'I don't blame them but I hope they mourn the dead' (Hiroshima a-bomb)

The Observer ^ | 7/24/05 | David Smith

[hgro]

The Japanese of the WW2 era that are still living can never apologize adequately for their actions against American prisoners of war and the atrocities committed against the Chinese-in particular the Rape of Nanking.

They brought retribution on themselves and deserved it.

[ThermoNuclearWarrior]

Dropping the A-bomb was necessary to save American lives in a war we didn't start. The Japanese government and it's supporters of that time are to blame for the innocent people who died as a result of that bomb.

[COEXERJ145]

My only regret about the bomb was that it wasn't ready in time to drop on Hitler.

We wouldn't have done it anyway.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

"PLEASE COME KICK MY ASS!"

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

[taxesareforever]

Can the mass slaughter and irradiation of civilians without warning ever have been justified?

This is the mentality of the media. Warn the enemy about where and when they will be attacked.

[Mr. Blonde]

If I'm not mistaken the fire bombing of Dresden killed more people, but you don't hear a peep about it. Was it a terrible thing to happen? Yes, but that doesn't mean it wasn't the best option. Why that is so hard for some people to grasp I will never understand.

[adam_az]

"My Dad was stationed on Okinawa and would most likely have been in the first wave in an invasion. Need I say more?"

My fiancees grandfather was a Marine stationed at Pearl Harbor during the attack, and fought through the Pacific campaign... He died before I could meet him, but I doubt he'd be wringing his hands. The Japanese fought very, very brutally and showed no quarter to military OR civillian.

If you want to hear about brutalized civillains, look into what the Japanese did in Korea and China... and how they cannibalized captured Americans, flaying, cooking, and eating their thighs.

It was a disgusting war, and it had to be won at all costs.

[happyathome]

Zackly. In response to some "No more Hiroshima" bumper stickers in California, someone came up with a response: "You first - no more Pearl Harbors."

[adam_az]

Tibbets was unavailable for comment, but in a 2002 interview he insisted that he had no regrets: 'You're gonna kill innocent people at the same time, but we've never fought a damn war anywhere in the world where they didn't kill innocent people. If the newspapers would just cut out the shit: "You've killed so many civilians." That's their tough luck for being there.

[AmishDude]

I saw a very interesting documentary recently about WWII Japan and it seems that a coup was underway. The A-bomb made up the emperor's mind before the coup could get going. If we had waited, there might have been many more problems.

[Redcloak]

I had almost forgotten that it's coming up on National Pretendwedidntstartthewar Day in Japan.

Konichiwa! Have a happy Pretendwedidntstartthewar Day!

[Cindy]

Yep. Glad you're on the same page.

I'm not sure how many people know and/or understand
history anymore.

[misharu]

adam, from talking with my Dad and having an interest in Pacific Theater during WWII, I know how horrible the Japanese were to EVERYONE not Japanese. Reading "The Rape of Nanking" cemented what I always thought . . . Thank the good Lord Harry had the cajones and dropped those suckers!!

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

But I just hope you will be able to mourn the victims of Hiroshima and have a drop of tear for the victims.

And you weep for Nanking? How about Pearl Harbor? The prisoners in your camps that you did horrible things to? For developing biological warfare weapons to use against us?

Do you weep for that?

I am sorry that you were so determined to be such a barbarous bunch that such measures were necessary.

[ThreeTracks]

All things considered, this man sounds pretty sane.

I was thinking the same thing. Considering he had a nuclear bomb dropped on him, he's taking it pretty well. Better than some people here in America do.

- ThreeTracks

[steveegg]

Did it truly face the prospect of a full-scale invasion of Japan which some estimated would result in a million casualties?

Yes. A group of junior officers led a force of over 1000 in search of Emperor Hirohito's recorded surrender the night before it was to be broadcast; they ransacked most of the Imperial Palace before they were finally driven off. Had the found them, or killed Hirohito, Operation Olympic would probably have happened, to the tune of millions of dead.

[steveegg]

If I'm not mistaken the fire bombing of Dresden killed more people, but you don't hear a peep about it.

So did several different firebombings in Japan.

[AnAmericanMother]

You beat me to it.

My F-I-L was in the Signal Corps in the Pacific Theater and was part of the Occupation after the war. He told us about the abortive raid on the Imperial Palace and how it very nearly succeeded.

His orders were cut for the invasion of mainland Japan when Truman dropped the bombs.

My dad had HIS orders cut to proceed from Italy to the Pacific at the time.

I'm glad they dropped 'em, because I probably wouldn't be here, and my husband DEFINITELY wouldn't be here.

Next time, guys, don't start a war if you don't want to get hit with everything we've got.

Hope it doesn't come to that this time around .. . because with all these whingers and hand-wringers I'm not sure we've still got the nerve to do what needs to be done.

[DBrow]

LeMay's bombing of Tokyo killed more people and utterly destroyed 16 square miles of city, while the total destruction zone of Hiroshima was on the order of 8 or 9 square miles.

LeMay also bombed at least twenty other Japanese cities, I think the total death toll was close to three hundred thousand (150,000 for Tokyo alone). He was told to save Hiroshima and Nagasaki for special operations, he was not told why.

In this light, why is atomic bombing any worse? Those civilians are not less dead, were not made dead more pleasantly, and families and friends did not mourn them less for having been killed with nonnuclear incendiaries and HE bombs.

It is a terrible decision to make, to decide to bomb population centers, moms, dads, kids, dogs, cats, houses. Once you decide that I think the choice of "which bomb" has much less moral weight than the decision to go ahead. 20,000 tons of TNT is just as bad as, and no worse than, a 20KT nuke.