Re: Christianity leads me to Atheism?

In article <87zml1zar0.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Gareth McCaughan <Gareth.McCaughan@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Andrew McMullon wrote:

In article <878xsl1xgh.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Gareth McCaughan <Gareth.McCaughan@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Andrew McMullon wrote:

It is very noble and humane of you to admit that firebombing
an entire city might not be the right course of action on *every*
occasion. It might, for instance, be considered a tactless response
to being asked to give a speech at a wedding.

My point all along has been that it is no longer the correct response
on any occasion - but that the circumstances in WW2 were very
different.

And my point all along has been that it was not the correct
response in WW2.

Which had been debated ever since then.

And this is part of the debate. Except that the only reason you've
given for thinking it might have been correct (at any time) to
firebomb an entire city is that, er, maybe it was necessary to
win the war and that, um, that was then and this is now. You'll
pardon me if I don't find either very convincing, in the absence
of a credible argument that firebombing Dresden was necessary to
win the war. (I'm willing to assume for the sake of argument that
winning WW2 was so essential that any atrocity genuinely necessary
to that end was justified. It might even be true.)

I don't think you should particularly single out the Dresden raid. It
was particularly devasting but that was maybe more due to contingent
events than direct judgment or skill. The argument is that the
strategic bombing policy as a whole was necessary to win, or at least
greatly shorten the war.

With hindsight we might think that the Allies could have let up on the
strategic bombing offensive. At the time it was by no means clear
that the Germans were a spent and defeated force (the Battle of the
Bulge was only a month earlier). The East German cities were bombed
to prevent reinforcement of the eastern front by German forces from
the west - perhaps as many as half a million men.


--
andrew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
.

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