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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: zonder who wrote (55165)	10/28/2002 12:01:35 PM
From: Sir Francis Drake	Respond to of 281500

Correct. That is exactly what I meant. Well zonder, in that case, I say: the U.S. BROKE THE LAW AND SAVED LIVES. If going by the letter of the law results in huge number of deaths, and breaking a law results in the humane saving of a huge number of civilian lives, then the U.S. should break such laws as often as possible. Here's a point, zonder: laws are written by humans, and are followed when they make sense. But there are times when a higher law supercedes a lower law. Example: You see a rape being committed. In order to wake up the neighborhood, you smash a car window and set off an alarm. Smashing the window is a crime - but if it saves a rape victim - it is excused under all legal systems. Exactly the same case with the atomic bombs. The U.S. did the right thing, and the law in this case was superceded.

To: zonder who wrote (55165)	10/28/2002 12:17:24 PM
From: Sir Francis Drake	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

btw. zonder, then given the indisputable, provable facts about casualties and alternatives, do you agree with the statement: The U.S. HUMANELY broke the law and dropped atomic bombs in order to save Japanese and American lives, and that was a very commendable thing to do. I'm sorry, but there is no way to avoid that statement, and I can argue you to the end on that. By the way, I don't think it is healthy for your future positions to uphold an absurd point of view regarding what is humane - it has a way of haunting you in other arguments... think about it - consistency.

To: zonder who wrote (55165)	10/28/2002 2:07:09 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Correct. That is exactly what I meant. Zonder... Japanese civilians were producing war goods in their very houses. 7. LeMay's Justification In Europe the American bomber command argued that its daylight precision bombing raids should not be equated with the "terror bombing" of civilian populations. General LeMay recognized that his incendiary raids were open to exactly this criticism. His response was twofold. First, the targets were industrial, and the Japanese not the Americans were responsible for decentralizing their war production in "cottage industry" fashion in residential areas throughout the country. Secondly, he claimed that "It's more immoral to use less force than to use more." He explained what he meant by citing the story of "a stupid man who was not basically cruel-just well - meaning" who cut off his dog's tail an inch at a time "so that it wouldn't hurt so much." The Japanese war machine needed to be "amputated" all at once, and the B - 29s would do the job. Civilian were not targeted solely because they were civilians. They were targeted because they were producing war goods in their houses. Hawk