Posted on 08/05/2005 5:08:42 AM PDT by OESY
Today--or August 6 in Japan--is the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, which killed outright an estimated 80,000 Japanese and hastened World War II to its conclusion on August 15. Those of us who belong to the postwar generations tend to regard the occasion as a somber, even shameful, one. But that's not how the generation of Americans who actually fought the war saw it. And if we're going to reflect seriously about the bomb, we ought first to think about it as they did.
...No surprise, then, that when news of the bomb reached Lt. Fussell and his men, they had no misgivings about its use: "...We were going to live."...
What about Japanese lives?... Since the ratio of Japanese to American combat fatalities ran about four to one, a mainland invasion could have resulted in millions of Japanese deaths--and that's not counting civilians....
Also true is that the threat nuclear weapons pose today is probably greater than ever before. That's not because they're more plentiful--thanks to the 2002 Moscow Treaty (negotiated by John Bolton), U.S. and Russian arsenals are being cut to levels not seen in 40 years. It's because nuclear know-how and technology have fallen into the hands of men such as A.Q. Khan and Kim Jong Il, and they, in turn, are but one degree of separation away from the jihadists who may someday detonate a bomb in Times or Trafalgar Square....
Looking back after 60 years, who cannot be grateful that it was Truman who had the bomb, and not Hitler or Tojo or Stalin? And looking forward, who can seriously doubt the need for might always to remain in the hands of right? That is the enduring lesson of Hiroshima, and it is one we ignore at our peril.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
But yet, those raids seriously impeded Japanese war materiel production because at the time, production of a long list of these items were done in small shops located in the city. The Japanese--if they had been just a bit smarter--would have safely hidden most of their war production in underground, bomb-proof factories like the Germans did later in World War II.
One of the things that always bothered me was why after the horrific experience of uncontrolled fires from the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923 the Japanese government allowed cities to be rebuilt mostly of wood again. You'd think they would have mandated more fireproof structures....
There was no PC crap about a war against "sneak attackers" or struggle against "invading mean people."
In my little town in Kentucky that successful end to the war was celebrated. Yes, celebrated!
Then came the Korea "police action" and later the battles fought and won in Viet Nam and the war lost in the States.
Anyone not willing to rewind the clock to a 1945 sense of urgency will likely condemn us to failure and acceptance of the enemy's terms and the enemy's definition of "peace." IMO.
One more thing. The enemies within had no "rights."
The Rape of Nanking was a crime against humanity.
The nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were a one-two knockout punch to the regime that had brought so much death and suffering to the world.
The bombs forced the Japanese to realize they were beaten, so using them shortened the war. America was determined to win and was preparing to invade. If you'd understood anything about the island campaign you'd know that it was merciless and bloody, and that invading the Japanese mainland would have been the same slaughter on a huge scale. There would have been millions of casualties, the great majority of them on the Japanese side.
My father was on Okinawa. He expected to go to Japan next. Thank God we had the bomb.
Ditto my dad who had recovered from burns suffered in a crash landing of his C-46 in China-Burma-India. The Army-air force was looking for experienced men who had served earlier in the war.
Japan has always been seriously short of raw materials, including metals. Alternatives to wood construction (which is relatively cheap) might have included masonry or concrete construction, but neither of those are attractive in an earthquake zone -- unless you use a lot of re-bar. Then you are back to competing with Japanese war industry for consumption of metal.
As the grandson of a Pacific War Veteran, let me be the first to say: you're an [expletive deleted] idiot.
Excellent observation!
To take it further, the dems would argue everyone should have equal opportunity to have the bomb. Its not fair for one country to have it and another not ... etc etc (barf) (barf)
Ain't it the truth? This asshat "1stFreedom" is simply beneath contempt.
"Hiroshima and Nagasaki were crimes against humanity"
I have talked to men who were assigned to be in the first wave of infantry & I will repeat their most polite reply to those who claim as you do . H*RSE SH*T!!! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE F*CK YOUR TALKING ABOUT LITTLE BOY.
I remember where I was and how I felt when we received confirmation that we had used the A-bombs -- and that they had worked.
I was right across the road from the main gate of Elllington Army Air Corps Base, and I felt profound relief that the world-consuming war would soon be over -- and that all my friends and relatives would soon be home.
Where were you when we did what had to be done to convince the Japs to quit? (If you didn't live through the experience, then STHU!!!)
If Stalin had the bomb in '45 instead of the USA, then at the very least we would have seen half or all of Japan occupied by the Red Army and probably more of Europe such as Austria and Denmark.
We would not have been completed impotent facing a few atomic weapons but it would have changed things.
"It would take roughly 5 seconds to find someone at DU to argue that Hitler, Stalin, or Tojo should have had the bomb first. Such is the depth of America-hating in this world."
It would take me roughly 2 seconds to cold-cock anyone who would even suggest such a thing in my presence. I would love to be locked in a room with some of these brain-dead fools. I'm the only one who would walk out alive.
DV,
Avoid every insititution of higher learning in the country.
Your arms will get tired before you run out of heads to crack.
>You sit fat, dumb and safe in your comfortable little seat, separated by 60 years from the worst war in history, and make such a sactimonious and mindless pronouncement!
And you sit fat, dumb, and safe in your comfortable seat, separated by 60 years from the worst war in history, and are willing to condemn the citizens of two cities. Easy to say someone should die from your chair, isn't it?
>>There were over 100,000 Japanese civilian casualties in fire bombing raids of Tokyo. Conventional weapons wreaked far more casualties than those two bombs.
And Dresden was also horrific....
Get lost, loser.
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