Published: Saturday, January 12, 2008
Tears as Bush visits Israel's Holocaust memorial
His appearance at the Holocaust memorial stirs WWII strategy questions.
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Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press
President Bush (center), with Israeli officials, looks up at photographs in the Hall of Names during his visit to Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum on Friday in Jerusalem.
JERUSALEM -- President Bush stopped in front of an aerial photo of Auschwitz on Friday at Israel's Holocaust memorial and said the U.S. should have sent bombers to prevent the extermination of Jews there.
Yad Vashem's chairman, Avner Shalev, quoted Bush as saying the U.S. should have "bombed it." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Bush referred to the train tracks leading to Auschwitz, not the camp itself, where between 1.1 million and 1.5 million people were killed by Nazi Germany.
The issue of bombing the Nazi death camps or the rail lines leading to them has been debated for years -- and the lack of action was interpreted by some as a sign of Allied indifference.
The Allies had detailed reports about Auschwitz toward the end of World War II. But they chose not to bomb the camp, the rail lines, or any of the other Nazi death camps, preferring to focus all resources on the broader military effort.
Some experts note only late in the war did the United States have the capability to bomb the infamous camp in occupied Poland, and also faced a moral dilemma since such an operation could kill thousands of prisoners. Even Jewish leaders at the time struggled with the issue and many concluded that loss of innocent lives under such circumstances was justifiable.
Bush twice had tears in his eyes during a tour of the museum, said Shalev, who guided Bush through the exhibits.
Upon viewing an aerial shot of Auschwitz, taken during the war by U.S. forces, he said Bush called the decision not to bomb it "complex." He then called over Rice to discuss President Franklin Roosevelt's decision, clearly pondering the options before rendering an opinion of his own, Shalev said.
Yad Vashem's chairman, Avner Shalev, quoted Bush as saying the U.S. should have "bombed it." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Bush referred to the train tracks leading to Auschwitz, not the camp itself, where between 1.1 million and 1.5 million people were killed by Nazi Germany.
The issue of bombing the Nazi death camps or the rail lines leading to them has been debated for years -- and the lack of action was interpreted by some as a sign of Allied indifference.
The Allies had detailed reports about Auschwitz toward the end of World War II. But they chose not to bomb the camp, the rail lines, or any of the other Nazi death camps, preferring to focus all resources on the broader military effort.
Some experts note only late in the war did the United States have the capability to bomb the infamous camp in occupied Poland, and also faced a moral dilemma since such an operation could kill thousands of prisoners. Even Jewish leaders at the time struggled with the issue and many concluded that loss of innocent lives under such circumstances was justifiable.
Bush twice had tears in his eyes during a tour of the museum, said Shalev, who guided Bush through the exhibits.
Upon viewing an aerial shot of Auschwitz, taken during the war by U.S. forces, he said Bush called the decision not to bomb it "complex." He then called over Rice to discuss President Franklin Roosevelt's decision, clearly pondering the options before rendering an opinion of his own, Shalev said.
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