Human Shields and Choice

[Nicodemus Phaulkon]

And please remember that the vast majority of the civilians killed in Dresden actively supported the most criminal regime the earth has ever seen. Morally condemning the allied forces for their bombing of Dresden does not seem appropriate to me. It were the Germans (not just the Nazi leadership!) who chose that war. They got what they wanted.

That is, perhaps, the scariest and most callous statement I've seen in a long time.

Dresden was overflowing with war refugees. Grandfathers, mothers and children... none of whom had ever lifted a weapon or actively sought open conflict.

The Allies' causing the firestorm from an unbelievable release of tonnage was a calculated political maneouver, and had little to do with any actual war goal. The result that the British and Americans wanted was two-fold: They were showing the Russians that they were equally pushing towards Germany's defeat, and they were making sure that Russia was left with a burnt husk of a city once they got there.

Dresden was a cultural center... not a military target. The fact that it had been ignored completely by Allied Strategic Command up 'til that point is telling.

Now then... you're asserting that the burning to death of the elderly, women and children is appropriate? Because they were GERMAN and WANTED THE WAR??!

I sincerely hope you don't truly feel that way... for that is the same reasoning why the terrorists cells in this world seek to kill American citizens. You're American, after all... and as guilty as your government is of all the crimes that it does, worldwide. Following through on this train of morality and thought... it could be equally said that 9/11 was America's "They got what they wanted".

Limited thinking is a dangerous thing. Limited thinking paired with misplaced morality is far, far worse.