In today's political climate, there's a growing effort to denounce all military engagement with enemy combatants because of the inevitable death of children.
Should that be a pretext for not fighting back against a terrorist or an enemy nation that has violated your sovereignty and killed your civilians?
Consider General Curtis LeMay's controversial remarks on the subject:
General Curtis LeMay's most prominent and widely documented comment regarding civilian casualties—including women and children—was: "There are no innocent civilians. It is their government and you are fighting a people, you are not trying to fight an armed force anymore. So it doesn't bother me so much to be killing the so-called innocent bystanders." [1, 2]
This quote, along with several of his other historically significant (and highly controversial) remarks, outlines his approach to total war:
- Innocent Civilians: LeMay repeatedly argued during World War II and the Korean War that entire populations were deeply intertwined with their nations' military and war efforts. He made these points about populations in both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. [1, 2, 3]
- The Korean War Toll: In an interview regarding the massive destruction in Korea, LeMay notoriously defended his scorched-earth strategies. He recalled how his early proposals to use incendiaries were rejected for having "too many civilian casualties," but ultimately stated: "...we killed off – what – twenty percent of the population of Korea as direct casualties of war, or from starvation and exposure." [1]
- Prior to Tokyo: Before the devastating firebombing of Tokyo, which caused more than 100,000 casualties, he reportedly told his officers: “If we lose, we'll be tried as war criminals.” [1]
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