Stardate 20010926.1004 (On Screen): This is probably the most acute and concise criticism I've seen of those who counsel pacifism by the US in the face of the WTC bombing. It is, of course, fictional, but it is dated September 24, 1940. On that day, a German bomber first dropped bombs on London. It was an accidental attack, but in retaliation for it the next day the RAF bombed Berlin. This, in turn, caused Hitler to order the Luftwaffe to cease bombing RAF airfields and to concentrate on British cities, which is generally regarded as the first of the three worst decisions he made in the war (the other two being to attack the USSR and to declare war on the US). Because of this shift in Luftwaffe targeting, RAF Fighter Command (which was on the ropes) was able to rally and to win the Battle of Britain, handing Germany its first and most important defeat. All the other defeats of Germany stem from this one. If Churchill had not ordered the bombing of Berlin, the Luftwaffe would have continued its campaign against the military targets of the RAF and there is a very good chance that RAF Fighter Command would have lost the Battle of Britain, leading to a cross-channel invasion, the destruction of the Royal Navy Home Fleet by the Luftwaffe, and the conquest of the UK.
Almost no-one in the UK in their right mind actually counseled pacifism at this time. This was after the fall of Poland, the fall of France, the Dunkirk evacuation and more than a month of heavy fighting in the skies over the UK. The people there knew that they were fighting for the life of their nation. Not everyone in the US is yet convinced of the seriousness of this war; I hope it doesn't take having an American city nuked to make them realize how important this is. (discuss)
