77th anniversary of U.S. air raids

Pray for Peace.

Yes, PRAY FOR PEACE.

RIP to all the victims of a war crime, a fire bombing that targeted civilians. Plus ca change plus c'est la meme chose.

End the war. нет войне

Curtis LeMay believed in a doctrine of total war, that every man, woman, child, and little crawling baby was a legitimate target in war. So he didn't hesitate to firebomb cities where civilians were present. It seems that Putin has revived this doctrine.

The fire-bombing of civilians. The very odd and queer justifications offered are insulting and more so, ignore the barbarism and savagery, the purposeful killing of civilians: infants, children, youngsters, middle-aged, elderly all non-combatants. In today's parlance collateral damage.

Curtis LeMay was responsible for the fire-bombing of Tokyo.  When asked about U.S. actions in Japan during World War II, McNamara responded, “LeMay said if we’d lost the war, we’d all have been prosecuted as war criminals. And I think he’s right. . . . LeMay recognized that what he was doing would be thought immoral if his side had lost. But what makes it immoral if you lose, and not immoral if you win?”

Franklin Delano Roosevelt:

The ruthless bombing from the air of civilians in unfortified centers of population during the course of hostilities which have raged in various quarters of the earth during the past few years, which has resulted in the maiming and in the death of thousands of defenseless men, women and children, has sickened the hearts of every civilized man and woman, and has profoundly shocked the conscience of humanity.

[If countries continue] this form of inhuman barbarism during the period of the tragic conflagration with which the world is now confronted, hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings who are not even remotely participating in hostilities, will lose their lives.

War is always evil.

Then stop promoting it.

Amen to that!

The US regarded the Japanese and other non-Christian/non-Anglo as somewhat less human, so didn't hold back on developing methods to MAXIMIZE damage to civilians. Anyone who does the research will learn that the US deliberately created special bombs to burn all the wooden buildings (and the Japanese inhabitants) to a crisp, along with a burning petroleum napalm jelly that couldn't be extinguished with water, which several tens of thousands of Japanese citizens discovered on that fateful night.

So the Japanese people were denigrated through terms such as J_p or Nip, while Koreans and Vietnamese were called Gooks...and then onto Iraq and the tortures inflicted at Abu Ghraib, the random shooting/rape of civilians, etc.

It is through those Tokyo air raids (similar to those carried out in the Korean War, except that even more damage was done) as well as the nuclear holocausts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that one can glimpse the true face of indiscriminate slaughtering of civilians.

@Aly Rustom

Your comments are so spot on.,

That the Horror beyond Horrors of the bombing of Tokyo was not enough to convince the Brutes in Power to surrender and spare the innocent blood of civilians, is the greatest stain.

The appalling scenes unfolded in the heart of the leaders domain - just too shocking to imagine - but it would take 5 more months and the unleashing of the Apocalypse Now in Hiroshima & Nagasaki to sway their minds.

And even then, in defiance for some.

Pride slaughtered the People.

a fire bombing that targeted civilians.

A coward napalm bombing that targeted innocent civilians in their wooden houses..

Japan would have never surrendered if the US left Tokyo and Japan's major cities intact.

a fire bombing that targeted civilians.

A coward napalm bombing that targeted innocent civilians in their wooden houses..

Why the double standard when you praise Russia for doing the exact same thing now?

A coward napalm bombing that targeted innocent civilians in their wooden houses..

the real cowards were the war criminals Minister of War: General Korechika Anami, Chief of the Army General Staff: General Yoshijirō Umezu, and Chief of the Navy General Staff: Admiral Soemu Toyoda.

Those rightwing nut jobs wanted to the whole nation of Japan to fight to the bitter end to save their own hide. They were willing to end Japan and the whole Japanese race just because they were afraid of what would happen after surrendering. Anami ended up killing himself when Japan's surrender was inevitable. Those 3 were not just cowards, but war criminals.

On the other hand, Prime Minister: Admiral Kantarō Suzuki, Minister of Foreign Affairs: Shigenori Tōgō, and Minister of the Navy: Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai were all opposed to war and the alliance with Germany and Italy. They tried to stop the rightwing nuts above and alas failed. Their voices were drowned out by the crazies above and the general rightwing extremism that shaped Japanese politics at that time.

Anami, Umezu and Toyoda are responsible for the plight of the Japanese people.

I don't always see eye to eye with @Richard Gallagher takes..

the purposeful killing of civilians:

This happened.

Not really. Most of Japan's industrial facilities were located in and amongst residential areas, including densely packed cities like Tokyo, which is still often the case. Not a lot of zoning then, as well as now.

Save the kibble and bits trying to weasel out from it. Defenseless civilians in wooden boxes.

Mass mass murder with intent to murder with prejudice!

Intent to kill. Again, with prejudice.

I will call out these Looters that got left to fill the void, all day everyday. But this take is no better than they are. Tell it like it is. War criminals on both sides of it.

Curtis LeMay was responsible for the fire-bombing of Tokyo.

Not really.

So what now, don't like the truth so deny the man his due? LeMay s got a big reputation.

Winning by murdering less civilians.. dont remember that one being on the list.

Save the kibble and bits trying to weasel out from it.

The "kibble and bits" = historical facts that undermine the revisionist narrative. I'm a facts guy, so sorry, ain't going to "save" any of it.

Defenseless civilians in wooden boxes.

Yeah, this is interesting. Like a clean divorce of Japan's (conscript) military and the regular folks who populated its ranks and furthered its interests. Just like the fantastical belief that there was clear geographical demarcation between industrial zones and civilian zones in 1940s Japan.

I recall an NHK doc on Hiroshima profiling one "innocent civilian" who survived the war and today has mighty words of wisdom for all us about nukes. Near the end, the narrator briefly mentioned her "job at a munitions plant" (bomb factory), just one of Hiroshima's many military and industrial facilities (although NHK "weasled out" of any elaboration).

WW2 was a "world war, " not between armies -- but between societies.

Over and over USG first asked, then insisted, and finally warned the Imperial Militants to cease and surrender but at no avail. All those innocent lives, yes innocent because this elite of mentally disturb military leaders at that time had brain washed the good people of Japan to the point of no return.

@Richard Gallagher

the purposeful killing of civilians:

Not really. Most of Japan's industrial facilities were located in and amongst residential areas, including densely packed cities like Tokyo, which is still often the case. Not a lot of zoning then, as well as now.

A US Navy memo at the time mentions this fact on how to best destroy Japan's industrial capacity while minimizing civilian deaths. Sorry, can't be done, was the conclusion.

Curtis LeMay was responsible for the fire-bombing of Tokyo.

Not really. He was a major general, and not in the military's highest echelon. Firebombing was his idea and was approved by his military and civilian superiors, who didn't have any special qualms about it. All of the major powers bombed cities in WW2, with Japan and Germany starting the trend in the 1930s, and it wasn't particularly controversial by the mid 1940s, especially when the entire world was desperate for a quick end the war -- with the sole exception of Japan.

Actually, it was the "allied" bombing campaign that was one of the main factors that influenced the Japanese government's decision to surrender. The Japanese Government would not stop their wartime atrocities against Korea and China and other Asian countries until the bombing campaign changed the minds of the Japanese Government. Japan should have stopped their wartime crimes so that this incident would not have every happened.

... ever happen.