Posted on 01/11/2008 5:54:03 AM PST by SolidWood
JERUSALEM — President Bush had tears in his eyes during an hour-long tour of Israel's Holocaust memorial Friday and told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the U.S. should have bombed Auschwitz to halt the killing, the memorial's chairman said.
Bush emerged from a tour of the Yad Vashem memorial calling it a "sobering reminder" that evil must be resisted, and praising victims for not losing their faith.
...(snip)
Bush was visibly moved as he toured the site, said Yad Vashem's chairman, Avner Shalev.
"Twice, I saw tears well up in his eyes," Shalev said.
At one point, Bush viewed aerial photos of the Auschwitz camp taken during the war by U.S. forces and called Rice over to discuss why the American government had decided against bombing the site, Shalev said.
The Allies had detailed reports about Auschwitz during the war from Polish partisans and escaped prisoners. But they chose not to bomb the camp, the rail lines leading to it, or any of the other Nazi death camps, preferring instead to focus all resources on the broader military effort, a decision that became the subject of intense controversy years later.
...(snip)
"We should have bombed it," Bush said, according to Shalev.
In the memorial's visitors' book, the president wrote simply, "God bless Israel, George Bush."
...
"I was most impressed that people in the face of horror and evil would not forsake their God. In the face of unspeakable crimes against humanity, brave souls — young and old — stood strong for what they believe," Bush said.
"I wish as many people as possible would come to this place. It is a sobering reminder that evil exists, and a call that when evil exists we must resist it," he said.
...
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
” Many Jews actually begged him to bomb the death camps”
Very few outside the Bergsonites did. Most Jews in America were too happy being liberal to care.
At the very least, we should have annihilated Solahütte.
Another thing that factored in—during World War I, the Allies wildly exaggerated atrocities committed by the Central Powers. There *were* documented atrocities (whole villages razed and hundreds of civilians killed) but not to the level that the Allied governments and news media of the day reported. When this came out after the war, people became very skeptical of reports like that.
In the end, though, you’re probably right—the Allies simply decided to concentrate on what they saw as military targets, and the concentration camps would’ve only been considered as such in regard to how they helped the German war effort with slave labor production facilities. Besides, were the USAAF and RAF bombing Poland, even in 1945? They could’ve hit camps in Germany like Buchenwald easily, but Auschwitz and the Polish death camps were in the Soviet area of operations.
}:-)4
He cried? Then I suppose his approval numbers will rise.
Many military decisions had to be made during the war. One was to deny Patton the fuel for his armor so he could overrun the Germans all the way to Berlin because there was a shortage at that time and Montgomery needed fuel too even though he wasn’t moving much. Still second-guessing that one.
Funny thing about Rommel in Africa. He couldn’t get fuel for his armor even though some of the most major oil strikes were made in the same place a few years later.
During the Battle of the Bulge the attack stalled for lack of fuel even though the Germans were only yards from a huge fuel depot in France and didn’t know it.
Wow. Such a lot of fuss about a casual remark. Do we really think he was dissing our government or our military 60 years ago? He was just showing anger at the horrors he was seeing. Did it really have to be calculating and rational about it?
I believe the ground mapping radar was call H2S. Also from the Brits I beleive.
Crying is an emotional outlet and good for the soul. Some people get to the point they can't cry, just because they held it back for so long. I'm one of those. I would love to just have a good cry once in awhile. Tears are cleansing but that's just my opinion.
Oh, the allies knew what was going on.
But at the time, the allied commanders had to make choices.
Woulda, coulda, shoulda, if’s, and but’s. Easier to criticize after the fact, rather than being the one making that decision at the time.
The allies were aware of what was going on.
Wrong. That photograph that Bush saw and commented on has been at the beginning of the Yad Vashem tour since at least 1990, when I went there. It is a photo from a US recon plane. Please READ the article:
At one point, Bush viewed aerial photos of the Auschwitz camp taken during the war by U.S. forces and called Rice over to discuss why the American government had decided against bombing the site, Shalev said.
The Allies had detailed reports about Auschwitz during the war from Polish partisans and escaped prisoners. But they chose not to bomb the camp, the rail lines leading to it, or any of the other Nazi death camps, preferring instead to focus all resources on the broader military effort, a decision that became the subject of intense controversy years later. [Emphasis added by me].
I took a class at Georgetown from one of those Polish partisans, Jan Karski. He reported directly to some of the very top people in the US and Britain (including Roosevelt twice, Cordell Hull, William Donovan and Anthony Eden), and he very specifically stated that he not only told them, but that he provided many photos of the atrocities. Anyone interested in this authentic hero could spend their time well by reading his bio at Wikipedia.
We knew, but did nothing. Just like with the imprisonment of the Japanese-Americans, this will be a blot on our performance during WW2. While nothing can take away from the sacrifices of the individuals in our armed forces to destroy the Nazi, Italian and Japanese regimes, our leaders were guilty as Hell of doing just about nothing in the face of some of the worst atrocities in the history of Mankind. Facts are facts, pleasant or not.
Damned right - Bush is pandering to people, giving aid to them, who would GLEEFULLY recreate the concentration camps and finish Hitler's dirtiest deed if given the chance. Sometimes Bush makes me wonder how good of a man he really is - or how intelligent (and I voted for the guy twice, and still would against the 2 babbling, Socialist morons the Dems put up against him).
In reply to post #4...I do think they knew because of Ultra, and other sources in the late 30’s.
Comment to post #21: Something to consider, I don’t think FDR would have had much of a choice. I’ve been reading and collecting WWII books for about 40 years.
Just finished a book called ‘Big Week’ by Glenn Infield.
The demand of fighting aircraft by two theatres set the Allies back on bombing goals, knocking out the Luftwaffe the primary goal to be able to invade Normandy. B17’s were especially behind on delivery in 1943, and they couldn’t strike with multi hundreds of bombers until late in the war. The German fighter production was never completely stopped, so they decided to go after the oil. The tactical aircraft were desperately needed to stop the German reinforcements and supplies reaching the front.
So, I don’t think serious operations could have been performed until the last few months of the war.
Politics and in-fighting between The British and Americans, which Ike was good at handling.
And political considerations with the Russians and what who would take.
On Rommel, he had plenty of fuel sent to him from Italy. Ultra was reading the tanker schedules, departures to Africa. So when they wanted to sink them they sent conventional recon planes out to make it look like they were spotted by them, so not to cause suspicion of Ultra.
On the battle of the bulge, the bombing campaign against fuel really helped to stall it along with Pattons efforts.
***Many military decisions had to be made during the war. One was to deny Patton the fuel for his armor so he could overrun the Germans all the way to Berlin because there was a shortage at that time and Montgomery needed fuel too even though he wasn’t moving much. Still second-guessing that one.
Funny thing about Rommel in Africa. He couldn’t get fuel for his armor even though some of the most major oil strikes were made in the same place a few years later.
During the Battle of the Bulge the attack stalled for lack of fuel even though the Germans were only yards from a huge fuel depot in France and didn’t know it.***
***I believe the ground mapping radar was call H2S. Also from the Brits I believe.***
If Bush is so moved by the Holocaust, why is he fighting so hard to help Arab terrorist finish the job by demanding a new terror state?
btt
Let's put it this way. After watching Hillary cry on tv he would have voted for her in NH.
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