September 11 just like Dresden?
February 24th, 2007 | by Craig R. Harmon |The French presidential candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen provoked outrage among British veterans yesterday when he compared the September 11 attacks on the United States to RAF-led bombing raids during the Second World War.The National Front leader said both were “terrorist acts as they expressly targeted civilians to force military leaders to capitulate”. Mr Le Pen, 79, also dismissed the al-Qa’eda atrocities in 2001 as a mere “incident”.
Okay, I admit that I really don’t get into French elections. I don’t care who wins or loses over there. My question is, how accurate is this “Dresden=9/11″ comparison?
6 Responses to “September 11 just like Dresden?”
By Jersey McJones on Feb 24, 2007 | Reply
9/11 - 4 hijacked airliners crash into the WTC, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. 3,000 die and several buildings are leveled and about a dozen seriously damaged. A terrible criminal tragedy.
Dresden - hundreds of bombers over several explosive and incendiary assaults kill tens of thousands of residents, refugees and workers, destroy thousands of building, and leave half the city of almost a million on fire for days. A terrible war tragedy.
About as similar as the insipid comparison between the real war of WWII, and the phony war of the “WoT.”
JMJ
By Craig R. Harmon on Feb 24, 2007 | Reply
So Dresden was not terrorism equal to 9/11 but far worse, is what you’re saying. I do think that Dresden was an indefensible attack lacking plausible military targets and designed not only to wreak physical, artistic, and cultural damage but also to maximize lethality. I don’t necessarily disagree with the comparison; I’m looking to elicit others’ opinions.
By Chris on Feb 24, 2007 | Reply
They are the same only if you agree that when bin laden declared war it was the same as when Germany declared war on us. During WWII we condemmed Hitler for the terror bombing of London while deluding ourselfs about what we were doing. Given the innacurracies of bombing at that time it was a forgone conclusion that there would be huge colaterial damage. Dolittle’s raid on Tokyo was done purely for the pschological effect. The fact is that there are no civilians in modern warfare. We all contribute to the war effort. If you believe they are the same then we should be persuing this war the same as WWII. Draft and total war.
By Craig R. Harmon on Feb 24, 2007 | Reply
Paul Watson,
I’m wondering what you, as a Brit, think of the Dresden bombing?
By Paul Watson on Feb 25, 2007 | Reply
Dammit, Craig,
I was hoping to keep my head down and stay out of this.
Ok. Both are unquestionably attacks on civillians. That makes them, as far as I personally am concerned, immoral.
However, with that aside, there are a couple of differences. The Dresden, and similar, bombings were certainly on a much more massive scale than 9/11. But I think they can be justified more easily for two reasons: 1) We were at war with Germany already. 2) To sound like a ten year old, they started it. The Blitzkreig had begun in 1940 while the Dresden bombings began in 1942. This doesn’t mean the Dresden bombings were right (althoughthey may have been sound military policy. The two don’t always go together) but I think there is a difference between the two. I don’t think you can argue military necessity for 9/11.
In general, though, we tend to gloss over the fact that we committed terrorism and mass murder in our air campaign, while still reviling the Nazis for attacking out cities. History, as they say, is written by the winners. A statue to the leader of Air Command, Sir Arthur “Bomber” Harris was unveiled in the 90s, but there were protests given the act that the raids are now more questioned. At the time of course, it was thought necessary to sap the will of the German people to fight given that we were not doing especially well in the war itself. That may have been the case.
By Craig R. Harmon on Feb 25, 2007 | Reply
Thank you, Paul. See, that wasn’t so hard now was it? Well said.