Dresden Bombing

Stephen Garrett, in “Empathy for the Suffering Gets Lost in Battle” (Commentary, Feb. 12), makes the same mistake that was made by the honchos at the Smithsonian--rewriting history. Did he speak to the death and destruction which Germany caused by its bombing of non-military targets in London, Manchester, Coventry and other English cities? Did he bring our attention to what Germans were doing at Auschwitz and other death camps up until the date of their surrender? Did he make even one reference to the fact that Dresden was the seat of Germany’s military command at the time of the Allied bombing of that city? He did none of these things. His views merely epitomize the distortions, which prevail among the political correctness crowd.

MILTON GAN

Los Angeles

* Re “Protesters Disrupt 50th Anniversary Memorial in Dresden,” Feb. 13: Yes, the destruction of Dresden was triggered by Hitler’s war. Still, it was overkill at that point in history--refugees, civilians, art, no military installations. Your article ends with “because the B-17s caused far less damage.” One fact of “far less damage” was bombardment of refugees (rushing to the Elbe River) with phosphorous.

MONIKA COPELAND

Thousand Oaks