terror-bombing
The use of bombing campaigns aimed at civilian populations to demoralize and coerce governments, which is argued to have limited effectiveness in nonindustrialized countries.
1 chapter across 1 book
American Power and the New Mandarins (1969)Noam Chomsky
The chapter critically examines the American public's indifference and pragmatic opposition to the Vietnam War, exposing the brutal realities of U.S. military policies such as forced urbanization and terror bombing of civilian infrastructure. It highlights the moral degeneration in American society through the trivialization of violence and calls for a profound moral reckoning or 'denazification' to address systemic injustice. The chapter concludes with cautious optimism about emerging collective resistance, the influence of libertarian socialist ideas, and the role of a moral elite in fostering fundamental social transformation amid risks of domestic repression.