“My conception was at that time, if this thing is successful, we will bring this war to a close. I just couldn’t see how any nation could stand up to the power of the atom as portrayed to me at that particular time. I think in the intervening years, that I have arrived at the same conclusion because by ending the war, we would save lives. That was my idea. Save lives, not destroy them. And over the years, I have gotten numerous letters from foreign nationals, as well as Americans, who had been ready to make an invasion with the same basic statement: what you did probably saved my life.” — Major General Paul Tibbets
“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who prepared the attack against America, but viewed it as a potential disaster.” — Yamamoto, who studied at Harvard and lived in the US, knew the immense industrial power and character of America and felt that a surprise attack that enraged the public would lead to Japan’s defeat.
:Israel has done more to prevent civilian casualties in war than any military in history… [they are] the gold standard.” — John Spencer, Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point.
“It is not the Israeli Defense Force’s strategy to kill [innocent people].”
Admiral Yamamoto expressed a sense of dishonor regarding the surprise nature of the Pearl Harbor attack in a letter to the editor of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper about a month after it took place: “A military man can scarcely pride himself on having ‘smitten a sleeping enemy’; it is more a matter of shame, simply, for the one smitten.”
Historians will continue to argue whether it was necessary to drop the bombs on Japan to end the war. There were plenty of scientists and government officials, including Dwight Eisenhower, who disagreed with the military actions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A number of analysts believe that Japan was ready to surrender and the bombs would only kill civilian noncombatants.
After WWII, civilian casualties have been looked upon as violations of international humanitarian law, a byproduct of fighting in densely populated areas, and “collateral damage” as defined by military officials, while causing significant international concern and debate over proportionality. The United Nations and human rights organizations are always raising concerns over civilian deaths.
During the American Civil War, William Tecumseh Sherman slaughtered over 80,000 noncombatants, elderly men, and women with children, both black and white. Sherman’s “March to the Sea” (1864) was authorized by Union General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant, with the knowledge and backing of President Abraham Lincoln. Complete destruction was the goal. War crimes were never filed.
The March to the Sea and the campaign in the Carolinas targeted civilian morale and economic resources which some argued crossed into terrorism. Despite the fact there was no mass rape, there were 80,000 poor and bereaved who were unnecessarily slaughtered. It wasn’t just terrorism, it was genocide.
The Atomic Bombs
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were chosen for the atomic bombings in August of 1945 because they were large, strategically important urban areas with significant military and industrial facilities that had not been heavily damaged by previous, conventional firebombing. The bombs would kill noncombatants.
Colonel Tibbets was the pilot of the Enola Gay, named after his mother, who dropped the atomic bomb, “Little Boy” on Hiroshima. I was fortunate to speak with him twice, once in person and later via email. In the 1970s, I was working part time evenings in a Holiday Inn in Dayton, Ohio after working my full-time day job. Major General Tibbets was in Dayton to give a speech. Before his contact arrived, I served him a beer and we had time to chat. Awe struck at this famous WWII pilot; I couldn’t help but thank him for his service and then ask him questions. He was more than willing to speak to me.
We discussed the atomic bombs which resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 246,000 total deaths by the end of that year, with most victims being civilians. What the General told me boiled down to one salient point. He explained that the civilians of Japan supported the war and were helping their nation and the soldiers. Women and school-aged children were drafted into factories, producing weapons, ammunition, aircraft parts, and uniforms. Noncombatants were engaged in the production of poisonous gases, including mustard, suffocating, and tear gas. Like America, they had scrap drives and gardens. They were not all innocent bystanders.irHi
Forty-four years later, in 1989, the General was interviewed on his reflections of Hiroshima by Voices of the Manhattan Project. The riveting interview may be viewed here.
Colonel Tibbets consistently defended the atomic bombings as a necessary act to end WWII and save lives, stating he never lost sleep or felt regret over the decision. He viewed it strictly as a military mission to avoid a ground invasion of Japan, often citing a lack of hesitation. He said, “My personal feeling is that more people, more lives were saved as a direct result of using the atomic bomb, than if he had to continue the war for another six months.”
