President Bush and Secretaries Rumsfeld and Rice have left Utah and things are settling back to normal, more or less. They are off to other parts of the country to make the pitch the “War on Terror” is similar to the challenge posed by Nazism in the 30s and 40s and by extension Imperial Japan as well.

Giving the President and his cabinet members the benefit of the doubt, let’s assume they really believe what they say when they compare the war against Al Qaeda, et al to America’s war against fascism from December 1941 to 1945. This begs the question why America is not giving, or even being asked to give, victory in Afghanistan and Iraq and against terrorism in general nearly the effort we gave to defeating Nazism and Japanese imperialism. Let’s look at what America did accomplish between 1941 and 45 and the sacrifices Americans were asked to make in the name of victory over fascism and compare them to the sacrifices we have been told we can forego in comments made by our current President at the beginning of the “War on Terrorism”.

During WWII over 16 million Americans either enlisted in the military or were called up through a draft. More than 407,000 of them ultimately gave their lives. From December of 1941 to August of 1945 the US war effort on the home front produced more than 280,000 aircraft, 427 aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, and destroyers plus an additional 498 convoy escorts and 422 submarines, not to mention many tens of thousands of tanks, jeeps, and trucks. The top tax rate on incomes exceeding $25,000 in 1940s dollars was 94%, gasoline was rationed at 3 gallons per week, and no member of the “greatest generation” complained. It took 1,241 days to defeat Germany and 1,345 to end the war against Japan. We have now reached day 1,262 since the initial invasion of Iraq.

During the “War on Terror”, which is apparently now considered at least as grave a threat as the Nazi and Japanese war machines, we have struggled to provide decent armor for 10,000 Hummers in regular use in Iraq and forced soldiers to write home to request needed communications equipment, bullet proof vests, and other needed supplies. VA funding has failed to keep up with growing demand created by an aging veteran population and ongoing war. Income taxes on the wealthiest Americans, along with the estate tax and capital gains taxes have been cut, and America is even further from achieving energy independence than it was in 2000 before the “war” officially got under way.

In a radio address on the subject of “Total War and Total Effort” given by FDR on April 28, 1942 he put the challenge facing Americans this way:

“Not all of us can have the privilege of fighting our enemies in distant parts of the world.
Not all of us can have the privilege of working in a munitions factory or a shipyard, or on the farms or in oil fields or mines, producing the weapons or the raw materials (which) that are needed by our armed forces.
But there is one front and one battle where everyone in the United States — every man, woman, and child — is in action, and will be privileged to remain in action throughout this war. That front is right here at home, in our daily lives, (and) in our daily tasks. Here at home everyone will have the privilege of making whatever self-denial is necessary, not only to supply our fighting men, but to keep the economic structure of our country fortified and secure during the war and after the war.
This will require, of course, the abandonment not only of luxuries but of many other creature comforts.”

In his first State of the Union Speech following the tragic events of September 11, 2001 President Bush pitched both the high cost of the “War on Terror” and the imperative to continue the war on taxes; so much for sacrifice during the greatest crisis facing America since December 7, 1941.

“It costs a lot to fight this war. We have spent more than a billion dollars a month — over $30 million a day — and we must be prepared for future operations. Afghanistan proved that expensive precision weapons defeat the enemy and spare innocent lives, and we need more of them. We need to replace aging aircraft and make our military more agile, to put our troops anywhere in the world quickly and safely. Our men and women in uniform deserve the best weapons, the best equipment, the best training — and they also deserve another pay raise.”
George W. Bush, 2002 State of the Union

“The way out of this recession, the way to create jobs, is to grow the economy by encouraging investment in factories and equipment, and by speeding up tax relief so people have more money to spend. For the sake of American workers, let’s pass a stimulus package.”
George W. Bush, 2002 State of the Union

Shortly following the attacks of 9/11 Bush had this to say:

“We need to counter the shockwave of the evildoer by having individual rate cuts accelerated and by thinking about tax rebates.” —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Oct. 4, 2001

So are all these comparisons to WWII just rhetoric, or does this administration really take the challenge terrorists pose to both national and international security that seriously? You be the judge.