Mr. Winston Churchill's threat last April that if Cairo, or Athens were bombed similar treatment would be meted out to Rome had its effect, so far as Athens was concerned. The enemy appear to have disregarded it in connection with the Egyptian capital which was raided on Tuesday by, it is reported, Italian planes. The report as to identity comes from n sources, and may only be a case of "Please teacher, it wasn't me." On the other hand they have bombed and badly damaged many of London's sacred places, and been bombed in Berlin in retaliation, and if they were mixed up in it, it would be no occasion for surprise. No act could possibly have been more stupid, for ith iis 260 mosques and nearly as was, or chapels, together with the relics of Hosain and Hasan, grandsons of the Prophet, is one of the holy places of Moslem, and the bombing is likely to increase the Moslem hatred of the dictatorships, and further to inflame the Arabs against them It is reported that the London newspapers are demanding that the British command should fulfil Mr. Churchill's promise that Rome shall be bombed in retaliation, and with that desire there will be very general agreement. The "Daily Mirror" insists that the British Government should stick by its words. With that it is impossible to disagree for it would be lamentable lolly to break this promise. Great Britain should honour its commitments even with the enemy. According to the "Daily Telegraph," plans for a thorough bombing of Rome have been drafted to be put into operation at a given moment, and suggests that the raid on Cairo provides a suitable occasion for carrying them out. It may very well be tha: military considerations for the moment might render it inopportune to take such an action. but, when an opportunity does occur, there should be ne hesitation in giving nome a taste of its own medicine. And that, not only for the purpose of retaliation, but as a psychological weapon amongst the Moslems who, unable to strike back themselves, would welcome the fact that this onslaught on their holy places had been avenged.
From that point of view the Italians, who appear to have learned nothing from their experience in northern Africa regarding the susceptibilities of the Moslem world, have afforded the Allies an excellent opportunity of showing it who really are their friends, and from the point of view of propaganda, this opening which the Italians' crass stupidity has afforded the Allies should be swiftly availed of. There are those who will plead that Rome, as one of the cradles of Christendom, should be saved such destruction, but it is possible to attack secular Rome without running much risk of damaging the Vatican City. There should be no diffü- culty in attacking the rest of Rome, and of handing Mussolini a severe lesson as to what he may expect in the future if he pursues his foolish course. There need be only one raid for the time being, just to show him that he "can't do that there ere," while further retaliation might be resorted to, if he fails to draw the moral it is desired he should. If nothing is to be regarded as sacred by the enemy in this war, then nothing of theirs should be regarded as inviolate by the Allies.
There will doubtless be some sentimentalists who will deplore the use of this particular argument, but the fact has to be fully appreciated that this war will not be won by turning the other cheek. It will be won by exchanging blow for blow, and that little in addition which means victory. There is nothing chivalrous or courteous about this struggle, which is total. Refraining from bombing Cologne and endangering its cathedral did not prevent the damage to Westminster Abbey, and St. Paul's, and hundreds of historic churches throughout Britain. Nor will failure to retaliate for Cairo save the other Moslem holy places. What is more, it is about time that Mussolini was smoked out from his hiding place behind the skirts of the Papacy. Lay Rome is as much a military objective as is Whitehall, and sentimental regard for the monuments of the old Roman civilization, and the fear of endangering the seat of Holy Church should not give Mussolini that immunity which even his master Hitler is denied.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.