The Big Picture and the Closeup

The internal justification for area bombing either espoused a view that civilians were collateral damage to attacks on the industrial war machine or that in modern warfare, the civilian/combatant distinction was not viable or important. In some cases, bombing of civilians was, ironically, presented as humanitarian and in keeping with the larger goals of the law of war, in that collapse of the enemy could be precipitated faster, and at a lower cost in human life overall, if civilian morale could be broken from the skies.

It may have been lousy intelligence. It was effective public relations, however. In February 2003, 72 percent of Americans polled answered yes to the question: “Was Saddam Hussein personally involved in the September 11 attacks?” And this result was in line with poll after poll.

The Big Picture Home Page | Previous Big Picture Column |  Next Big Picture Column   War Powers Page | Previous War Powers Column | Next War Powers Column  War Powers, War Lies: A Series  Part 4: Willingly Deceived     Published in the Maryland Daily Record April 29, 2005             Last time, we considered the dishonesty of President Lyndon Johnson in […]