In WW2, the US bombed enemy cities full of civilians, without anybody raising objections at the time.
After the war, we had ICBMs poised to wipe out cities full of civilians all across the USSR, without all that many people objecting.
I have English friends - mostly born after WWII - who excoriate Bomber Harris. They don’t even understand how they wouldn’t be here without our ancestors strength of character and willingness to defy decorum and fight ugly to preserve western civilization.