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.
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.
Another tragic victim of publick edgeoocayshun pipes up.
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.
remember pearl harbor?
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!
Their = There (dohh)
You got that right!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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