What did they think?

[Boromir88]

I think Selmo hit the nail on the head...and as Tolkien talks about...in War indeed you have 'Orcs' on both sides:

For we are attempting to conquer Sauron with the Ring. And we shall (it seems) succeed.But the penalty is, as you will know, to breed new Saurons, and slowly turn men and elves into Orcs. Not that in real life things are so clear cut as in a story, and we started out with a great many Orcs on our side...~Letter 66 (regarding WW2)