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

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

[T-Bird45]

The final paragraph says it all for me. If you mess with the bull, you are likely to get the horns. Given the Pearl Harbor sneak attack, how can the Japanese expect that they would not get that back, many times over, if we had the opportunity? Morality must also contain a component of justice, in my opinion.

[WorkingClassFilth]

The A-Bomb saved lives. Anyone who disagrees is in idiot.

[satchmodog9]

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

They were warned.

[carolinacrazy]

How ironic. I just wrote a story about the "bomb".

Jackass Democrats.com

[Cindy]

ON THE NET...

DECEMBER 7, 1941: "JAPAN ATTACKS PEARL HARBOR!"

[NickatNite2003]

It was a horrible thing to have to do.
But it was the lesser of two evils.
Many more would have died, had the Allies
continued only with a conventional war.

[tet68]

Note to the WORLD.

We used it once, we will again.

[megatherium]

The recent documentary on public television about the end of the Pacific War made it abundantly clear why the decision was made to use the bomb, indeed, why no other decision was possible. I was surprised at the documentary. Given it was on PBS I expected liberal hand-wringing; instead it was very direct that the bomb ended the war and prevented what would have been a terrible invasion. (I didn't know it took nearly a week after the second bomb for Japan to finally surrender.)

[LasVegasMac]

They started the war.

It matters not what the history "Monday Morning Quarterbacks" think or say.

The Nips attacked this country on December 7, 1941.

That was the exact moment in time when they put the sign up...you know which sign......

"PLEASE COME KICK MY ASS!"

We did.

War is war - especially if you attack me first.

To bitch about the fact that we hit back real hard...too hard...is so lame. Maybe you and your society should have thought that through before you attacked us.

Let that be a lesson to you, and any others with the same ideas.

Kiss my ass.

Made in America and tested in Japan.

Next?

LVM

[misharu]

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

[Yasotay]

Robert K. Wilcox's book "Japan's Secret War" makes a VERY strong case that the Japanese were much farther ahead in the development of an atomic bomb then the Germans. There is zero question that the Japanese wanted and were willing to nuke US. At least we won that race.

[struwwelpeter]

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

[pepsi_junkie]

'Sixty years ago maybe the pilots of the Enola Gay had to do that because it was their duty but, after all, they killed men and women, young and old, and even children and babies.

This from a nation which has been systematically removing all reference to, and evidence of, the rape of Nanking and other attrocities from their history. The difference was the US dropped a bomb knowing it would kill many but seeing that as a necessary evil. The Japanese atrocities were done with malice, for how else can one kill thousands of unarmed innocents while looking them in the eyes? I wont say the US action was our finest moment, but were I in the White House I'd have done it. Were I in the Japanese high command, I would not have sanctioned the Rape of Nanking, and would have punished anyone I found doing anything like that. One act ended a conflict with much fewer casualties than otherwise would have been. The other was murder that did nothing but bring misery. Therein, for me, lies the difference.

[JohnBovenmyer]

Sure we can mourn the death of A-bomb victims. There were many US and other allied POWs there being used as forced labor under conditions we didn't inflict on those we captured. But then, unlike the Japs, we'd signed the Geneva Conventions. The POWs didn't deserve to be nuked, but they were unavoidable collateral damage of the shock therapy needed to save millions of Japanese from the alternative consequences of their own suicidal ideology. Not to mention saving more Allied lives in the implementation of the alternative than the Japs lost to the 2 bombs. I've been told by many old vets that the bomb likely saved their lives. As it was the two bombs were barely enough; the Jap army's coup to extend the war nearly succeeded.

[Yasotay]

I didn't know it took nearly a week after the second bomb for Japan to finally surrender

There was even a military coup to prevent the announcement. Without the A-bombs, even burning out 60+ cities wasn't enough. We had to nuke them.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Yep, it's that time of the year again. When leftist morons apologize over what the mean-old U.S. did to the peaceful Japanese decades ago.

[Future Snake Eater]

You said it. I wonder if these same folks feel remorse over Pearl Harbor or the Bataan Death March or Nanking? Somehow I doubt it. Why? Because it was they were doing the @$$-kicking. Nobody likes getting their's kicked, so Japan still complains about our nukes. Sorry. Don't be so stupid next time.

[Fresh Wind]

Thank God we got the bomb first. Would the Germans or Japanese have hesitated to use it on us if they had it?

[farfromhome]

Now that the smoke has lifted, we know how way off the Nazi's were with their A bomb, but they were working on one and the Japanese were working on a bomber to deliver it. Also, conventional bombing of Tokyo caused much greater distruction.

[GVnana]

"Hey, the Americans invented a real tough weapon. It's very hard to win this war." At the same time I never believed in surrender either. We were ready for suicide attacks.'

Japan was committing suicide and didn't have the sense to save itself.

Would he have dropped the A-bomb? 'I tell American people I don't think we can blame you. This was during the war, when people become mad to kill the enemy. If Japan had an A-bomb we might have dropped it into New York. Do we have to thank them for dropping the A-bomb on Hiroshima? I don't think so. I can't say that.'

All things considered, this man sounds pretty sane.