There are a few problems with your comparison. First of all, at the time of Pearl Harbor, Japan already had a military capable of international attack. But more importantly, America did not have the defenses that we have now. Things like SDI and just a general increase in military gives us defenses we simply did not have then.
It wasn't as if we did not know Japan & the NAZI's were beating the war drums long before we were attacked and that is the point. All things being relative to the times we (America) were then and are now in possession a formidable military but, if we allow our threats to become capable we will be in the same boat as we were at the entrance of WWII. Just because Iran is not an imminent threat does not mean they will not be and if you are paying attention to what is happening all over the world right now Iran is on track to quite capable militarily and their rhetoric is not confined to Israel but, to the U.S. as well.
As for 9/11, Iran did not have nukes and no one had heard of ISIS then, yet it still happened. I fail to see the connection between 9/11and Iran. The sad fact is, you can't prevent every terrorist attack. You do what you can. The 9/11 attackers did not need nuked or the formal backing of any government to do what they did.
Does your enemy have to wear the uniform of a certain country for you concede that you have one? The U.S. was well aware of the threat posed to this country by al-queda as far back as the Clinton administration (maybe further) they were largely ignored & we were eventually attacked, you are correct you cannot defend against every terrorist attack but, terrorists are funded and given Iran is large contributor to terrorism around the world much of it would be vanquished if we cut off the head of the snake.
The point I am making is that Iran, who does not have nukes, is not a threat to the US.
Cmon, you cannot be this naive...:doh:
They may be a threat to Israel. Let Israel handle it.
Probably not without our assistance, nor would Israel want to enter into a task this ominous without the U.S. having it's six.
Further, if we had not removed Sadam Hussein from power, Iran would be treading more carefully.
This is certainly the truth and I agree, just as this president's asinine decision to not garner a Status Of Forces Agreement and pull the troops out created the vacuum for the rise of ISIS and now the intervention of Iran into Iraq. Quite the mess we have created when we should have dealt with al-queda & its major funders instead of using 911 to settle an old score with Saddam.
Interventionism typically causes more problems than it solves. I don't agree with everything Ron Paul says, but basic non-interventionism is good policy.
No, isolationism that RP endorses is absurd & dangerous and history proves that fact. You have to face your enemies eventually, better to do it on your own terms before you are forced to on your enemies terms... it is just the way it is.