DT: The way you cite reference is precisely how someone trying to make the point you didn't intend would say it. Recognize that English (and its derivative, American 
) can have very subtle meanings, that are colored not only what you say, but what you leave out.The firebombings of Dresden, Tokyo, and other targets was at the time considered a distasteful way to shorten the war. The strategic planners of the time thought that you could break a people's will to fight by bombing them into submission. Of course, this turns out to be wrong, but they were the folks who tested the theory. No-one knew the theory was incorrect until it was used. All sides used similar tactics.
When German bombers wandered off course and accidentally bombed English civilian targets, the English retaliated by bombing German civilians. No-one wanted to open that can of worms, but once the "bomb civilians" card had been played, both sides embraced the strategy with great enthusiasm, since they could each point to the other side and say "they did it first".
In actuality, it seems that bombing civilians stiffens the resolve of the survivors, enabling them to view the bombers (and those who sent them) as inhuman monsters. That's one of the reasons the Laws of Armed Conflict (LOAC) exhist. LOAC is why the U.S. and its allies try not to bomb civilian targets or historical landmarks. War is an inhumane undertaking, and most nations recognize the need to establish peace once the fighting's over. It's not always as non-lethal as diplomacy, but if everyone bitterly hates one another at war's end, you will have another one before long (reference World Wars I and II).
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"If knowledge is power, then willful misinformation is the work of the Devil."
-- Barbara "the man who sought Liberty's talents" Mikkelson
http://members.tripod.com/~Bob_Baloo/index.htm
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