Drones and President Obama, the A-Bomb and President Truman

(PORTLAND, OR) - I am very troubled by the current debate about the military use of drones and the "collateral damage" which is a polite way of saying that the civilians including children are being "taken out" when we bomb enemy leaders and their bodyguards.

"War is hell" was presumably uttered by William William T. Sherman as his infantry marched to the sea and destroyed everything in their way. The infantry lost 300,000 killed on both sides and you can bet that the infantrymen were in full agreement with the general. In my war, World War Two, we lost 300,000 infantry killed and I was one of the lucky ones, now here writing this article. Most of the German cities were about 50% destroyed and downtown Berlin was 95% destroyed. I will estimate German civilian deaths at one million --- "collateral damage". Military deaths in Germany were about five million. The damage was done mostly by airplane bombers, by about 5,000 or so bombardiers. I don't know how many of these guys saw themselves as mass killers, because very few saw the results of their destruction and killing. Airmen who had to bail out and were prisoners were hated beyond reason by German civilians and had to be protected by the German military.

An interesting sidelight to all this was Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the A-bomb plane Enola Gay. He did feel a sense of responsibility for the destruction of Hiroshima and maybe as many as 160,000 dead. In an interview in 1975, long after the war, he said, "I'm proud to be able to start with nothing and have it work perfectly. I sleep clearly every night". In 2005, he stated, "Given the same circumstances, I'd do it all again". As an infantryman, I would ask him, "If somebody hands you a sub-machine gun and told you --- go kill the first 20 people you see," I think one would get a different comment.

I was in one of the first infantry divisions scheduled to go to Japan. We had experienced three months of war and had lost more than 10% of our infantry. We knew we weren't going home because the Japanese were going to have kamikaze's sink the troop transports before we got to the beach. I thank President Truman for saving my life.

One drone plane is probably the equivalent of 20,000 troops. The enemy knows he can not hide anyplace.

Now, getting to President Obama, he did not have the say so about the use of drones. His military advisers gave him the alternative --- drones will save thousands of infantry lives. I would say to those who complain about the use of the drones, make sure your son, daughter, nephew or niece join the infantry. Anyone in the infantry will tell you, if you think drones will save my life or those in my outfit I'm all for it. Nobody in the infantry wants to be killed if he or she has another option. War IS hell and nobody knows it better than a front line soldier. At the same time we DO have sympathy for the civilians. Bullets or bombs have no conscience nor sympathy.

The army has two rules. Rule one, young men die (and old men/officers have no control over rule #1)

More information on the history of Dr. Leveque can be found in his book, General Patton's Dogface Soldier of WWII about his own experiences "from a foxhole".
Order the book by mail by following this link: Dogface Soldier

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Anonymous April 27, 2013 9:51 am (Pacific time)

Actually for those who were in Iraq when Saddam was doing his tyrant thing with his two sons, playing tribes off each other and killing thousands of Kurds using WMD/poison gas, killing others for sport, and see how things are going now, well then you would see the real propaganda comes from people like Anonymous @8:33p.m. . Of course it's easy to say what you may have observed in a brief time frame if you went there, it is another thing to compare and contrast the before/after. Certainly correct about China getting their sticky fingers into the oil, so as far as Imperial wars of conquest, seems that's also incorrect. For you who think you know something about America's history, then you would quickly see that we are a country that helps, not otherwise. It is only when liberals get into power that we have problems, and that is irrefutable. But then I say let's pull all our military back, and simply isolate ourselves...then when those global disasters which happen on an almost daily level, let's let some other country use their resources to help. Who do you think will replace us? Cuba? Venezuela? Chad? Italy? The Amish? Yeah we Americans are real heartless bastards. Like the saying goes: Love it or leave it!

