Here is a question that I have given thought.

I was reading a book review about a book on how America is percieved around the globe. The reviewer was some esteemed professor of social science. At one point the author of the book compared the 9/11 attack to the Allied's Dresden Firebombing during WWII. The reviewer threw a hissy fit over this comparision, exclaiming how outrageous it is.

But after thinking a little about it, I feel that the two events does share some fundamental similarities that can't be cursorily dismissed. In essence, they are both designed to inflict huge number of civilian deaths in order to destroy the morale of the enemy nation, in other words, the creation of mass terror. So it seem to me it is legitmate to consider the two events in the same breath. What do you guys think?