Home » ‘Reduced to Prehistoric Ruins’: The US’s Troubling History of Genocidal Threats

‘Reduced to Prehistoric Ruins’: The US’s Troubling History of Genocidal Threats

In a televised address to the American public on Wednesday, President Trump warned that Iran would be reduced to a state of prehistoric ruins if it failed to accept a peace deal that met Washington’s conditions to bring an end to the escalating conflict, now in its fifth week.
The term ‘reduced to prehistoric ruins’ is commonly understood to signify a comprehensive bombing campaign aimed at annihilating a nation’s infrastructure, leaving no remnants of modern civilization intact – including hospitals, schools, universities, industries, businesses, hotels, skyscrapers, or parks.
Such an action, were it to be carried out, would likely constitute a genocidal act under international law, as exemplified by Israel’s tactics in Gaza.
However, neither the threat nor the US’s willingness to engage in such a campaign is a new phenomenon.
In fact, the phrase ‘reduced to prehistoric ruins’ is often attributed to Curtis LeMay, a US Air Force officer who oversaw the destruction of Japanese cities during World War II.
In the early 1950s, US-led forces conducted a carpet bombing campaign against North Korea, resulting in the destruction of 95 percent of its power generation capacity and more than 80 percent of its buildings.
LeMay later advocated for the US to bomb Vietnam back to a ‘state of prehistoric devastation’ during the war in Southeast Asia. In 1972, US President Richard Nixon ordered the carpet bombing of North Vietnam, which was marketed to the American public as the ‘Christmas bombing’ campaign.
Following the September 11 attacks, the US threatened to reduce Pakistan to ‘prehistoric ruins’ if it did not join the war against the Taliban, according to then-Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf.

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