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At Hiroshima's anniversary, US stands criticized
Taipei Times ^ | 08-07-2004 | staff

Posted on 08/07/2004 7:41:33 AM PDT by em2vn

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To: Sacajaweau

Actually, dropping the bomb was the humanitarian choice. Had the Marines been called on to invade Japan, the leaders of Japan would have whipped their citizens into a frenzy as they had done on Okinawa.

Their were 200,000 civilians and military dead on Okinaw and the US military was not frightened by the prospect of a repeat on the main island. The US Marines would have done their job and decimated Japan. Only instead of the correct definition of decimate (1 in 10). It would have been 9.95 out of 10 dead.

Dropping the bomb allowed members of the Japanese leadership to convince the war party to back down. And, that almost failed to another coup.

There are a lot of Japanese alive today because we had the courage to do the right thing.


41 posted on 08/07/2004 9:09:06 AM PDT by Joe_October (Saddam supported Terrorists. Al Qaeda are Terrorists. I can't find the link.)
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To: Trickyguy
...The Japanese were trying to surrender, only they wanted to keep the Emperor.

Another tragic victim of publick edgeoocayshun pipes up.

42 posted on 08/07/2004 9:10:04 AM PDT by TigersEye (Intellectuals only exist if you think they do!)
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To: em2vn

I don't think it's hard to size this guy up. We're supposedly a pariah state, but North Korea is just seeking insurance.

As hard as it is to fathem for those who attack other nations, 's' happens to those who do so.

The U.S. wasn't even in WWII until some panty-waste nation decided to attack it without provocation. Where's the tears for those who died at Pear Harbor?

The spinning by the camps of the evil never stops.

Ask the guys that fought at Iwo Jima and other places in the Pacific what they forsaw would be needed to conquer every inch of Japan. Recall the suicide missions and the oath the Japanese military swore to never give up and hold out to the last man.

Just remember, even the Hiroshima nuclear bomb did not convince Japan to surrender. When confronted with that measure of loss, Japanese leaders opted to refuse to capitulate, causing a second bomb to be dropped. How's that for clear and reasoned thinking? Doesn't that convince you that they were about ready to surrender anyway?

Spin, spin, spin, it's gone global.


43 posted on 08/07/2004 9:10:12 AM PDT by DoughtyOne
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To: em2vn

remember pearl harbor?


44 posted on 08/07/2004 9:11:56 AM PDT by ken21
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To: Trickyguy

And what type of surrender do you recommend for the nation that attacked in the first place, the surrender of a nation dictating terms?

Lordy!


45 posted on 08/07/2004 9:14:16 AM PDT by DoughtyOne
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To: Joe_October

Their = There (dohh)


46 posted on 08/07/2004 9:17:36 AM PDT by Joe_October (Saddam supported Terrorists. Al Qaeda are Terrorists. I can't find the link.)
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To: Prime Choice

You got that right!


47 posted on 08/07/2004 9:38:37 AM PDT by sheik yerbouty
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To: Trickyguy

Actually, they surrendered in part because Hirohito did not want to be occupied by the Red Army, who had just crushed the Japanese forces in Manchuria, and were poised to invade.


48 posted on 08/07/2004 9:41:22 AM PDT by sheik yerbouty
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To: Trickyguy
The Japanese were trying to surrender.

The leftists in this country, along with the Japanese, have been spreading this lie since August 1945. It is to be expected that some people will actually believe it.

We had broken the Japanese code. We were listening to everything they were saying. Everything. If they were even considering surrender, we would have known it. They weren't.

49 posted on 08/07/2004 10:01:23 AM PDT by Aegedius (Veni, vidi, icked-kay utt-bay.)
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To: Trickyguy

You are wrong. I've seen some of the Pacific islands where the Japanese fought fanatical battles to the last man. Invading the home islands would have been catastrophic.


50 posted on 08/07/2004 10:04:58 AM PDT by The Right Stuff
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To: em2vn

I love Japan. I love Japanese culture and I have my fair share of Japanese friends.

With that said, Japan deserved what it got. It was a militant, imperialist power that attacked us and would have done the same, if not worse, had it had the chance to do so. Those bombs brought to an end a bloody war that the Japanese were foolish enough to start in the first place in their desire for conquest and power.


51 posted on 08/07/2004 10:05:41 AM PDT by William Martel
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To: sheik yerbouty
I've read similar statements, and I always wondered how the land-bound Soviet Red Army was going to get across the water to the island nation of Japan in force. If the United States Navy did not wish the Japanese or Soviets to use the waters surrounding Japan in 1945, then there was no possibility that either would do so.

That is reality, not supposition.


dvwjr
52 posted on 08/07/2004 6:02:48 PM PDT by dvwjr
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To: dvwjr

The Japanese, at that point had a lurid fear of it, fully rational or not. In the end, after the bombs and the attemp[ted palace coup, thety preferred to be occupied by American troops.


53 posted on 08/07/2004 9:42:07 PM PDT by sheik yerbouty
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