Anonymous April 26, 2013 8:53 pm (Pacific time)

one last thing Nory...WW2 was also set up by the bankers..They financed both sides..One side wins, the bankers get interst on the loans, the other side loses the bankers go buy up all their resources at pennies on the dollar...They set up hitler, and during that time made deals for khazars to take palestianian land, to use israel as a hub to take over the middle east..Then they used religious leaders to say "god gave this land" etc.. All planned and set up..ALL WARS, since the beginning of humanity have ben banker wars, for total world domination. The American civil war was also set up, it had very little or nothing to do with slavery, just as Iraq did not have WMD's...nothing new under the sun, this has been going on for centuries.. Sorry salem-news, I know I posted three times tonite, but anyway..lotsa work this weekend, I wont post anymore..see ya next week. Your articles lately have been quite awesome..Tim writes some good stuff, and that other guy/author you have, who has no credentials is way cool.. cant remember his name right now..but gotta luv him man.

Anonymous April 26, 2013 8:42 pm (Pacific time)

and..we dont have much in regards to troops anymore..most are too dumbed down and too fat..They are NATO now, using alCIAda, and whoever they can pay a few bucks to follow the rules..you will not see american troops in the U.S. you will see NATO troops, when the dollar collapses. Which it will. Our troops are burnt out, the U.S. has no more money, the U.S. cant manufacture anything etc. This was all planned, bring down the U.S., they can bring down the world. This is why the major gun grab, and the DHS buying up all the ammo, and obama stopping imports without congresional approval..Dont take my word for it, just watch and remember what I said. Time is the true truthteller. DONT take my word for it, always do your own research, but just watch, they already did a beta test martial law in Boston for one teenage guy, while ignoring the 600 murders in Chicago just this year of 2013. Look it up yourself.

Anonymous April 26, 2013 8:33 pm (Pacific time)

to anon at 5:02...there wewer no skools built and if there were, they would be nothing more than indoctrination centers for a world governemnt..And, Iraq is a total mess.. Between the war the west forced and financed for Iraq to fight the Iranians that lasted ten years, Iraq is nothing but a wasteland, and the fighting is more prominent than ever. Try meeting someone who lives there instead of reading your propaganda websites. Hundreds of thousands tortued and killed, millions displaced, if there is a school please show me, and, the west let China take over the oil fields so that China would hold on a bit longer to the petro dollar, before it collapses, and before the police state is completed in the U.S. Veterans committing suicide at 22 per month, more than die in battle, all for the bankers..Iraq was used, and abused by the bankers, wanting control over all resources and monetary control. My utmost apologies to veterans, I am also a veteran. But we faught wars controlled by evil, not our liberties and freedom..I am so sorry, I still cry about it, with real tears...I cant believe I did what I did..I just didnt know. But now I do, and I will speak out so that others do not follow the path I mistakenly took.

Anonymous April 26, 2013 5:02 pm (Pacific time)

El Nory, so if we are fighting wars of conquest, how come we are building schools and other infrastructure in places were none existed before? So how come the Iraqi's got all these oil fields developed by us, sell it to other countries and not remunerate us for our building expenses. Anyway, these wars of conquest simply are not happening, but I'm sure for bringing all our troops home and put them on our borders, and get ready to deal with the terrorists here.

Dr WWII Phil 'Doface' Leveque to Vic April 26, 2013 4:12 pm (Pacific time)

I wrote that airmen who had to bail out were protected by German military which you seem to disagree with. Over 300,000 German prisoners were brought to the United States. No military in the United States had to protect the German prisoners. Many, after they were released and sent to Germany, moved back to the United States! Over three million Americans were in Europe, not one of them wanted to be there bombing or shooting anyone. Thank you for your comment.

El Nory April 26, 2013 1:40 pm (Pacific time)

The American soldiers of today are fighting imperialistic wars of conquest. There is no honor in their mission, and there is no comparison to WWII. Drones are despicable, especially considering the wanton disregard for life exhibited by their operators.

Anonymous April 26, 2013 12:33 pm (Pacific time)

Vic you think those civilians in other countries that were bombed by Germany and Japan had a beef? How about those who dealt with Ghengis Khan. Of course we could all just submit and move to Mexico?

Vic April 26, 2013 7:49 am (Pacific time)

"Airmen who had to bail out and were prisoners were hated beyond reason by German civilians and had to be protected by the German military." Hated beyond reason ??? Just for dropping tons of high explosive on their cities....those damn Germans..so hot headed and unforgiving...Good Gawd....

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Drones and President Obama, the A-Bomb and President Truman

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