we are so worried about terrorists, but what about dresden, bagdad, and hiroshima and nagasaki?

Question

over the years we have slaughtered, raped, and bombed hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, yet we would never consider ourselves terrorists.

what is the difference btw a suicide bomber and someone dropping napalm and firebombing a civilian city like dresden and hiroshima?

the point is the US does not do everything they can to prevent civilian death.

and yes the US soldiers have participated in rape. in fact it was often ignored in vietnam. i know someone who was raped by a soldier in iraq.

point is, the US is not as moral as we are led to believe, they are the same power hungry machines as every other country. so dont be completely content in our actions towards other countries. pressuring a nation to act humanely will produce more favorable results than believing everything you hear

"btw, for all who seem so disgusted with America: there's a plane leaving everyday."

you do realize that was the attitude during the civil rights movement. people who feel discusted by their nation aim at trying to reform it. change is evolution and evolution is the reason we're not living in the dark ages anymore

what i find interesting is i never learned about dresden or the intimate facts of hiroshima and nagasaki in history class.

Answer 1

First of all, no, you wouldn't consider yourself terrorists anyway - its not an image people like to give to themselves. Freedom Fighters sounds so much more noble - do you think any freedom fighters thought of themselves as evil murderers? everyone has a cause, and to them, it is just.

Secondly, you are referring to four events, three of which (Dresden, Hiroshima & Nagasaki) were brutal war tactics implemented in direct retaliation for brutal war tactics and crimes commited by the enemy. If someone ups the stakes, you have to match them if you hope to win. The fourth event, Bahgdad is not really worth mentioning. The handling of the situation was near exemplary for minimising civillian casualties in a war.

You deplore terrorism - but war is not a happy place. Almost any act beyond polishing your guns can be seen as an act of terrorism. Moving your troops close to a border causes terror in the public, shooting someone dead causes terror in the men around him... The three events you mention struck terror into the hearts of the enemy on a grand scale - but when you get down to it, their own government declaring war will have frightened the civillians just as much.

Terror is a useful thing. It saves lives. Rarely do humans feel genuine urge to kill their neighbours en masse. Even Hitler didn't really aim for something like that. He wanted a utopian society (with his definition of utopia, obviously). Terror can cause people to throw down their weapons and surrender- terrorism could be seen as the most humane way to carry out a war- you only have to kill a few people, strike in the right places and wholesale slaughter is avoided.

So, as i said to begin with- you dont see yourself as a terrorist, and probably never will. Even the suicide bomber, as he reaches for the detonator, will still be thinking of himself as a martyr- a freedom fighter. Its when others call you a terrorist when the term really applies. There is no difference between a man with explosives on his chest and the pilot in a bomber except that the pilot may cause more terror. Looking at it correctly, any nation that has fought a war has employed terrorism- so everyone is a terrorist.

Answer 2

The US was not the aggressor in World War II nor was it the first country to use large scale bombings of civilians. The rules of war changed a great deal during World War II.

Before World War II, most countries deplored and condemned the targeting of civilians for bombings but as the war progressed, targets expanded from military and industrial targets to entire cities. Although there were some bombings of civilians in World War I, and an especially famous one by the Germans in the Spanish Civil War, it was generally thought that such bombings were inhuman. Another bombing of civilians that was condemned before WW II was Mussolini’s bombing of civilians in Ethiopia.

Between the two world wars, however a couple of military writers actually advocated the idea of the sustained bombing civilians on the grounds that such large scale deaths would demoralize the enemy’s populace. The link below provides a basic history of the escalation of the idea bombing civilians that resulted in millions of deaths in WW II.

The terrorists have once again changed the rules by using a tactic that has been known and used for centuries but the technology has made the results more deadly.

Answer 3

Well, lets teach you some history:

Dresden was firebombed by the British at the request of the Russians. (The US Air Raid targeted Dresden's railroad yards.)

Hiroshima and Nagasaki - prevented the deaths of over 10 million Japanese people from starvation.

Baghdad - set a standard for the protection of civilians in time of war that no other nation can match. (The amusing thing is that the US is getting criticized because we have raised the bar regarding protection of civilians to the point where no other country is capable of matching it.)

