Interesting post, Bob. There are a lot of examples of many things of this nature throughout history. We just tend to ignore them. Lots of confusion as to what is right or wrong anymore. Not too many people want to think about it. For many people, it's just easier to default to "We are wrong".
The WP thing should be viewed as another flash in the pan we are horrible human beings thing. Look up Saipan and Okinawa, pouring gasoline into the caves and setting it off. Gets the job done. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the reasons for a war, we should leave the fighting business end of it to those who have to be there.