[Arkle]

67 years ago almost to the day...

The article is from 1963. Interesting.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Bomber Harris basically fell into disgrace after WWII for the nighttime (read, indiscriminate) bombing of Germany.

All that airpower would have been far better spent keeping all the U-boats in the North Atlantic underwater all day and out of mischief at night. It would have shortened the war and saved lives--and property--all around.

[DTA]

Arkle, this topic provoked flame wars before on FR.
Hitler brought hell to German citizens, there is no doubt about that.

The problem is that those who delivered hellfire claim to be angels .

[Mr. Bird]

The Nazis and the Communists dabbled in terror raids on civilian targets. But they were old-fashioned and imperialist enough to hold that the aim of war is not to destroy the enemy, but to defeat his armies in the field, to occupy his country, and exploit its resources

What a crock. The Blitz and the Final Solution defined as dabbling? The summary execution of 10,000 Polish officers by the Soviets was old-fashioned war? The Nazis and the Communists were f****** Evil, pure and simple. Sure, I can regret (vicariously, of course) the killing of innocents in Dresden and elsewhere, but I won't stand for this type of moral equivalence (or worse!) argument.

[cynicom]

Monday morning quarterbacking, with an agenda.

[Arthur McGowan]

Remember the basic moral principle of many Freepers: ANY questioning of the U.S. Government, which has never done wrong and has never committed a crime, means you are a Commie, Pinko, maggot-infested, dope-smoking Hippie. This philosophy is known as "conservativism."

[freedomson]

Great read, good post.

But, Sherman summed it up best with three words, war is hell.

[Savage Beast]

War is Hell.

The story of Dresden is a glimpse of it.

Hell is more horrible and more horrifying than the human mind can imagine.

Dresden and the other horrors of World War II would not have happened if Hitler and his Nazis had been stopped before they acquired enough power to make it happen--if the world had listened to people like Winston Churchill instead of the likes of Neville Chamberlain.

Hitler and his Nazis are not unique. Such people have been a part of the human race since its beginning, and they no doubt always will be. They are with us now. Such people must be stopped before they can gain enough power to wreak hell on earth.

Bin Ladin and his Al-Qaida terrorists are a contemporary recrudescence of this, as murderous and blood-thirsty as any Hitler or any Nazis. The trappings and rhetoric may differ, but they are the same people. They must be stopped now, before they can acquire more power. But defeating and neutralizing them will not prevent another Dresden from happening. Other, similar monsters will arise to take their place and, if they can, wreak more hell upon the earth.

George Bush understands this. And he understands the importance of stopping these people now, no matter what the cost, because the cost of not stopping them will continue to increase until we face another Dresden or Heroshima.

If the world is never to experience another Dresden--or Hamburg or Wurzburg--or Heroshima or Nagasaki--if it is never to experience another Auschwitz or Dachau--or Nanking--or Stalingrad or Leningrad--and pray right now that it never does!--it will be because of people like George Bush, Winston Churchill, and Harry Truman--and IN SPITE OF people like Neville Chamberlain.