COMPARE AND CONTRAST. On the 65th anniversary of the Day of Infamy (forget, hell!) Victor Davis Hanson contemplates the war on Islamic extremism.

Is our generation less competent?

Not really. The United States routed the Taliban from Afghanistan by early December 2001. America’s first clear-cut victory against the Japanese, at Midway, came six months after Pearl Harbor.

Do we lack the unity of the past?

Perhaps. But we should at least remember that after Pearl Harbor, a national furor immediately arose over the intelligence failure that had allowed an enormous Japanese fleet to approach the Hawaiian Islands undetected. Extremists went further — clamoring that the Roosevelt administration had deliberately lowered our guard as part of a conspiracy to pave the way for America’s entrance into the war.

Are we in over our heads fighting in both Afghanistan and Iraq?

Hardly. Within days after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. found itself in a three-front war against Germany, Italy and Japan — an Axis that had won a series of recent battles against the British, Chinese and Russians.

There are, however, what he characterizes as "paradoxes."

A stronger, far more affluent United States believes it can use less of its power against the terrorists than a much poorer America did against the formidable Japanese and Germans.

World War II, which saw more than 400,000 Americans killed, was not nearly as controversial or frustrating as one that has so far taken less than one-hundredth of that terrible toll.

And after Pearl Harbor, Americans believed they had no margin of error in an elemental war for survival. Today, we are apparently convinced that we can lose ground, whether in Afghanistan or Iraq, and still not lose either the war or our civilization.

Of course, by 1945, Americans no longer feared another Pearl Harbor. Yet, we, in a far stronger and larger United States, are still not sure we won’t see another Sept. 11.

If memory serves, some of the early advocates of swift action against the Taliban and other rogue regimes, including Iraq, were also on record as recommending that President Bush do something to get citizens to make either symbolic or real sacrifices for the duration. Yes, each day that we go about our peacetime business without a terrorist attack is a small victory. By the same token, each day that we go about our peacetime business without being mugged is a small victory: that, however, is successful policing, something distinct from succesful war-waging.

It was also not long after 1945 that Americans feared something far worse than another Pearl Harbor. Those "duck and cover" drills didn't exist simply to keep civil defense inspectors employed. Do any readers remember having the afternoon showing of the Mickey Mouse Club interrupted for live coverage of Adlai Stevenson quizzing Anastas Mikoyan (or was it Andrei Gromyko?) in the well of the General Assembly? "We interrupt this program" was a big deal in those days.