Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1695373 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-22
• Released on: 2006-08-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

About the Author

Customer Reviews

The Truth Be Told
This book is a well thought out work which explores terrorism from the air, from its beginning. Grosscup documents exactly how this occurs and why it does not work -- except to line the pockets of the corporations that profit from it.

Honest, Responsible, Human Response to the Effects of Bombing
Beau Grosscup reveals the history of bombing and its effects and does this well for the reader who is looking for a good source for this information. The notion that bombing is somehow humane and ethical is dismantled through exploration of historical precedent. If someone wants to know more about this subject, this text is a very good place to start (as exploring this issue should not end with this book).

Excellent survey of immoral ways of killing civilians
Beau Grosscup, Professor of International Relations at California State University, has produced an excellent survey of bombing. He shows that its aim is to terrorise civilians.

Under the laws of war, the deliberate targeting of civilians is a war crime. Article 52 of the 1977 Protocol One of the Geneva Convention says, "attacks shall be limited strictly to military objectives." Article 54 says, "It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove, or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas ... crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works." Article 57 warns those planning military attacks to "refrain from deciding to launch any attack which might be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof."

Bombing cities, towns or villages guarantees that civilians will be killed. This killing is known in advance, premeditated, purposeful, intentional. As law professor Michael Tonry says, "In the criminal law, purpose and knowledge are equally culpable states of mind."

In the 1920s, the RAF bombed Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Somaliland, Transjordan, Iraq, South West Africa, India and Burma, to terrify the colonies into submission. Similarly, the French bombed Morocco and Syria, the Italians bombed Libya, Ethiopia and Spain, and the USA bombed Mexico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and China.

In the Korean War, General MacArthur ordered Allied forces to destroy `every factory, city and village'. US and British forces killed 20% of Korea's people.

General Wastemoreland said, "the Oriental doesn't place the same high price on life as does the Westerner. ... life is cheap in the Orient. As the philosophy of the Orient expresses it, life is not important." This apparently justified killing three million Vietnamese people. Kissinger ordered attacks on `anything that moves'. The USAF dropped 285 million cluster bombs on Vietnam and killed 10% of the Vietnamese people.

In Yugoslavia, NATO Commander General Clark ordered the USAF to "demolish, destroy, devastate, degrade, and ultimately eliminate the essential infrastructure of Yugoslavia." They bombed TV and radio stations, phone and computer networks, airports, railways, trains, roads, vehicles, bridges, factories, warehouses, power plants, water plants, 33 hospitals, 344 schools, dams and parks. The RAF dropped cluster bombs throughout the 70-day blitz.

Pentagon officials have admitted that the USAF directly targets Iraqi and Afghan civilians, for example, one told CBS News, "There will not be a safe place in Baghdad." Any attack likely to harm more than 30 civilians required Rumsfeld's personal approval - which he always gave, fifty times between 19 March and 18 April 2003. An Army private said, "We were told there were no friendly forces ... If there was anybody there, they were the enemy. We were told specifically that if there were women and children to kill them." Another said, "Basra is a military town", which is like saying Manchester is a military town.

The media ignore the current intense bombing of civilians in Iraq, and highlight roadside bombings, in which occupation troops can be portrayed as victims. The USAF uses anti-personnel weapons like cluster bombs, phosphorus and napalm, says, "We don't do body counts", then claims that casualties are low.

Similarly, in Gaza, Sharon told the army to use force `without limitation' and one of his officials said, "we may have to use weaponry that causes major collateral damage, including helicopters and plane, with mounting danger to surrounding people."