text: There has been a profound disagreement over the correct response to the attacks.  No matter what course the administration took there would have been opposition.  The difficulty has been the secret nature of the attacks.  Before Pearl Harbor there was a large isolationist faction in the US.  No president could get elected, advocating war but after the attack there was almost universal support for war against Japan and ultimately all Axis powers.  The difference was that the enemies were nations who declared war.  It has been very difficult to develop a meaningful strategy agains attackers who operate in secret without alienating allies.  In my opinion the Bush administration could have done things differently to better effect but then some its current supporters would have been opponents.