"Proportionality should be a guideline in a war." Robert McNamara with his experience as a sufferer as well as a victim mentions the above quote as one of the lesson, when he served as the United States Secretary of Defence during the World War II.
In the documentary, "The Fog of War", this lesson is represented as a really strong point. The statistical data shown with the graphics makes a clear comparison between the size of Japanese and the American cities. Robert I believe felt guilty for not considering proportionality as an aspect in the war. One can see that Robert was still grieving over the fact that the bombing destructed over 60 to 70% of Japanese cities. They never considered the effects of that kind of 'horrible' fire bombing. Killing thousands and thousands of innocent people just for the sake of winning a war was ofcourse not among one of the objectives of that war. So people thought it was not proportional as well. But when the war like World War II is just around you, you may not have that much time to think what is proportional and what is not. While on the other side being on the position of US Secretary of Defence you carry the responsibility for everything, which includes well-being of people.
LeMay, who was a colonel in a B-24 squadron in the Second World War, said that if they lost the war they would be prosecuted as war criminals. I think he was right, because people tend to think against the leaders when something like World War II went on for such a long time. In my opinion they should not be prosecuted as War Criminals. They even knew how hazardous nuclear weapons where, but they had no other option. Moreover, losing or winning a war has nothing to do with morals, thats what I think.
At the end I would give a diplomatic answer saying that proportionality should be guideline when you plan a war, but one may not think about it when war is at the door since a long time!
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1 comment:
I totally agree with you on this one! I have to say that I am not sure what the correct answer is to this question. At times I feel that it should be, and others that it shouldn't. The main question I guess is when is right and when is wrong?
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