Robert S. In a society given over to the principle of Evil, there is no presumption of innocence Baudrillard, Dresden, aerial photo of firebombing damage Robert S. As a brilliant young Harvard professor he was selected to work as a strategist by the US military he earned the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and was awarded the Legion of Merit ; after the war he became President of the Ford Motor Company; he left Ford to become Secretary of Defence under Kennedy and later Johnson during the Vietnam War; and finally served as President of the World Bank for 13 years.
His passing provides perhaps one of the last opportunities to reflect upon some of the deeper meanings of the bombing of European and Japanese civilian populations as an accepted part of the rules of engagement during World War Two. Many of his obituarists took great pains to establish that he was the principle cause of its escalation in the mid s. Later in life he deeply provoked many Americans with his reassessment of the US role in Vietnam.
Indeed, 58, Americans died for nothing in that war in which over 5 million Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians also perished [4. Only the Germans were held to account for their actions during the trials at Nuremburg while the Allied strategy was largely seen as necessary to victory. Bush for his role in the death of civilians in Iraq.
As we saw in Britain, Germany, and Japan — aerial bombings of cities only served to make the population feel more a part of the war and more determined to persevere. While the bombing of cities led to very significant short term disruptions these were temporary.
It was only when US and British bombers later focused their attention on rail-lines and industrial operations that the aerial bombing strategy began to pay dividends. As Garretsen et. The cities of Japan largely made of wood were significantly destroyed by the operations in which McNamara served under LeMay. The same process took place in Japan — long after it was understood that Japanese resolve would not be broken by the firebombing of cities, the campaign continued and culminated in the detonation of American nuclear warheads in Nagasaki and Hiroshima in August — to date the only such use of nuclear weaponry on a civilian population.
It remains in the view of many the most significant war crime in history to not face criminal prosecution. Hiroshima after nuclear detonation The question is why? Why did the fire bombings continue on civilian populations even after it was widely agreed among military leaders that they were not significantly progressing military efforts to win the war?
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Cancel Report. Create a new account. Log In. Select another language:. If one is religious, edicts against killing are found in every sacred text. Yet, the United States has certain values and certain responsibilities on the world stage. If the United Nations decides that genocide is occurring, it is our responsibility to stop it, with military force if necessary.
If an ally is attacked, we are bound to protect them, with military force if necessary. If we are attacked, we must defend ourselves. A nation can do none of these things without engaging in evil. The key is to minimize the evil as much as possible. World War II was a brutal, evil event. Millions died as the Allies grinded down the Axis war machine. Yet, it was certainly a lesser evil than allowing Hitler to control Europe and Tojo Asia.
That said, the , Japanese civilians killed in Tokyo or the 24, in Dresden would probably disagree that its evil was minimized. During the Vietnam War, protests against the Johnson Administration erupted throughout the nation. Suicide is an evil, which Morrison must have known.
However, if he could sway decision-makers to reconsider their policies, his self-immolation might bring about a greater good. Certainly, doing violence to oneself minimizes evil.
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