...In WWII the firebombing of Tokyo and German cities was pure terrorism on a grand scale, conducted after the war was “won”...

The Allies were finding that a bombed factory could be rebuilt--or other facilities could pick up the slack--with depressing speed.

Bombing factories didn't seem to have a long-term effect. But factory workers...they took much longer to replace. Kill the skilled factory worker in his home, and industrial output--the engine behind a technological war--would stall.

It was a cynical, cruel, hardhearted approach, but if I'd been in Harris's shoes I'd have likely made the same call. His job was to win the war as quickly as possible, minimizing Allied casualties to the greatest extent.

Did he become a monster? Arguable, imho. If he did, it's because he was part of a monsterous war. So was my father, btw, who piloted a Lanc which dropped it's fair share of bombs on German cities.

The Allies had no choice, imo, but to go after the softest possible target and hit it without mercy. Even still, the effectiveness of the bombing campaign was, in the end, questionable, but that wasn't and couldn't have been known beforehand.

Could the US have avoided war with Germany in the 40s? Possibly. But it would have most likely led to a much more devastating nuclear conflict down the road. In any case, the issue of Allied conduct in WW2 is most certainly not as black and white as you paint it.