At home, Americans were still horrified by the Battle of Iwo Jima. Marines had invaded in February of 1945 and the fighting lasted through March. The atrocities on that volcanic island still weighed heavily in the hearts and minds of Americans when the atomic bombs were dropped in August of 1945.
A few years before he died, I emailed General Tibbets and he was still a staunch supporter of what was done to stop the war and save lives. What a pleasure to have spoken to that brave soldier.
The American War Effort
American civilians played a massive role in the World War II effort by mobilizing the home front through intensive production, conservation, and financial support. Remember Rosie the Riveter? Six million women entered the American workforce. Norman Rockwell’s famous “Rosie” was on the cover of the May, 1943 Saturday Evening Post.
Americans suffered shortages and rationing, some of it caused by “Soviet agent” Harry Hopkins who was in charge of the Lend-Lease program. FDR sold the Act to the American public as aid to Great Britain, but in reality Lend Lease aid to the Soviet Union was a priority that superseded all other allies’ military needs, including our own.
“American aid to the Soviet Union included weapons, ammunition, tanks, oil, fighter aircraft, trucks and jeeps, and materials for the making of the atomic bomb including uranium. (Sound familiar?) In addition, lavish personal items and great quantities of food, including 200 million pounds of butter, were sent while at the same time America had strict rationing of goods. Our patents, including military blueprints also reached the Soviets in the hundreds of thousands. It was indiscriminate aid to the Soviet Union.” (American Betrayal Chapter 2, author Diana West)
Americans grew their own vegetables in “victory gardens” to reduce the demand so food could be shipped to soldiers. There were scrap drives so that everything available could be used for the war effort, military equipment, hardware, or weapon systems. Citizens purchased bonds to help with funds for the war.
My grandparents had a dairy farm and momma told me how they made butter to sell. Grandma remembered when Clark Gable’s beloved wife Carol Lombard died in a plane crash returning from a war bond tour. Mom’s two brothers were both in the European Theatre.
Israel – October 7, 2023
Palestinian terrorists breached the border through 119 holes they created in the fence separating Israel from the Strip and 7,000 Gazans took part in the brutal attacks on Israel’s people. Some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were murdered, thousands more wounded and 253 kidnapped to Gaza during the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in southern Israel. During the assault, the terrorists committed acts of mass rape, necrophilia, beheadings, torture, mutilation, desecration of corpses and other atrocities. They videoed many of their genocidal acts.
A legal analysis published online by Cambridge University Press on August 8, 2025 proved Hamas October 7th genocide. The abstract states, “This article analyses the October 7th 2023 Hamas attack on Israel through the lens of the Genocide Convention, arguing that these actions constitute genocide under international law. Drawing on international case law, the analysis demonstrates how Hamas’ actions meet both the physical element and specific intent requirements for genocide, evidenced by its ideology, systematic policies and leadership statements.”
Five months into Israel’s war with Hamas, nearly three-quarters of Palestinians in Gaza, Judea and Samaria supported the Oct. 7 attack. A whopping 93% percent of Palestinians believe that Hamas did not commit atrocities during its mass invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, and 72% supported the attack, according to polling conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR). Despite seeing the videos, they still denied the savagery.
December of 2024 – a survey found that two-thirds of Palestinians wanted Hamas in the new government. Marwan Barghouti, a convicted terrorist murderer, received the most support of all possible candidates for Palestinian Authority leader.
October 2025 – over half of Palestinians still said Hamas was right to launch the Oct. 7 massacre, the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.
Nearly 75% of Palestinians supported what Hamas did on Oct. 7th, 2023, and went with them to torture and degrade. Yet, Israel is restricted and the world demands they don’t harm Gaza citizens, when those citizens are culpable for the evil that took place that day. We will never forget those beautiful Bibas babies and their mother being slain by Gazan savages.
It was reported in March of 2024 almost half of U.S. Muslim adults (49%) say that Hamas had “valid” reasons to fight Israel, and 21% of that demographic said that Hamas’s terror attack on Oct. 7 was either “completely acceptable” (10%) or “somewhat acceptable” (11%).
An overwhelming majority (89%) of American Jews said that Israel was justified in going to war against Hamas, compared to 18% of U.S. Muslims. While 49% of Muslim Americans said that Hamas has valid reasons to attack Israel.
