BOMBS AWAY!!
Technological advances have been made over the course of time. Telephones, computers, televisions and radio are a few examples of what we have accomplished. But we have invented alot of bad and evil inventions over this period. Bombs were created to take a large portion of a country or an enemy "off the gridlock."
Precision bombing became a tool for the ultimate weapon. But this tactic wasn't perfected for a long time. They started by flying over seven miles, but it was a poor target for bombing populated areas. Flying of the planes were incorrect and it even cost many lives.
"One memorable ironic action occured on May 10, 1940, when a Luftwaffe squadron, setting out to bomb Dijon, by some error dropped its load on its own civilians in Freiburg-im-Breisqua killing fifty seven of them. (Faswell, Wartime, page 14)
Propagandists had a different theory. They believed that it was not an accident. Bombers could precisely hit wherever they aimed at. Weather, wind and other natural cause could not alter the position of the bomb. So was this a plot to raise morale for ones country?
Like many people say, "Countries come together in a time of crisis." During 9/11, Americans were in disbelief about what was happening. But the day after, there were flags on everyones house. If we could use these bombs in our advantage, the Americans would waste no time. And thats exactly what we did.
Precision bombing became a tool for the ultimate weapon. But this tactic wasn't perfected for a long time. They started by flying over seven miles, but it was a poor target for bombing populated areas. Flying of the planes were incorrect and it even cost many lives.
"One memorable ironic action occured on May 10, 1940, when a Luftwaffe squadron, setting out to bomb Dijon, by some error dropped its load on its own civilians in Freiburg-im-Breisqua killing fifty seven of them. (Faswell, Wartime, page 14)
Propagandists had a different theory. They believed that it was not an accident. Bombers could precisely hit wherever they aimed at. Weather, wind and other natural cause could not alter the position of the bomb. So was this a plot to raise morale for ones country?
Like many people say, "Countries come together in a time of crisis." During 9/11, Americans were in disbelief about what was happening. But the day after, there were flags on everyones house. If we could use these bombs in our advantage, the Americans would waste no time. And thats exactly what we did.
posted by N. Interligi at 11:04 AM
1 Comments:
Why is it so important that the public has the impression that bombing is precise and accurate? What is the danger of knowing the actual error rate in a bombing war? What could that do to morale and the support for war in a democracy?
Fussell's point is that accidents and chaos are a normal expected part of war.
Human error will never be completely eliminated from war no matter how sophisticated our technologically precise systems of command and control have become. What does that mean for govenments in wartime? Can you tell the public about all the normal screw-ups of war with seriously damaging the popularity of war? What's left? Censorship?
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