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Anonymous...their lives are worth less than a US serviceman's life. While the deaths of those 700K people was gruesome, it was better than the deaths of several hundred thousand US military men and women.
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This probably appeals to those who also call themselves God fearing Christians. From a tactical perspective of the U.S., of course this was necessary move. But implicit in such action is a belief that a human life within one man made border is worth more than another. This notion is root of this thread, Hiroshima/Nagasaki, and almost every historic atrocity.
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Well I believe that my statement didn't include any reference to God nor Christians. And you took part of a sentence to quote - the entire sentence was "To the US government their lives are worth less......".
I made no assertion as to whose lives are worth more. My statement is that the US government's primary responsibility in the time of war is to look out for the safety/security of the people of the United States first and foremost. Unfortunately in a time of war this includes killing those that are aligned against the United States.
And I would actually say that the simple thirst for power and conquest is the root of most of the atrocities throughout history. Of the recent atrocities in the 20th century most of them consisted of killings within one's own borders - ie Stalin's purges; Cambodia, China, Rwanda, and even Hitler's attempted extermination of the Jews (although he did it across borders, he started in Germany).