McNamara and the "Fog of War"

I do indeed think that firebombing and nuclear bombing was just a bit too much. War is a terrible thing, a lot of people die; but no war is an excuse for genocide and extermination. Because from where I stand, burning over half of the population of every major city in Japan comes pretty close to those two terms. So yes, proportionality should be a guideline of war. I think this lesson was followed in WW II but with enormous amount of exceptions, like bombings in Japan and Holocaust. It is a lot easier to say now if someone should or should not be prosecuted for a war crimes committed during a war that was over half a century ago. That primarily depends on who wins the war, because not only the victorious side will get into the history books, it will most likely get to write history books; with its own version of what happened during the war. If the Germans and Japanese would have won the war, I have no doubt McNamara, LeMay, and many other people would have been prosecuted much like Axis officers at Nuremberg. I also think the war in Iraq cannot be compared to WW II, because this is a different kind of war, a guerrilla war. However I do not think we are making the same mistakes as in Japan, but I also do not know all the details of the war that is going on so it very possible I’m wrong.

Interview with Ishmael Beah

I thought that this interview with Ishmael Beah was quite remarkable. Ishmael seemed so happy, which after reading the book seemed so impossible. Also he is able to talk freely and rationally about all the things he went through, I don’t think an average person would be able to do that. I know I wouldn’t be able to talk about it if it was me who went through a civil war in Sierra Leone. Ishmael does mention a few lines from his book “A long gay gone”, particularly the scene where mothers are running with dead babies on their backs and fathers carrying dead children. In general, I did like the book and would recommend this book to almost every person I know. However there is one “but”: I think that because of the graphic nature of the book people under the age of sixteen should not read it. I say this not because all the graphic descriptions could harm a young person’s mind, but because generally this book will not mean much to younger people. I believe that one must have a somewhat developed mind in order to comprehend what this book really means. All the graphic descriptions will seem to be just some words on the piece paper; I do not think they would be able to visualize all the horrors of this war and fully understand what the words mean.