For【36】the bloodshed and tragedy of D-Day, the beaches of Normandy will always evoke a certain【37】: a yearning for a time when nations in the civilized world buried their differences and combined to oppose absolute evil, when values seemed clearer and the terrible consequences of war stopped【38】of the annihilation of humanity. But over half a century after the allies hit those wavebattered sand flats and towering cliffs, the Normandy invasion stands as a feat【39】to be repeated.
There will never be【40】D-Day. Technology has changed the conditions of warfare in ways that none of the D-Day participants could have【41】. All-out war in the beginnings of this century would surely spell all-out【42】for the belligerents, and possibly for the entire human race. No credible scenario for a future world war would allow time for the massive buildup of conventional forces that occurred in the 1940s. The moral equivalent of the Normandy invasion in the nuclear age would involve a presidential decision to put teas of millions of American lives at.【43】. And the possible benefits for the allies would be uncertain at best.
European defense experts often ask whether the U.S. would be willing to "trade Pittsburgh for Dusseldorf". In practice, the question may well be whether it is worth【44】American cities to avenge a Europe already【45】to rubble.
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