Left Seater wrote:LTS TRN 2 wrote:Curtis LeMay (later immortalized on screen by Sterling Hayden in Dr. Strangelove) insisted that the nuke strikes were not particularly significant compared to the daily "normal" firebombings of civilian populations, etc.
Of course LeMay was going to say that. He wanted as much credit for himself as he could. While he had "control" on paper of the entire Pacific, Tibets and the 509th Composite Group didn't answer to LeMay at all. LeMay did wonderful things but was completely out of the loop on the Atomic Bomb.
LeMay was also correct on the overall distruction caused by a night of "normal" firebombing and a single atomic bomb. The thing he didn't point out was a "normal" fireboming mission ranged from 400 to over 1000 bombers per attack. The same destruction was accomplished with one bomber and 4 support planes.
But lets get back to your plan for eliminating all the world's militaries?
No one's suggesting eliminating all of the military here or in other countries. Rather, we simply must rein in the obscene spending on the military--which is directly a result of our post-imperialist profile which we're insisting on maintaining despite the obvious fact of its being extremely obsolete. If you honestly believe that the U.S. is in any way whatsoever threatened with some sort of invasion, you really need to broaden your perspective--i.e., get a fucking clue!
LeMay was surely one of the most demented and utterly insane military leaders in any nation, any century. For example, upon assuming command of the Strategic Air Command in 1949, LeMay's first war plan proposed delivering "the entire stockpile of atomic bombs in a single massive attack" -- dropping 133 atomic bombs on 70 Soviet Union cities within 30 days. By the end of his term, the SAC was on constant alert and ready to execute an all-out atomic attack at a moments notice. LeMay remained SAC commander until June 1957.
As a member of the Joint Chiefs during the Cuban Missile Crisis, LeMay recommended that President John F. Kennedy send the navy and SAC to surround Cuba and if need be, "fry it." When the crisis ended peacefully, LeMay called it "the greatest defeat in our history."
And here's from JFK himself following the Bay of Pigs fiasco: "Looking back on that whole Cuban mess, one of the things that appalled me most was the lack of broad judgment by some of the heads of the military services. When you think of the long competitive selection process that they have to weather to end up the number one man of their particular service, it is certainly not unreasonable to expect that they would also be bright, with good broad judgment. For years I've been looking at those rows of ribbons and those four stars, and conceding a certain higher qualification not obtained in civilian life. Well, if LeMay and Powers (another loon Cold Warrior general) are the best the services can produce, a lot more attention is going to be given their advice in the future before any action is taken as a result of it."
And make no mistake, LeMay was in on the assassination, etc., all the way.
And make no mistake, the current leader of the GOP, a certain fat blaring slob, Rusp Limpdick, does indeed have a picture of LeMay on the wall of his mind, as it were.
