Re: Victims

["Franz Schoenhofer" <franz.schoenhofer@CHELLO.AT>]

John,



I am not going to answer this mail in detail on RADSAFE - though you have

chosen to send it to RADSAFE. But a few general comments you can have.



It is fascinating that obviously the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is

such a deep rooted trauma for many US Americans that they on any occasion

have to confirm how necessary it was. I do not need a "sense of history" I

cling to facts. Your comment on poisonous gas used in Auschwitz refers to an

incredible crime commited by the Nazis and not to warfare. There are

international treaties also forbidding the use of poisonous gas in warfare,

so if the US army would have used it in an invasion in Japan - which you

obviously think normal - it would have been as well a crime.



Your answer is nothing more than a confirmation, why peoples all over the

world do not like the US politics and oppose it. They do not like as well

those, who advocate this politics as "democracy". At least we in Europe

cannot understand (or rather: do not support) what is going on in the USA

regarding the citizens rights, putting forward the "dirty bombs", the

possible attacks on nuclear power plants and the fight against "terrorists",

which have not been caught since almost a year. We do not feel obliged to

follow directions of the USA. Your remarks on Auschwitz, on the Gulf War,

the nuclear capability of the USA to destroy Iraq, the obvious support of

you to use poisonous gas against Iraq (I mentioned above, it would have been

a crime). The bombing of cities had nothing to do with strategic thoughts to

destroy factories producing war material. In Nazi Germany such material was

produced decentralised on the country side and mostly underground. While it

is true that transportation was an important factor the main reason of what

you call "strategic bombing" was simply to terrorize the population in order

to weaken their resistance. This was both from Nazi Germany sending the V-2

rockets to London but to a much larger extent on German cities. Your claim,

that it was easier to send one plane with an atomic bomb over Hiroshima and

another one over Nagasaki than using waves of planes with explosives is so

incredible, that I really have to doubt whether you have any common sense

left after all this patriotic stuff you wrote. The allies have shown with

all their bombings of German, Austrian, Finnish and Eastern European cities,

how efficient they were. The bombing of Dresden, where no war industry was

situated, but where hundreds of thousands of refugees had gathered - and

were killed - is an excellent example, how the destruction, which was done

in Hiroshima and Nagasaki had before been achieved by conventional warfare.

I bet all I have, that this bombing was much cheaper than the development of

the nuclear bombs! #



The Austrian government did not vote for joining Germany, it did not exist

at that time. You are not correct, that many of the Austrians voted for it -

the vote was more than 90%. Did anybody know, what would follow? I think we

paid the price for it.



I recommend that you read a lot of history books - not necessarily official

US history -to learn a little more about those times.



I am fascinated, how many friends I have among US citizens and how many

positive responses I receive on such topics. Thanks to those!



Franz











-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----

Von: Jacobus, John (OD/ORS) <jacobusj@ors.od.nih.gov>

An: 'RadSafe' <radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu>

Datum: Freitag, 09. August 2002 14:44

Betreff: RE: Victims





>It is important to remember that during WWII, civilian cities were

>legitimate targets.  The idea behind this type of strategic bombing is

>destroy factories that produce war materiel, storage locations, and

>transportation centers.  Unfortunately, most of these are located in

cities.

>I am sure you saw the effects of strategic bombing.  Hiroshima and Nagasaki

>were just an extension of that program.  It is more efficient with one bomb

>in one plane rather that using waves of planes carrying high explosive

bombs

>and incendiary bombs to incinerate the cities and those who could not

>escape.

>

>If you served in the military as a leader, you learn several things about

>combat.  First, you must use all of your resources to complete the mission.

>Second, you try to keep your troops alive so they can go home.  (In the US,

>most of our officers were average American, unlike Europe where the officer

>corps were from the aristocracy.)  During WWII in Europe, when Allied

troops

>approached a town, they would try to get the local leaders to surrender.

If

>they refused, they called in artillery of flatten the torn.  You did not

>waste your own troops.  In present world, our own citizens would be

appalled

>by this idea.  However, 50 years of relative peace (excluding Korea and

>Vietnam Nam) puts a differ perspective on life.  Remember is was only 20

>years between the two world wars.

>

>Again, it is very easy to criticize what was done in the past by

>politicians.  One can even ask why Austrian government and many of its

>people voted to join Nazi Germany.  But I do not blame you for that, but

>have you ever considered it?  What do you think they were doing?

>

>-- John

>

>-----Original Message-----

>From: Franz Schoenhofer [mailto:franz.schoenhofer@chello.at]

>Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2002 3:30 PM

>To: Jacobus, John (OD/ORS); 'RadSafe'

>Subject: Re: Victims

>. . .

>So you openly declare, that the Allies (= the US troops) would have

breached

>against international law by using poisonous gases? Not even the

Nazi-regime

>has used them during WW II !!!! This is a slap into the face of your

nation,

>which critizises correctly the use of poisonous gases by Saddam Hussein

>against Kurds. So you put the Allies on the same level as Saddam Hussein?

Or

>are you supporting his politics against the Kurds?

>

>It is unbelievable, how far some people go to defend previous actions of

>their politicians and military, if they are criticised.

>

>Franz

>

>

>

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