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<blockquote data-quote="C-Note" data-source="post: 1489926" data-attributes="member: 9873">I think I may have shared this story in this forum before.&nbsp; About 20 years ago I was sitting in a Japanese-style bar with my future wife in East Tokyo, which is still a working-class neighborhood and which had taken considerable damage in the firebombings.&nbsp; The nearby <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sens%C5%8D-ji" target="_blank">Sensō-ji temple</a>, for example, had been completely destroyed.Sitting at the large table with us was an older man who I noticed was missing a few fingers on both his hands.&nbsp; He started talking to me as my wife translated.&nbsp; He said that his mother and sister had died in the March 1945 firebombing of Tokyo, and he had lost several fingers while trying to escape the firestorm.&nbsp; He added that he wasn't angry about what had happened, because almost immediately after the war ended, American servicemen who were part of the occupation forces came into East Tokyo and helped the residents rebuild their houses.&nbsp; He said that several American troops helped him set up a small park near where his family members had died.&nbsp; Needless to say, it was an intensely emotional conversation, at least for me.&nbsp; The other Japanese at the table listened impassively, without adding any comment, which isn't unusual for that type of situation in Japan in my experience.Based on that and other conversations I've had with Japanese about the war, their feelings on the bombing run the gamut from primarily blaming their own government for what happened, all the way to believing that the US lost the moral high ground when it employed the atomic bombs.&nbsp; My own opinions have varied a little over time.&nbsp; One thing I learned from studying history is there are no rules for warfare.&nbsp; There are very few periods in world history when warring tribes have instituted and actually followed &quot;rules&quot; about warfare.&nbsp; That being said, we Christians do want to believe that there is an underlying morality that should govern human interaction, including in warfare.&nbsp; Area bombing is one aspect of war that is morally contentious.Roosevelt, in his &quot;Infamy&quot; speech the day after Pearl Harbor invoked God as being on the side of the US when he stated that the country in its &quot;righteous might&quot; (full quote, &quot;the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory&quot;).&nbsp; This gives a veneer of moral rectitude to the pursuit of total victory over Japan using whatever means available.&nbsp; So, can you try to impose current morality on events then?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="C-Note, post: 1489926, member: 9873"] I think I may have shared this story in this forum before. About 20 years ago I was sitting in a Japanese-style bar with my future wife in East Tokyo, which is still a working-class neighborhood and which had taken considerable damage in the firebombings. The nearby [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sens%C5%8D-ji']Sensō-ji temple[/URL], for example, had been completely destroyed. Sitting at the large table with us was an older man who I noticed was missing a few fingers on both his hands. He started talking to me as my wife translated. He said that his mother and sister had died in the March 1945 firebombing of Tokyo, and he had lost several fingers while trying to escape the firestorm. He added that he wasn't angry about what had happened, because almost immediately after the war ended, American servicemen who were part of the occupation forces came into East Tokyo and helped the residents rebuild their houses. He said that several American troops helped him set up a small park near where his family members had died. Needless to say, it was an intensely emotional conversation, at least for me. The other Japanese at the table listened impassively, without adding any comment, which isn't unusual for that type of situation in Japan in my experience. Based on that and other conversations I've had with Japanese about the war, their feelings on the bombing run the gamut from primarily blaming their own government for what happened, all the way to believing that the US lost the moral high ground when it employed the atomic bombs. My own opinions have varied a little over time. One thing I learned from studying history is there are no rules for warfare. There are very few periods in world history when warring tribes have instituted and actually followed "rules" about warfare. That being said, we Christians do want to believe that there is an underlying morality that should govern human interaction, including in warfare. Area bombing is one aspect of war that is morally contentious. Roosevelt, in his "Infamy" speech the day after Pearl Harbor invoked God as being on the side of the US when he stated that the country in its "righteous might" (full quote, "the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory"). This gives a veneer of moral rectitude to the pursuit of total victory over Japan using whatever means available. So, can you try to impose current morality on events then? [/QUOTE]

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