You desperately need a clue.

Answer 4

Lets do some simple math for simple minds. The Germans were the ones attacking and taking over Europe. They were in with the Italians and the Japanese, which by the way, attack us at Pearl Harbor.

In the second world war, carpet bombing was the method and yes, many innocent people died. Would you rather we sat back and waited until the world was under the Swastika and Rising Sun??

IN WW2, 8,000 Allies died each week during the war. In Viet Nam, over 10 years, 54,000 Americans died. Right now, MORE Americans are murdered in our cities each month, than we have lost in a year in Iraq.

We don't hear people yelling to stop the murder do we??? What about all those people who die Nationally each month involving drunk drivers???? Still 10 times more than we lost in a year in Iraq, but we don't ban cars or ban alcohol.

You have to look at the issue without the smoked glasses. War is war and no, its not pretty. The A bombs we dropped on Japan saved a million or more lives, ours and there's. German and Japan were working on the bomb, do you want us to wait until they got it and dropped it on say, Seattle?? LA?? or Washington DC??

Take some time and get an education about history before you throw too many rocks.

Answer 5

The difference is the victims. The victims in Dresden, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki where victims because of THEIR governments attacking INNOCENT nations and attempting to take over the world. Fact of the matter, the victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki ACTUALLY SAVED LIVES. Our defense department at that time estimated that we would have had 1 MILLION casualties had we needed to invade Japan. I also want to remind you that MOST of the innocent women and children being killed in Iraq are victims of the enemy, not the USA. We do not consider ourselves terrorists because we MAKE EVERY ATTEMPT to avoid killing civilians. Sometimes, our guys are killed BECAUSE OF THESE ATTEMPTS. Do you REALLY THINK that any war can be fought with perfection to where only the military combatants are killed? Hell, the military has deaths from FRIENDLY FIRE. You don't think they do it INTENTIONALLY, do you?

Answer 6

Its true we lost the moral high ground, but there was a war going on, a war against some evil characters. If it meant being a terrorist to win it, then is it justified? I suppose if we ask the inmates at Auschwitz, they'd be wondering what took us so long...but then again, i think they WERE wondering that.

The country that tries to 'humanize' war will most likely be defeated, war is inherently 'inhuman', to me that's the lesson of hiroshima, nagasaki and dresden.

Answer 7

Like everyone said, pay attention in history class. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were retaliations for Pearl Harbor and ended WWII. We tried to stay out of WWII but the war was brought to us, we just finished it. The loss of innocent lives is sad, but that is the nature of war, it's called collateral damage. Maybe back when I was in school we had a more complete history lesson.........

The difference between a suicide bomber is that he doesn't care who he hurts, even his own people. We do not go out to kill hundreds of people in the name of God. The bombings you are comparing suicide bombers to were done out of self defense not an attack on anyone. When 9/11 happened we were attacked, but the problem with terrorists are they are not like regular people. I have a friend who's Recon in the Marines and he compares terrorists to wild animals, and the only way to stop them is to kill them. We are not in Iraq or Afgahnistan to kill innocent civilians, if that happens it's not our intentions but maybe the terrorists shouldn't hide in civilian homes, or hold innocent women and children in front of them as shields.

Answer 8

Dresden: Germany declared war on the United States. The US Army liberated Buchenwald, Dachau, Dora and a host of other concentration camps.
Hiroshima? Nagasaki: Japan attacked the United States. The Japanese starved, tortured, and murdered thousands of American prisoners of war among them my cousin who was on 15 years old.
If you cannot tell the difference between the US actions during World War 2 and Al Quaida and 9/11 you are one sad individual.

Answer 9

THEY DREW FIRST BLOOD!! (although, I agree Dresden was an atrocity) Also, by fighting back at the first drop we can assure that our enemies will not come here and kill 100000s more Americans. btw, for all who seem so disgusted with America: there's a plane leaving everyday.

Answer 10

Pay attention to this question everyone. This is what passes for American History in today's public schools.

Baghdad, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden were just sitting there minding their own business when mean old America came by and blew them up.

Heaven help us.


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