Today, Harlan Ullman, co-author of the Cheney-era doctrine of “shock and awe” terror bombing deployed to destroy the nation of Iraq, published a horrifying op-ed in The Hill, a daily distributed in print for free around the Washington, D.C., area and distributed to all congressional offices, under the headline “Strategic Bombing Worked Only Once.” That once was the United States dropping of nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
First, let Ullman’s argument sink in. Then, consider what interests he speaks for. He writes:
“President Trump has called for Iran’s ‘unconditional surrender’ in the war. He has demanded that he choose the next leader. And Trump has told Iran’s military and security structure to ‘lay down their arms,’ or be killed. The missile and bombing campaign, undertaken in concert with Israel, is meant to compel the Iranian leadership to capitulate. This is known as ‘strategic bombing.’ And only once in history has strategic bombing forced surrender.”
That was against Japan, which unlike Germany, “refused to surrender…. Given Japan’s suicidal resistance … [President Harry] … Truman had no choice. He authorized the dropping of the first atomic bomb.
“Hiroshima and 70,000 Japanese were eviscerated. Still, Japan refused to surrender. A second bomb destroyed Nagasaki. After the emperor broke the tie in the war council, Japan surrendered unconditionally.
“Why? Japan’s leaders could tolerate thousands of plane raids killing hundreds of thousands in its cities. But one plane, one bomb, one city gone was inconceivable. That was pure shock
