Aerial warfare is a formidable tool that has evolved significantly since its inception almost a century ago. It provides a layer of detachment from the battlefield that ground warfare can’t match, reinforcing the impersonal nature of war. As poet Thomas Merton once noted in a verse, this type of remote warfare can lead to a sense of moral superiority, even though one’s actions may result in the death of both foes and allies.
The efficacy of aerial warfare during the Second World War was considered a turning point. Estimates suggest that between 300,000 to 600,000 German civilians and over 200,000 Japanese citizens lost their lives to aerial bombings by the Allies. These bombing raids generally targeted civilians, the dark side of the supposed strategic brilliance of such operations.
Historical narratives haven’t always accurately depicted the intent behind these operations. Governmental entities, specifically those of Britain and the United States, have been known to contort these narratives, refusing to admit that civilian populations were intentional targets. Instead, they crafted justifications suggesting their bombing runs were focused on strategic, non-civilian targets.
However, historical actions can sometimes be evoked to excuse contemporary acts of violence, as an October 2023 report by The New York Times highlighted. This report indicated that, in private conversations with American officials, Israeli representatives drew parallels between the allied bombing during World War II and their approach to the war in Gaza.
Statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to President Joe Biden seemed to reflect this perspective. He dismissed the severity of the civilian causalities during the Gaza conflict, likening them to the civilians casualties in Germany and Japan during the Second World War. Israel’s approach, he seemed to suggest, was not different from historical instances of war.
Supporters of Israeli action have adopted a similar outlook. For instance, Mike Huckabee, the American ambassador to Israel, dismissively responded to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s criticism of the escalated conflict in Gaza. Disputing such views seems commonplace among those seeking to justify these violent acts.
Dire consequences of these military actions are seen in the form of civilian casualties. The United Nations reported that about 70% of the confirmed Palestinian casualties in Gaza were women and children. The continued violence towards civilians is largely being executed by the Israeli Air Force, a unit highly equipped with aircrafts and weapons from the United States.
Seven months into the conflict, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin invoked the historical precedent of nuclear bombings in Japan to rationalize his threats of nuclear aggression. This alarmingly highlights how past acts of violence can be employed to justify actions in the present.
The underreporting of civilian casualties is not restricted to the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Anand Gopal, a journalist and author of ‘No Good Men Among the Living’, spent considerable time in Afghanistan following the US invasion. His experiences in the rural areas of the country shed light on the massive underreporting of civilian casualties.
While a majority of the US media was debating the timely withdrawal of American troops and problems with operational execution, Gopal delivered a sobering analysis. The US war efforts in Afghanistan did involve large-scale aerial warfare that led to excessive civilian casualties. These deaths, Gopal argues, have been considerably underreported.
This pattern of undercounting was evident in a UN study that compared casualties caused by the Afghan and US forces to those caused by insurgents in the first half of 2019. The BBC distilled the findings saying that 717 civilian deaths were attributable to Afghan and US forces, while militants caused 531. The air strikes, mainly conducted by US forces, killed 363 people in the first six months, including 89 children.
These statistics were brought to life during my visit to the Helmand Refugee Camp on Kabul’s outskirts, where I met a seven-year-old girl named Guljumma. A bombing raid in the Helmand Valley by the US Air Force had killed members of her family and resulted in the amputation of her arm, a painful reminder of the human cost of these acts of war.
In the past four years, both the Biden and Trump administrations have deployed air strikes in various regions such as Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, and Iran. These initiatives, while less direct, have had grave consequences. The increased military aid to Israel by the US, in particular, has facilitated escalating violence against civilians in Palestine.
The Palestinian predicament reflects the horrors of the past in a way that might make tyrants of the bygone era proud. The destructive scenes in Gaza remind us of the horrific bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, both serving as chilling examples of wholesale devastation.
However, Gaza’s suffering far surpasses the scale of devastation in Guernica. The onslaught is relentless, the violence unceasing, creating a cycle of pain and horror. As the international community watches bystanders, the atrocities in Gaza continue to unfold, providing a grim testament to the horrors of war.
The post Aerial Warfare: The Horrifying Echoes of History appeared first on Real News Now.
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