July 16, 2011Waking the Sleeping Giant AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY  THE SLEEPING GIANT MUST WAKE UP ByPaul E. VallelyMany of us who were around during World War II and slightly thereafter may remember the famous quote regarding America being the “sleeping giant”. ‘Be fearful of waking her!” Do not wake a sleeping giant. This is an idiom which means: Do not disturb/annoy/provoke someone powerful who was not disturbing you in the first place. For example, we can say that Japan woke a sleeping giant when they invaded Pearl Harbor Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is portrayed at the very end of the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora!, and in the 2001 film Pearl Harbor, as saying after his attack on Pearl Harbor, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."  The quotation was abbreviated in the film Pearl Harbor (2001), where it merely read, "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant."Randall Wallace, the screenwriter of Pearl Harbor, readily admitted that he copied the line from Tora! Tora! Tora!  The film's producer, Elmo Williams, had found the line written in Yamamoto's diary. Williams, in turn, has stated that Larry Forrester, the screenwriter, found a 1943 letter from Yamamoto to the Admiralty in Tokyo containing the quotation. However, Forrester cannot produce the letter, nor can anyone else, American or Japanese, recall or find it. In The Reluctant Admiral, Hiroyuki Agawa, without a citation, does give a quotation from a reply by Admiral Yamamoto to Ogata Taketora on January 9, 1942, which is strikingly similar to the famous version: "A military man can scarcely pride himself on having 'smitten a sleeping enemy'; it is more a matter of shame, simply, for the one smitten. I would rather you made your appraisal after seeing what the enemy does, since it is certain that, angered and outraged, he will soon launch a determined counterattack."Yamamoto believed that Japan could not win a protracted war with the United States, and moreover seems to have believed that the Pearl Harbor attack had become a blunder — even though he was the person who came up with the idea of a surprise attack. The Reluctant Admiral relates that "Yamamoto alone" (while all his staff members were celebrating) spent the day after Pearl Harbor "sunk in apparent depression." He is also known to have been upset by the bungling of the Foreign Ministry which led to the attack happening while the countries were technically at peace, thus making the incident an unprovoked sneak attack that would certainly enrage the enemy.After the war, a similar rumor disseminated among Occupation insiders that upon learning the attack had been a success, Admiral Yamamoto had said to those around him, "Gentlemen, we have just kicked a rabid dog." This would have been a tactical metaphor and not intended as an insult, since he was generally fond of America and Americans.Similar to the above quotation was another quotation that, while real, was widely misinterpreted in the US press. Yamamoto, when once asked his opinion on the war, pessimistically said that the only way for Japan to win the war was to dictate terms in the White House, requiring them to eventually invade the United States and march across the country while fighting their way to Washington — i.e., Japan would have to conquer the whole of the United States. Yamamoto's meaning was that military victory, in a protracted war against an opponent with as much of a population and industrial advantage as the United States possessed, was completely impossible — a rebuff to those who thought that winning a major battle against the US Navy would end the war. However, in the US, his words were recast as a jingoistic boast.In a sit down discussion with friends last week, we explored the issue of whether the United is a “Sleeping Giant” any more and if it is, what percentage of the population would compose that “sleeping giant”? Best estimates indicated that maybe 10-15% of America now would be considered the “sleeping giant” and the remainder of population not aware of the serious threats to the United States today or are truly asleep at the “switch” and clueless of our continuing demise and weakening as a people and country.I listen to this unfolding negative news on the television each morning and the continuing ineptness of our elected and appointed leaders. And, at once, while struck with horror, I also feel strangely disconnected from the passions it stirs in me. I walk the river near my home with my dog into the sunshine of Montana and want, expect something to be occurring in this country that will awake America today. Even here in the beautiful and rugged mountains of western Montana people are hiking, golfing, strolling, smiling and acting as if nothing with momentous consequence is occurring in and outside of the United States.  Our belief in our safety and security is being shattered. Thousands upon thousands of people have been killed. I cannot be calm. Walking my dog, I look at the faces of people, who look strangely blank or “normal.” But this is not normal. This is acting normal in the face of insanity. I find myself thinking about World War II and the refusal of the United States to aid the millions of people being killed by the Nazis. The safety of our American sanctuary was shattered by Pearl Harbor and we woke up. Denial was no longer an option. Isolationism was no longer the rule of the day. We play politics to death. We talk and the politicians talk and talk. While I know rational thinking may ultimately rule, rational thinking without emotion ignores the passion that lights the fire of definitive action. And definitive action must be taken. I, personally, do not believe in turning the other cheek. Yet, I do not want to become what I so despise – that of a fanatic driven by such virulence and hatred as to do violence. I do not sanction any kind of fanaticism because fanaticism feeds on itself and is driven by blind emotion, demands unquestioning obedience and intolerance, rather than acceptance of diverse viewpoints. But I do not believe in passivity either. Nothing goes away until you are willing to take a stand that says you may not cross this line because if you do, this will be the consequence. Well, the line has been crossed. You hurt my people, you hurt my country – you hurt me. But I do not excuse dishonesty, corruptness and behavior by members of Congress and the White House. Behavior counts! If a child of mine is threatened I become a lion. If my people are threatened I feel a personal sense of violation that I react to. If my country is threatened, my patriotism soars to its highest level. I believe that the line has been crossed and punishment for this transgression of my person and my country’s boundaries is imperative That instead of dissolution and chaos, we unite and roar like the lion we are. Enough politicking and talk. Action and retaliation is imperative. We have been so afraid to be the lion, afraid to be seen as the bad guy, that we have NOT drawn the line in the sand and said you may not cross this line or these are the consequences. To take a stand is not being the bad guy. It is taking a stand with very clearly defined consequences. We need to do more than put ourselves in a position of being a reactor. I want to see this country be proactive, not just as a reaction to the current economic and security threats, but on an on-going basis. It’s the equivalent of being a parent who is afraid of being firm and setting boundaries, let’s their child run out of control and reacts only situation by situation. Instead, that parent needs to step back, size up the situation and say this is what MUST be done. The response to this situation has to be retaliation and punishment. But it has to go beyond that. It has to be a change in political philosophy and abide by our well thought out Constitution. It is foolish for other countries to confuse our softness with weakness. We ARE a soft country. Politically, we make many mistakes, in the name of politics and isolationism, and don’t speak out strongly enough about abuses to people in so many other countries. But to confuse our softness with weakness is beyond STUPID, it is dangerous. When this country is threatened, when this country allies in the face of any outside threat, we are very dangerous. And, we, as a country, in order to adjust to the change in our perception of our country’s safety. I believe we have to ally nationally as courageous warriors, as outraged fighters who say to those that have crossed the line and caused a pain to us as a people for which there will be punishment. Across diverse cultures, countries and religions, putting aside the petty differences which are keeping our culture fragmented, we need to ally and unify in our approach to today’s world and its realities. I am one of those (sleeping giant) that has been awakened and we must all awaken and see the light of day before it is too late. Please America; help us stir the “Sleeping Giant”.   Paul E. Vallely is Chairman of Stand Up America  Paul E. Vallely MG, US Army (Ret)Chairman – Stand Up AmericaCEO – NEMO LLC ( New Evolution Military Ordnance)E-Mail: standupamericausa1@gmail.com; pvallely@nemoarms.comwww.standupamericaus.com; www.soldiersmemorialfund.orgFax: 406 837 0996 

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