Bush: U.S. Should've Acted on Auschwitz

Bush: U.S. Should've Acted on Auschwitz
Associated Press | January 12, 2008

JERUSALEM - A teary-eyed President Bush stopped in front of an aerial photo of Auschwitz on Friday at Israel's Holocaust memorial and said the U.S. should have sent bombers to prevent the extermination of Jews there.

Yad Vashem's chairman, Avner Shalev, quoted Bush as saying the U.S. should have "bombed it." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Bush referred to the train tracks leading to Auschwitz, not the camp itself, where between 1.1 million and 1.5 million people were killed by Nazi Germany.

The issue of bombing the Nazi death camps or the rail lines leading to them has been debated for years - and the lack of action was interpreted by some as a sign of Allied indifference.

The Allies had detailed reports about Auschwitz toward the end of World War II from escaped prisoners. But they chose not to bomb the camp, the rail lines, or any of the other Nazi death camps, preferring instead to focus all resources on the broader military effort.

Some experts note only late in the war did the United States have the capability to bomb the infamous camp in occupied Poland, and also faced a moral dilemma since such an operation could kill thousands of prisoners. Even Jewish leaders at the time struggled with the issue and many concluded that loss of innocent lives under such circumstances was justifiable. The Allies had detailed reports about Auschwitz toward the end of World War II from escaped prisoners. But they chose not to bomb the camp, the rail lines, or any of the other Nazi death camps, preferring instead to focus all resources on the broader military effort.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,159857,00.html?wh=wh

With finite resources (planes and fuel) and American GIs dying every day by the 100's, Eisenhower should have taken a "special time out" to bomb a non-combat/non-strategic site. If the Jews had defended themselves, even by just running and making the Nazis expend a bullet, the internal struggle would have shortened the war. Fuck Isreal, this pisses me off.

I'll say it again :wtf:

Your compassion is unnerving.

How about going to the root of the problem?

How about this country via its civilian government saving the Jews before they first became refugees and later prisoners in concentration camps? Many families applied for visas and were refused. Even if this country could not absorb them due to the Depression, the White House did not attempt to coordinate with other countries to take those who were fleeing Hitler.

And why wasn't this done? The above-mentioned Depression for one. The other unmentioned issue was there was more antisemitism in this country during the 30s and 40s. Jews, even if they were fleeing for their lives, were not welcomed in this country. Public figures such as Father Charles Coughlin more or less repeated what was being said in homes and government during his weekly radio broadcasts. Even the hapless refugees/passengers on the U.S.S. St. Louis from Hamburg had to return to Germany rather than be admitted to this country.

To *, better to bomb and "save" the camp internees rather than prevent them from being arrested and sent there in the first place.

I wonder how long till the decider decides we need to be bombed also? I guess it's true, if you're a hammer, everything else becomes a nail.

I guess Auschwitz was no longer important to Bushco, after GW's grandfather was convicted of dealing with the enemy in '42.