Thank God for the Atom Bomb

realclearpolitics.com ^ | August 3, 2005 | By Austin Bay

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[grobdriver]

I can think of a couple of other places that could use a good nuking right now...

[Smogger]

bump

[Monterrosa-24]

Speaking of stats....Does anybody have WWII U.S. casualty figures broken down between the Pacific and European Theatres?

[blau993]

My Dad was a dive bomber pilot who went out to the Pacific in early '44 and fought in most of the major campaigns that year as a member of VB15 aboard the Essex. VB15 was rotated back to the States at the end of '44, and its (now) veteran pilots were scattered throughout new squadrons gearing up for the invasion of Japan. You would never have been able to convince Dad or any of his fellow pilots that there was anything the slightest bit wrong about dropping the Atomic Bomb. A lot of them got to live long lives as a result.

[F14 Pilot]

We lost more than 300000 soldiers in both scenes and Atomic Bomb saved thousands of lives though

[gandalftb]

The Japanese ought to celebrate being bombed. No question the military cabal would not have capitulated. The war would have gone on for at least months. Remember that after Saipan was lost, there was a takeover of the military leadership by absolute die-hards that make Zarqawi look moderate.

Gen. Lemay would have continued to incinerate most of Japan. Millions of Japanese, weakened by starvation from war sanctions, were dying of dysentary/cholera. Last but not least, the Russians would have occupied and partitioned the northern half of Japan.

Russian invasion would have drastically altered their future for the worse and would have likely doomed the S Koreans.

The atom bomb was a blessing for all.

[StrangerInParadise]

If the Japs hadn't bombed us at Pearl Harbor, we wouldn't have bombed them at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Sow the whirlwind, reap the whirlwind.

(By Japs I don't mean any aspersion on the loyal Japanese Americans who were wrongly interned, nor especially those who fought and bled for their (our) country.)

[Rummyfan]

The atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved hundreds of thousands of lives, mostly Japanese civilian lives, although our own casualties would have been staggering in an invasion of the Home Islands. Whenever anyone tells me we should never have used these weapons, I laugh! Over one hundred thousand Japanese were killed in fire-bombing of Tokyo in one night. Another month of that would make Hiroshima and Nagasaki look like picnics. The intent was to end the war as quickly as possible, and Fat Man and Little Boy certainly achieved that. Truman may have done some htings wrong, but his decision here was right and maybe the most difficult any American President ever had to make.

[Rummyfan]

Happy Birthday to you!!!

[YOUGOTIT]

You Wrote "We lost more than 300000 soldiers in both scenes and Atomic Bomb saved thousands of lives though"

A slight typo. The estimate was for the death of over 1,000,000 American military and over 10,000,000 Japanese if we had invaded. The Japanese civilians were told that the Americans would kill them and eat their children and they were told to fight to the last person standing, as they did on several Pacific Islands.

So the Bomb saved over 11,000,000 lives.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

Good question. I tried to find a breakdown, but all the casualty numbers I found were lump sums.

[Sam the Sham]

And since the Atomic Bomb no industrialized nation has gone to war with another.

It is interesting to note that only the US could have created the atomic bomb. Only the US could afford to spend $2 billion 1942 dollars on it. Britain was broke. As for the Soviet Union they needed T-34's and Shturmoviks in the here and now more than an atomic bomb three years down the road. And who would have undertaken such a colossally expensive project in Stalin's Russia in any case ? Who would have dared suggest the idea to Stalin and make himself responsible for its success with his life ?

[1stFreedom]

>>Declaring that "Hiroshima was a war crime" has become an anti-American academic racket.

Really? I think it was, and I'm proud to be an American.

(Army brat, Former Army Reservist).

[ShadowDancer]

Given the history surrounding it's use, and I'm quite sure know it very well, why do you think it's use should be constituted a war crime?

[1stFreedom]

Indiscriminate genocide is a crime against humanity. The A bombs were not the only incidents, and the US was not alone in commiting them.

There were alternatives, including laying siege to Japan via Naval blockade, but I guess the idea was to get it over with...

The A bomb is not something to thank God for.

[Tallguy]

It should also be remembered that the Japanese populace was on the brink of starvation. If the US had been force to invade, the Japanese population would have begun to implode. It would not have mattered if our landings had been successful since the USAAC and the USN could have maintained the bombardment & distant blockade (out of range of Kamikaze attacks) indefinately. And the Japanese Manchurian Army would have been rounded up by the gentle Soviet forces, who I am sure would have shown them great tenderness.