The Pearl Harbor analogy is a good one. I think of this war as a mixed bag, with lessons to be learned from all our past experiences. For instance:

Like the Cold War, the enemy is not a nation, but an ideology championed by certain states, so harder to identify geographically.

Like Vietnam, it's likely to be drawn out and guerilla-like in some phases. (And yes, I read the Vietnam posts -- all very good.)

Like WWII, we have suffered a shocking sneak attack on our citizens at home.

Like many other incidents of religious extremism supported by political entities, we are dealing with zealots who claim the favor of God and inspire violent and fanatical behavior. Sometimes the underlying motives are not even primarily religious, but economic or class-driven, as a careful study of the Salem witch trials will reveal. And didn't Arthur Miller write an allegorical play about McCarthyism set in Salem ;) ?

I'll take your observations under advisement, especially since they lay other track than my little red choochoo is prone to take.

But if ever we start putting American Muslim or Arab families in internment camps "just in case", as happened to Japanese-Americans in the Second World War, I will expect you to join me when I climb up on the furniture and holler. Deal? ;)

Regards--
Mary Anne