Re: Victims

[hflong@postoffice.pacbell.net]

President Bush, a "reborn" Christian, visiting both mosques and synagogues after

9/11,

is great reassurance to me that he will be most restrained in use of mass

destruction (including A bombs) in anticipatory defense of the USA



Howard Long



Franz Schoenhofer wrote:



> 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

> >

> >

> >

> >************************************************************************

> >You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

> >send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

> >radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.

> >You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/

> >

>

> ************************************************************************

> You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

> send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

> radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.

> You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/



************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.

You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/