I tend to agree, but in the 1940s no-one did, and anachronistic ethics are suspect.
You are misunderstanding me.
It is precisely because Dachau was so horrible that war was necessary. But war is war, and war always involves terrible things (such as Dresden) being done on both sides. Sometimes those are in the way of a horrible calculus – if we destroy this city and its civilians the war will end faster – and sometimes it’s just the natural consequence of terror, innocence and firepower all being in the same place at the same time.
Honestly, if naked dogpiling is worst thing that US troops have done, I’d be amazed. I would assume there has been surrendering Iraqis shot, some civilian deaths that could have been avoided, even some rape and looting. I say that with an immense amount of respect for the US troops; but they are only human, and some of them will not prove up to the task. I frankly don’t know what I’d be like at 19, seperated from my freinds and family, afraid, angry and heavily armed.
To repeat, war is a horrific thing; but it is not the most horrific thing. In WWII, and I believe Iraq, the horrors caused by the war are less than the horrors they ended. The difference is that once upon a time we were able to look at the big picture; in the era of 24 hour news that is hampered, and instead the focus is on what the news stations can sell as controversial and exciting.
Are murders and car accidents the defining events in your hometown’s life? They are according to the local news. Similarly, CNN etc. won’t show any degree of proportionality in covering Iraq, because a few dozen prisoners being abused makes, in their eyes, for a better story than hundreds of schools being opened and thousands of jobs being created. Hannity and Colmes couldn’t debate the latter. There are no “tough questions” to be asked of powerful figures (which make the interviewer look “edgy” and antiauthoritarian).
It is in the nature of ratings-and sales-driven news media to seek out controversy and sensationalism, and to manufacture it if necessary. Hence the relentless bias shown by the media toward what goes wrong and away from what goes right, whether we’re talking about local news or foreign affairs.
If anything, I’d argue that US soldiers today are more noble than those in WWII. They are all volunteers, for one, and owing to superior training and a change in the way militaries think about war, they are much more conscious of things like civilian casualties. What’s changed is our willingness to recognize evil and call it by its name, and acknowledge that when you remove the cancer you get blood on your hands.