Curtis Lemay belived there were no such thing as civilians in war and the quicker you killed them the quicker they surrender and the more lives you save in the long run. He also had the benefit of engaging in a war against the Japanese who had attacked first.
"We are at war with Japan. We were attacked by Japan, do you want to kill Japanese or would you rather have Americans Killed"
In Korea he believed that nuking the north from the get go would have hastened the war and lead to an ultimate victory that could have saved bloodshed.
Whether or not you agree with dropping atom bombs on north Korea of the fire bombing of Tokyo, Lemay is a nice lightning rod for three essential questions in modern warfare
1. Is there such a thing as a civilian in a war
2. Should proportionality be a guidline in war
3. Can you win a war with half measures
His answer to all three questions was "no". I believe in civilians, I'm not a fan of Israeli, Iranian or Palestinian kids getting slaughtered.
I'm also enough of a realist to know that in every war there is always a magic number of civilians you can kill to get your adversary to bend the knee.