The old way worked better.

I am a big fan of the late General Curtis LeMay. I have mentioned him and his colorful ways in many of my articles. The four-star general always seemed to be in the right place at the right time: He was a commander in the Eighth Air Force in England, Commanding General of the XXI Bomber Command fighting Japan, head of US Air Forces in Europe during the Berlin Air Lift, first leader of Strategic Air Command, and Chief of Staff of the Air Force until 1965. If there was any deceased fighting man I could have come back for a quick 15 minute conversation, it would be General May. I would like to ask him about today’s smart munitions versus the saturation bombing of his day.

One day, General LeMay confided in his adjutant that should Japan win the war, he would be a war criminal. He had used incendiaries to destroy 60 Japanese cities, including large chunks of Tokyo. More people died from his fire bombing of the Japanese capital than did during either of the nuclear detonations. His pilots described flying over the burning city, in which massive winds would push up their B-29s thousands of feet, as if they were toys. In a vein similar to LeMay’s comments, Admiral Karl Doenitz asked Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz if the US had employed unrestricted warfare against Japanese shipping. The American’s positive reply kept the head of the German Navy (and briefly final Fuhrer) from the gallows. He received a prison sentence and lived out his life in West Germany until he died in 1980.

When the Nuremberg Trials took place after World War II, they were in a way revolutionary. In the past, war criminals were tried and prosecuted in the countries in which their offenses had occurred. With the trial of some of the top Nazi officials, an “international law” was created. Several of the men on trial noted that there was no such thing as international law and no basis........

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