ABSTRACT
The fate of nations and individuals is often shaped by devastating trauma. Such events are frequently experienced by both, with an overwhelming and long-lasting sense of humiliation and helplessness. In the history of any nation, there are a relatively few watershed events that define a people and a national character. The Japanese attack was intended to coincide with a formal declaration of war. The Japanese government felt some constraint to operate within the rules of warfare recognized by civilized nations. Mutual cultural education, economic aid and interchange with the Muslim people and those of all faiths must remain our most potent weapon. People everywhere have mixed feelings; but there is a steely resolve to do whatever is necessary to bring terrorism to heel, and to punish those individuals and countries responsible for this modern version of a biblical scourge. People, places or things which were once taken for granted can become instruments of destruction.
