16 Aug 08 04:53, Bob Ackley wrote to Roy Witt:

 BA> That's what I said.

Just making sure...

 BA> In point of fact, when he was told that his fire bombing of Japanese
 BA> cities (which killed more civilians than both of the nukes combined)
 BA> could be considered a war crime, Curtis E. LeMay commented that it
 BA> was a good thing his side won the war.

You, of course, have quoted him out of context. What he said about it was
this: "he once remarked that had the U.S. lost the war, he fully expected
to be tried for war crimes, especially in view of Japanese executions of
uniformed American flight crews during the 1942 Doolittle raid. He argued
that it was his duty to carry out the attacks in order to end the war as
quickly as possible, sparing further loss of life."

And so, LeMay ordered the defensive guns removed from 325 B-29s, loaded
each plane with Model E-46 incendiary clusters, magnesium bombs, white
phosphorus bombs and napalm, and ordered the bombers to fly in streams at
5,000-9,000 feet over Tokyo in night raids.

He was also quoted in a NY Times article at the time, "Maj. Gen. Curtis E.
LeMay, commander of the B-29s of the entire Marianas area, declared that
if the war is shortened by a single day, the attacks will have served its
purpose."

                R\%/itt



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