The Bombs of August, Howard Zinn, The
Progressive
- ‘It had to be done,’ Roomford told Billy, speaking of the
destruction of Dresden.
‘I know,’ said Billy.
‘That’s war.’
-Slaughterhouse 5, Kurt Vonnegut
Thus is the myth we are taught to believe, says Howard Zinn in the
latest issue of The Progressive. Zinn, a regular
columnist and author of the classic A People’s History of the
United States, exposes how American leaders and historians
frame such tragedies as Hiroshima, Dresden, and Iraq in ways to
make the mass death and destruction appear both necessary and good
to the American people. ‘It is absolutely essential for our
political leaders to defend the bombing,’ Zinn writes, ‘because if
Americans can be induced to accept that, then they can accept any
war, any means, so long as the warmakers can supply a reason.’
— Amanda LukerGo there>>