“In World War 2, our bombing campaigns did not distinguish between soldiers and the civilians who supplied the soldiers. We drifted away from that in Vietnam and afterward. If it comes to an existential fight, we will go back to that doctrine.”
I agree with you that when it comes to a fight for survival we can and do justify to ourselves dropping the distinction between military and civilian targets, as we did in WW2.
If we acknowledge that and give ourselves permission to kill civilians should we condemn ourselves for it as we condemn our enemies for employing the very same tactics?
Isn’t it hypocritical to say it’s ‘justified’ when we kill civilians, but it’s ‘terrorism’ when our enemy does the same?
The other side has played by the rules of total war, while demanding that we play by the rules of civilized war. I would not mind at all if we gave them a taste of total war.