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PUBLIC INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
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Is 9/11 Bush’s Pearl Harbor?
On September 11, 2001, many Americans were still
drinking their first cup of coffee when a plane slammed into the
World Trade Center. On December 7, 1941, a fleet of American
destroyers at Pearl Harbor, HI, awoke to Japanese bombs. Sal
Mercogliano, adjunct assistant professor of history at Campbell
University, explored the relationship between these catastrophic
events at a Luncheon Learn session Wednesday, April 14.
There were many events leading up to 9/11 and Pearl
Harbor in which America was heavily involved, Mercogliano pointed
out. Following his reelection in 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt
moved ahead with the dual policy of building up U.S. defenses while
giving assistance to those countries resisting the aggression of
Germany, Italy, and Japan. An embargo was placed on the export of
iron and steel scrap, an important part of U.S. trade with Japan,
and a German submarine sank an American destroyer on the high seas
in 1941.
Similarly, the U.S. provoked anti-American feeling
with its economic embargo on Iraq and its recognition and support of
Israel. The 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, the bombing of
the U.S.S Cole in 2000, and al-Qaeda’s attack on the U.S. embassies
in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 also foreshadowed a catastrophic
attack on the U.S.
“There was this conception at both events that we
had no idea this was coming, but in truth, there were warnings,”
Mercogliano said.
Similarities also exist between the developments
that followed both events such as the establishment of investigative
commissions to answer questions concerning 9/11 and Pearl Harbor and
the creation of agencies like the Department of Defense and the
Office of Homeland Security. Another similarity associated with the
tragedies, was America’s commitment to war, Mercogliano added.
“You probably wouldn’t have gotten a declaration of war
from Congress on December 6, 1941,” he said, “and September 11, 2001,
gave Bush the mandate to fight terrorism anywhere in the world.”
Professor Sal Mercogliano earned a Bachelor of Science
degree in Marine Transportation at the State University of New York. He
obtained a master’s degree in history from East Carolina University and
is presently a doctoral candidate in Maritime History at the University
of Alabama. He has taught at Methodist College and East Carolina
University and is a member of the American Historical Association, the
Organization of American Historians, the National Maritime Historical
Society, the Society of Military Historians, and the Association of
Military Historians.
His research interests focus on the interaction of ocean
and maritime history with an emphasis on the political, economic, and
social aspects of civilizations as a factor in globalization throughout
history.
Founded in 1887, Campbell University is North Carolina’s
second largest private institution of higher education and the second
largest Baptist university in the world. Located in Buies Creek, NC,
just east of the center of the state, Campbell combines academic
excellence and Christian commitment.
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