European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 7, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday december 7, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary George will Japan paid later for flying dec. 7, 1941 Surprise is a substantial military asset and one Way to achieve it is by doing something irrational. Japan did 50 years ago. The attack on Pearl Harbor was an exquisitely executed calamity for Japan. It battered american battleships thereby necessitating the rapid rebuilding of the Navy this time with More relevant weapons a aircraft carriers a at its heart. The rapidity was the result of another american Benefit from Pearl Harbor rage. Every War must end so before launching War you should consider whether you can conceive let alone achieve a successful end. Bright people often ignore banalities  As this. Almost All the Clever japanese who planned the attack did ignore it. One did not. Directed to make it happen Admiral Yamamoto said i will do it. Then i will run wild in the Pacific for six months. But then what he knew that having mildly crippled and mightily energized an Industrial giant there would be no plausible outcome involving . Submission to Japan s designs. Furthermore there was no reason to expect a less than ferocious american response. If Japan s leaders knew much american history they should have some including Harvard a Yamamoto attended Ivy league colleges they knew that total War was an american invention pioneered by soldiers marching through Georgia and South Carolina. In 1864 total War meant Only the ashes of Columbia s.c., attest to its sufficiency industrialism conscription and tactics that blurred the distinction Between combatants and non combatants by attacking the farms factories and transportation on which modern armies depend. By the 1940s the fury of total War was growing exponentially because of three additional ingredients a the modern state s organizational bureaucracy propaganda and forced draft science As at los Alamos . Americans who Are now older than 60 remember the instant they heard the news of three events a Kennedy s assassination for s death and Pearl Harbor. We who have lived All our lives in the Long shadows cast by ballistic missiles cannot fathom the trauma Felt by americans when a few sunday morning minutes revealed that Broad oceans and Pacific neighbors no longer guaranteed the nations physical safety. The study of history or even of one great event is chastening because it teaches the unpredictable relatedness of things and the inability to subdue life s contingencies. That is Why history is the Best undergraduate major and should be a prerequisite for political life. Consider the fact that the attack on Pearl Harbor was just one Large event in the most momentous week of this Century. On dec. 5, 1941, a soviet counterattack on the outskirts of Moscow pushed Back German forces a few Miles and shocked Hitler Blitzkrieg had failed where failure would be fatal. Quickly killing the red army had been the key he still thought to a negotiated peace with Britain that would keep America out of the War. The wehrmacht a failure to achieve that Quick kill freed Hitler from the need to moderate his Crimi. Pality out of concern for British and american sensibilities. Therefore he made a Choice he had put off making. Germany could not win so it would a and should a perish. Four Days after Pearl Harbor he declared War on the United states. A in december 1941, within a few Days Quot wrote historian Sebastian Haffner. A Hitler made his final Choice Between two incompatible Aims he had pursued from the outset a German domination of the world and extermination of the jews. He abandoned the former As unattainable and entirely concentrated on the  hence his strange lethargy in the second half of the War. Politics was now nothing the murder machinery was everything. The Wannice conference where nazi officials formalized plans for the Quot final solution Quot occurred Jan. 20, 1942. The soviet troops that stopped the wehrmacht in front of Moscow were siberians transferred from the Russo japanese military Frontier in Manchuria. The Transfer occurred after the neutrality treaty Japan signed with Russia when preparing for War with the United states. Pearl Harbor was Folly but magnificently executed Folly. When Japan began planning the attack it had not yet developed the essential weapon shallow running torpedoes. More than 100 officers knew of the plane Ven before preparations including simulated attacks made it possible for Many More people to surmise the target. Yet secrecy was maintained All the Way across the broadest Ocean. Surprise was achieved. But on saturday morning dec. 6, a new . Government committee code named so had met in Washington. Its subject the feasibility of constructing atomic weapons. More surprises were coming. Still twas a famous Victory from which elements of Japan s Fleet returned to Harbor at Hiroshima. A Washington Posl writers group Andrew j. Glass Bush sacrificed Sununu for Sake of new image in dumping John h. Sununu As White House chief of staff president Bush sought to arrest a free fall in the Public opinion polls and revive his political strength for what promises to be a Tough 1992 Campaign. A Broad Range of Republican politicians took the View tuesday that Sununu had been made the Scapegoat for an administration that still lacks Clear Cut goals on the Domestic front in  vital areas As health care and economic growth. Nevertheless Many of these same politicians also Felt that the former new Hampshire governor had become too controversial a figure to do the president much Good in his coming re election drive. The ongoing slump and a pessimistic Outlook among most voters set the stage for a Strong democratic Challenge. Such longtime Bush intimates As Secretary of state James a. Baker Iii Felt it was time to Clear the decks and in the end the president agreed. The Sununu departure scrambles the scene on the Republican right where Bush s vows to pursue a conservative Agenda have always been viewed with suspicion. Sununu s main value was seen As a Man who could deliver those right Wing troops especially on the House Side of the Capitol even As his prospects crumbled on tuesday two leading conservative House republicans reps. Henry Hyde of Illinois and Vin Weber of Minnesota came to his defense. A the chief of staff is someone we feel comfortable with and we Trust him a a Hyde said. And yet a As even Sununu himself finally realized a a while House chief of staff has a constituency of one the president of the United states. Beyond the Many insiders a leaks Quot to the press Lay the Stark fact that Sununu s raw edged style had become a major political liability for his Boss. Once Bush surmount the hurdle of a right Wing Challenge in the primaries where Sununu could help him he knows he must offer a broader electorate an appealing program and a defensible record. And on that score Sununu could t help much while driving away others who possibly could. Asked Why he had to go one White House operative recalled the 1990 struggle to reach an Accord Over Federal spending with the democrats. At one Point in the stymied talks the president said �?o1 know How to fix  he asked for a pad and pen and wrote Down what he hoped would prove a Compromise solution. Yet after Bush left the room Sununu told the group Quot hold up on that. I be got a couple of Cleas of my  Bush shares with his predecessor Ronald Reagan an aversion to direct confrontations with people who work for him. Sununu however had no  qualms this in fact was seen As one of his big assets. When it came time to fire a Cabinet member it was Sununu and not Bush who took on that Nasty task. Bui in the end it was Sununu who got run off the political Road. That the president s friends say had to happen in the White House is to Roll out a new and improved 1992 presidential Model. Cicur news service