Posted on 08/07/2004 7:41:33 AM PDT by em2vn
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Published on TaipeiTimes http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/08/07/2003182057
At Hiroshima's anniversary, US stands criticized
ATOMIC BOMB: The mayor of the city that suffered the world's first nuclear attack wondered why there is any need for new generations of such horrific weapons
AP , HIROSHIMA, JAPAN Saturday, Aug 07, 2004,Page 5
Demonstrators wearing hats that say ``peace'' stage a ``die-in'' in front of the gutted A-bomb dome in Hiroshima, Japan, yesterday. PHOTO: REUTERS
The mayor of Hiroshima marked the anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack yesterday by lashing out at the US for its pursuit of next-generation nuclear weapons, and called on a global ban on all nuclear arms by 2020.
Denouncing US President George W. Bush's administration for its "egocentric" view of the world, Tadatoshi Akiba said Washington had turned its back on other nations.
"Ignoring the UN and international law, the US has resumed research to make nuclear weapons smaller and more `usable,'" he said at the 59th annual ceremony in the western city's Peace Memorial Park.
In June, the US Senate approved spending for the Bush administration's research into -- but not development of -- new nuclear "bunker buster" and "mini-nuke" warheads.
The nuclear bunker buster would be designed to hit targets deep underground, such as subterranean military command centers that are beyond the reach of conventional arms.
The mini-nukes would have the explosive power of less than 5,000 tonnes of TNT -- one-fourth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Supporters of the new weapons say they would cause less damage and fewer deaths in the area around a target.
The US has had a self-imposed ban on nuclear testing since 1992.
But Akiba said the world needs to dismantle and ban all weapons like the US atomic bomb that killed or injured 160,000 people on Aug. 6, 1945.
He called on nations to attend a nuclear nonproliferation meeting, to be held in May next year in New York, and sign a treaty that would eventually abolish nuclear arms by 2020.
He also branded North Korea's development of nuclear weapons a "worthless policy of `nuclear insurance.'" Japan, the US and four other nations have been engaged in recent talks to pressure the isolated communist regime to scrap its weapons program.
Before Akiba spoke, a bell pealed at 8:15am -- marking the time when the US A-bomb leveled this city, 687km southwest of Tokyo. Tens of thousands of survivors, residents, visitors and officials from around the world remembered the bombing victims by observing a minute of silence.
Afterward, 1,000 doves were released.
In brief remarks, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reaffirmed Japan's policy banning the production, possession and transport of nuclear weapons within its borders.
Hiroshima city added to a list -- encased in a stone cenotaph -- 5,142 names of those who have died from cancer and other long-term ailments over the past year, raising the toll to 237,062, city official Niroaki Narukawa said.
Among those added in recent years were seven American POWs who perished in the explosion. Some of those Americans were from the crews of three aircraft -- two B-24 bombers and a Helldiver dive bomber -- shot down near Hiroshima on July 28, 1945 after a raid on Japanese warships in nearby Kure.
Others were prisoners who had been killed elsewhere in grisly experiments that the Japanese military apparently wanted to hide.
One American, US Army Air Force Corporal John Long, was newly incorporated earlier this year into a memorial hall in the peace park.
The park opened in 2002 and displays photographs and biographical notes about 9,000 bomb victims.
Ceremonies will be held Saturday on the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, on the southernmost main island of Kyushu.
About 70,000 people were killed by an atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki from a US aircraft, three days after the one that hit Hiroshima.
On Aug. 15, 1945, Japan's surrender ended World War II.
I have yet to hear any of those revisionists offer an alternative that would have resulted in fewer American or Japanese casuaties.
That's Terrific! I am going to put that in my car window, Thanks!
Truman did the right thing. Everything said contrary to that statement isn't supported by the known data.
Someone posted on another thread that everyone who was in Hiroshima at the time of the bombing and shortly after who died for any reason in later years gets added to the toll.
Favorite saying " Made in America, Tested in Japan "
There was Japan, minding its own business, when WHAM!, from out of nowhere, The nasty old U.S. drops a couple of nuclear weapons on its babies.
On March 9-10 1945 300+ B 29s attacked Tokyo with napalm fire bombs and wiped out 16 square miles of the city and approximately 100,000 died. That attack equaled the atomic bombs in lethalness.
I think we need a good ole' fashioned "time out" for picking on Japan. ;-}
I'm POSITIVE that you're right!I'm just glad that it isn't us critcizing them for having used the atomic bomb!!
Presumably it's not lost on Iran, Syria, and NK that we can do the same to them, only more so and faster.
People whose fathers entered Japan as soldiers when the war was over said Japanese citizens thanked them for freeing them from the regime. Not every Japanese was a big fan of the emperor.
My dad was with Patton's third army in Europe. After V-E day he was sent to the US to train for the invasion of JAPAN when the BOMB was dropped on HIro and Nag. He always said the BOMB probably saved his life.
I've got a bumper-sticker that depicts an atomic detonation and reads:"Built By Lazy,Illiterate Americans,Tested In Japan"!!
It should be noted that Japanese schools and history books omitted ANY mention of Pearl Harbor until sometime in the late 80s or early 90s. It was only the continued insistence of the American government that forced the Japanese to acknowledge starting the war by attacking Pearl Harbor. Most Japanese were ashamed and embarrassed at the time by their government's behavior.
Hey,look at it this way,we need a little practice!Al Quaeda is serving OUR purposes!!
That's not what happened. The Japanese were trying to surrender, only they wanted to keep the Emperor. Turns out we allowed them to keep him, anyway. So, not only were the bombs unncessary, our insistence on Unconditional Surrender is what prolonged the war and lost the lives of untold American soldiers in the Pacific theater.
Peace on you too. You were war mongers bent on dominating half of the world. What did you do to the Chinese? What did you do in Indonesia? What did you do in SE Asia? What did you do to Pearl Harbor? What did you do to troops you captured and civilians whose towns you occupied? You made Hitler look like a weenie.
How many more Japanese would have died if we had continued on with conventional weapons? To the last man, woman and child was your doctrine. You reaped what you sowed. Stop the whining.
An interesting note almost forgotten..
Immediatly after the bombing of Hiro and Nag the US hit them with conventional bombs again. Killed thousands but no one remembers.
I learned this from a tv show on Okinawa in 1968 over AFRTS. The documentary showed the war but when the A-Bomb was shown being dropped the screen went blank so as not to offend anyone.
The main problem is that these knuckleheads don't understand how "Peace"is obtained!It's not obtained by singing Kumbaya and turning the other cheek or signing on with The UN,it's obtained through VICTORY!!!
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