Henry L. Stimson Quotes
I told him there was one city that they must not bomb without my permission and that was Kyoto.
Stimson, Henry L. The Henry Lewis Stimson Diaries, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.
In international law, a blockade is an act of war by the brocading country against the country that is blockaded—not against 3rd parties that may have to obey the blockade. For example before the War of 1812, France and England were at war and each blockaded the other’s ports. The United States was affected by the blockade in that our ships could not go in or out of blockaded ports with goods. However nether country was at war with us. All neutral nations must respect a blockade or the blockading nation is entitled to use force to enforce the blockade, but that is not an act of war. In 2011, Gaza was at war with Israel, and Israel blockaded Gaza. A Turkish ship tried to bring goods to Gaza and Israel seized the ship by force and brought it into a near natural port (Egypt). Israel was entitled to enforce its Gaza blockade, but they were not at war with Turkey. However if Israel, blockaded a country where there was not an existing war, the blockade itself would be an act of war.
Prior to this order, some German submarines had assisted the survivors of torpedoed ships. None did after and some actually machine gunned survivors in the water. One aspect of the quotation that is particularly interesting was the Admiral’s justification example of the Allied bombing of German Cites. What he did not say was that this practice did not begin until Germany—at the insistence of Hitler—ignored the Geneva Conventions and bombed London, Coventry and other English cities. Hitler declared London an “Open City”. The Allies retaliated by bombing factories that were in German Cities. After the war Donitz was found guilty of Unrestricted Submarine Warfare and using thousands of slave laborers in his shipyards. He was sentenced to 10 years, one of the lightest sentences if the German War Crimes Trials.
In WWII the Germans bombed London causing many civilian casualties. In retaliation, the allies bombed German cities such as Hamburg and others. The resolution’s effect was very short lived. There are similar restrictions in the Geneva Conventions but again, if one side breaks the conventions, most other sides will retaliate. Note that in the 3rd condition, the one that is most contentious in the 21st century “negligence” is the operative word. An error or mistake is not necessarily or even usually negligence. Many people believe that international law prohibits the bombing of civilians from reading 3) and similar statements from treaties. However, an honest error, mistake or equipment malfunction which kills
During the Iraq War, the Congressman partially changed his mind the following year and called for a plan to move American troops to the periphery of the fighting. A highly decorated war hero with two Purple Hearts, he was then called a coward, by some Republican members of Congress and the Bush Administration—almost always by people who had never served in the military and often sought and obtained deferments.
The day before, Helms’ deputy testified about the high number of civilian casualties that American bombing of North Vietnam had caused.
1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor
Henry Lewis Stimson was an American statesman, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. Over his long career, he emerged as a leading figure in U.S. foreign policy by serving in both Republican and Democratic administrations. He served as Secretary of War (1911–1913) under President William Howard Taft, Secretary of State (1929–1933) under President Herbert Hoover, and Secretary of War (1940–1945) under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman.