And what do you get when you massacre 1200 people and torture every person in sight? International diplomatic recognition. Daniel Greenfield’s article, Rewarding the Oct. 7 massacres with a ‘Palestinian’ state clarified the world’s response to the violent actions of Hamas and the Palestinians. Greenfield wrote, “U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reportedly begun conducting a review of options for recognizing a “Palestinian” state after the war. The U.S. State Department has claimed that there are no policy changes, but that may be yet more diplomatic doubletalk.”
The Oct. 7 massacre was the worst pogrom perpetrated against Jews since the Shoah, but the young Palestinians prefer to call it a “resistance operation.” They aim to “honor the fighters,” terrorists who kidnapped, murdered, mutilated, raped and even filmed the terror in some cases. Babies were torn from their mother’s arms and put in hot ovens while the father was slain and the mother was raped. Many of the women were so brutalized by rape that their pelvises were broken.
Remember the Gaza youngster who called his mother and excitedly told her he had killed 10 Jews that day? The people of Gaza were intimately involved in the October 7th genocide.
General Tibbets was right. The world is wrong.
Israel Defense Force
The October 7 attack triggered an Israeli ground invasion combined with an aerial bombing campaign. The IDF never intentionally target civilians. The restraint of the world’s most moral army is beyond incredible. They have never had a strategy to kill innocent people. The IDF operates to “mitigate civilian harm” while terrorists hide within civilian areas. This includes Israel’s use of “advanced technology to increase the accuracy of their munitions.” It is why John Spencer has called the IDF’s measures the “gold standard” for urban warfare.
The IDF uses a warning system of non-destructive munitions called “roof knocking” and phone calls to residents before any strikes occur. They drop leaflets and publish online maps to warn civilians to move away from Hamas targets for their own safety. They have even aborted operations when civilian casualty risks were deemed too high.
Lies, Lies and More Damned Lies
In April of 2025, Lt. Colonel Maurice Hirsch wrote, “Lies, damn lies and ‘UN-washed’ Hamas statistics.” Finally, someone targeted the truth of the lies of Hamas, the Gazans, Al Jazeera and the United Nations. Colonel Hirsch is a leading expert on Palestinian incitement and legal strategies. The statistics echoed throughout the world of the civilian casualties in Gaza. They came from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA). And just where do those stats originate? From “MoH Gaza”—the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
There is a disclaimer on the UN OCHA website. It states, “Figures that are yet-to-be verified by the UN are attributed to their source. Casualty numbers have been provided by the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Israeli authorities. The fatality breakdowns currently cited are those that the MoH in Gaza has fully identified as of 22 March 2025 out of the higher number of casualties they report.”
Yeah, sure…so OCHA’s figures are quoting Hamas…so much for truth.
And another thing involved in the Palestinian lies…the Chinese Communist Party is deeply entangled in promoting and influencing the U.S. pro-Palestinian activism. Not unusual for communists. They’ve always been about divide and conquer.
Neville Roy Singham, a U.S. businessman based in Shanghai, is the man who built a wide-reaching network that funds activist groups with anti-U.S. and anti-Israel agendas via his key organizations. They have facilitated the “Shut It Down for Palestine” (SID4P) campaign, which launched in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
Conclusion
Joan Swirsky wrote an article last year entitled “Let’s Talk About Proportionality.”
It is a perfect parallel to this article.
She writes:
War has everything to do with winning!
You attack me…I fight back. Not to deflect your attack. Not to intimidate you. Not to indulge in a body count to make sure it’s “fair” or “equal” or not “humiliating.
It’s to destroy you and to make sure that you never, ever, ever come after me again with the intention of annihilating me and my family and my country.
What is justifiable in war for every other country is never acceptable for Israel.
The entire world becomes enraged when Israel defends herself from barbaric savages.
Lies catch fire and the flames spread like wildfire.
The world demands, yes demands, far more from Israel than any other country.
Where is the proportionality? There is none when it comes to the Jewish people.
All’s Fair in Love and War, but not for the Jews!
Israel will win, despite the rest of the world.
©2026 Kelleigh Nelson. All rights reserved.
