black@nisysg.DEC (03/29/85)
From [Russell Spence]:
>What pisses me off is that since Hitler did commit this "atrocity", people
>use that as an excuse to remove their own guilt for things that they did during
>the war.
>Hey, how about a little quiz?
>
>Which country is the only country to use atomic weapons on fellow human
>being?
Answer: The US, of course. The unit involved was the 393rd Bomb Squadron of
the 509th Bomb Wing (Heavy). I am extremely proud to have served in the 509th
myself.
Remember it was Roosevelt that ordered its development.
>What is the name of the country that in World War II fire-bombed Dresden
>for three day when it knew that Dresden didn't have any significant war
>industry?
Answer: (Hold on to your hats, all you Anglophiles!) BRITAIN used incendiary
attacks on German cities, because the RAF liked night tactics, and they
couldn't bomb accurately by night. The USAAF, on the other hand, prided
themselves on precision daylight bombardment, and often American crews would
turn off bomb runs if the target could not be positively identified.
Dresden was attacked on Ash Wednesday, when the city was loaded with
refugees and persons who were in the city for the holidays. The city was
devastated, and the fires burned for months.
The USAAF used incendiary attacks against Japanese cities after about
March of 1945. It was shown that the attacks using high explosives on
select targets was not slowing down the Japanese industry. It seems the
Japanese dispersed the industry throughout the homes of the workers, so that
for example a person could make small machined parts at home, or assemble
devices from a parts kit.
Statistically, the two nudets on Hiroshima and Nagasaki contributed
less than 2% of the total war damage to the Japanese mainland. It has
been estimated by historians that losses would have been in the millions
on both sides if the Allies had been forced to invade the mainland.
So the "rightness" or "wrongness" of the use of the Bomb is debatable, at
best.
The bigger question is what were we doing in the war to begin with,
and who really started it?
>Which "freedom-loving" country suspended the civil rights of a group of
>citizens simply because ethnically they were of Japanese origin?
Answer: The US, obviously. Remember that it was Roosevelt's idea.
>I ask you, which is truly the bias: the condemnation of enemies for
>terrorist acts while praising friends for similar acts OR
>the condemnation of terrorist acts of violence by whomever commits them?
>
>When talking about "bias" it is all too easy for "our side" to say
>the other side is wrong (but we're "not so bad" even if we feel a little
>uneasy defending the very actions we condemn by others), while the other side
>goes on to say "our side" is wrong (while their own infractions are ignored)
>
>*This* is the true bias in our current nationalistic system of war and
>senseless murder.
> tim sevener whuxl!orb
Right on, Tim. I couldn't have said it better myself.
But I think "Internationalistic" fits better.
Don Black
"We shall bury you...As God is my witness...."
--Nikita S. Krushchev