Posted on 10/01/2015 8:09:34 AM PDT by Kenny
FDR made a great many difficult and ugly decisions – aside from interning Japanese-American citizens and not bombing the railroad tracks to Auschwitz. In this context, he made two for what he thought was the greater good: ignoring Stalin's crimes, and committing all the resources necessary to achieve the unconditional surrender of Axis forces. He put the American economy on a war footing, drafted millions of soldiers, and dropped tons of bombs that often didn't distinguish between military forces and civilians. He believed that the faster the war ended, the better it was for the civilians and everyone else. It wasn't a perfect understanding – particularly for the Jews waiting for deliverance. But it was his understanding, and Truman concurred. Dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a calculated decision to take the casualties, including civilians, up front.
It is also worth remembering that the Allies never did turn their armies toward Stalin – to the dismay of millions of prisoners of the gulags, millions more forcibly detained in the Soviet empire for the next 45 years, and captive Soviet Jews. But the Allies – meaning America – did in fact create the framework for 70 years of multilateral understanding in Europe and Asia. The Cold War was the diplomatic way of boxing in the USSR until it collapsed.
That is not a tactical proposal for coming to grips with the dual horrors of ISIS and Iran. It is a strategic one.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Essentially the same thing, just variations on the theme.
And an FDR type isn’t a whole lot better.
Progressives all.
M4L Stalin
I actually know a woman whose parents had to make that choice.
She was born in Lithuania. When she was a young girl the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact fell apart. Her parents had to make a choice...do we want to raise these kids under Hitler or Stalin?
They chose Hitler. They were guest workers at a factory in Germany, at least until the British bombed their house. They ended up in a refugee camp and, eventually, here.
Talk about your Sophie’s Choice!
Dear Clown in Chief Obama
If you will not lead, then get us the hell out of the way.
In terms of numbers, Stalin wins hands down. Only Mao can challenge him.
My grandparents got the same choice. My father’s family ended up in one of Hitler’s camps, temporarily, but it was better than being shipped to Siberia. My parents still remember the block-by-block roundups in the Baltics, and are afraid of what’s happening in this country now.
It was the best decision.
The USSR was a paranoid, and backwards state that were defeated by the Poles and the Finns, and posed no threat to the west. The physical manpower they could field was what won the war ultimately.
Germany had the most brilliant scientific minds on Earth, brilliant generals, the ability to outsmart their enemies, and were 2 years away from controllable ICBMs, atomic weapons, and jet craft that were 50 years ahead of the west.
He also returned a passenger vessel with Jewish refugees back to the gas chambers!!!
Progressivism at work.
I'll leave a discussion of interning Japanese-American citizens for another day. But the Germans had very efficient railroad repair teams. And the Germans actually gave the camps priority over requirements from the front. So it is doubtful that bombing the tracks to Auschwitz would have made a whole lot of difference.
ping for later
Exactly what I would expect from a "progressive". He and Hitler and Stalin were of the same ideological family. Hitler and Stalin were just more consistent and fanatical about it -- and less constrained by a constitution and a democratic system.
The ugly decisions were never difficult for FDR. It was doing the right thing that was a challenge for him.
So did the North Koreans. One thing we've learned over the past 60 or so years is that bombing railroad tracks is a very inefficient use of bombs and airplanes. Tracks are too easy to repair, even with semi-skilled labor.
Taking out bridges is more effective, but harder to do.
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