Dropping the two bombs saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Maybe if Stone was one of the young Americans waiting off the coast of Japan with the invasion force he would see this differently. Japan would have been bombed for months by B29 bombers before the invasion. The use of firebombs were almost as deadly as atom bombs. They say over a million Japanese would have died in an invasion and America would have had something like 300,000 casualties.
From the History Channel website:
“On this day [March 9, 1945], U.S. warplanes launch a new bombing offensive against Japan, dropping 2,000 tons of incendiary bombs on Tokyo over the course of the next 48 hours. Almost 16 square miles in and around the Japanese capital were incinerated, and between 80,000 and 130,000 Japanese civilians were killed in the worst single firestorm in recorded history.”
Jeez. With the Japs so close to surrendering (per Stone) - one would think they would have surrendered after the firebombing of Tokyo.