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February 14, 2005
It's all Command and Control Centers
Somethings never change, it seems. We never attack anything but command and control centers. This is how the BBC reported the firebombing of Dresden 60 years ago today:
British and US bombers have dropped hundreds of thousands of explosives on the German city of Dresden. The city is reported to be a vital command centre for the German defence against Soviet forces approaching from the east. Last night, 800 RAF Bomber Command planes let loose 650,000 incendiaries and 8,000-lbs high explosives and hundreds of 4,000-lbs bombs in two waves of attack. They faced very little anti-aircraft fire.As soon as one part of the city was alight, the bombers went for another until the whole of Dresden was ablaze.
Of course, in reality, that command and control center was bursting with civilians, including many refugees from other fronts -- somewhere between 25,000 to a 100,000 died through being suffocated or being burned alive.
Which reminds me of Truman's announcement of dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima:
The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians. But that attack is only a warning of things to come. If Japan does not surrender, bombs will have to be dropped on her war industries and, unfortunately, thousands of civilian lives will be lost.
Such brazen propaganda. We'd never fall for it now.
Posted by zeynep at February 14, 2005 04:07 PM
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Comments
Amiriyah air raid shelter? Command and control center. Serbian Television? Command and control center.
Posted by: Eli Stephens at February 15, 2005 10:38 AM