"It is my opinion that the use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender because of the effective sea blockade and the successful bombing with conventional weapons.
Could have said that about the Japanese forces on Iwo and Okinawa, too.
Didn't turn out that way.
Given the ferocity of resistance at those two islands, it doesn't make any sense that they would just roll over and surrender a couple of months later.
Even after seeing Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuked, there was still an attempted coup with a goal of preventing a surrender.
Gen. Curtis LeMay, commander of the 20th Air Force, which actually carried-out the bombing of Japan:
(quoting from memory, not having my copy of Mission With LeMay handy) “It might, just might have been possible to starve Japan out of the war with bombing and mining. Just might.”
He had no regrets on dropping the bombs.
Non Sequitur aka Drennan Whyte, aka Kstater, aka SOJOCo.