pearl Harbor attack because Americans were surprised and thousands of people lost their lives. The big difference was that the attack was not done by a country but by terrorists from many different countries. The citizens of the United States pretty
Cited: John Bridgman “Lessons learned from two days of infamy” Seattle Post -Intelligencer Sunday December 2, 2001 Nicholas Lemann “ How It Came To War” The New Yorker March 31, 2003 Editorial “Weapons That Weren’t There” The Washington Post October 7,2004 Lionel Beehner “Al-Qaeda in Iraq: Resurging or Splintering? Backgrounder July 16, 2007