Nakagawa calls U.S. A-bombing of Japan 'an inexcusable crime'

AP ^ | 12/18/06

[sushiman]

Shoichi Nakagawa, a senior Liberal Democratic Party politician has called the U.S. atomic bombing of Japan in 1945 a crime and inexcusable.

Nakagawa, policy chief of the ruling LDP, made the comments after visiting the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, a ruling party official said.

[skinkinthegrass]

Nakagawa calls U.S. A-bombing of Japan 'an inexcusable crime'

Hmmm...the Rape of Nanking...just to name one city....do you want others????

[SunkenCiv]

What's his view about the Japanese tying weights to the feet of American captives and throwing them overboard? The US government should demand his apology and his resignation.

Japan got off light.

Before the first A-bomb was dropped, conventional incendiary bombing had leveled 45 Japanese cities. It wasn't enough to bring about surrender.

And -- something people seem to ignore -- the first A-bomb wasn't enough to bring about surrender (although there is some revisionist BS about that too).

And -- after the second A-bomb, Hirohito told his warlords that the war was going to end, because otherwise there would be no kingdom for him to pass to his son.

And -- even after the cease-fire message was recorded and distributed for broadcast, a group of officers intent on preventing the surrender were in the palace, intending to grab the emperor, but they got lost because the lights went out due to a US bomber run.

Oh, sure, the Japanese were ready to surrender. What an a-hole!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks for the ping.

[MadJack]

Did he make this pronunciation at that Shinto shrine for the war dead?
I bet he's never mentioned a word about the Bataan Death March or Unit 731.
His daddy and all his uncles should have stayed home on December 7, 1941.
Further proof we needed a dozen bombs, not just two.

[Hoodat]

Does he think the same about the rape of Nanking?

[Max in Utah]

My Father-in-Law, a WWII veteran of the Island campaign in the Pacific, used to own a Camry, and is now on his second Subaru!!

My father was on Okinawa. He always bought American cars, but he just smiled when I showed off my new Honda Civic.

[Snoopers-868th]

Unit 731 was the worst if I remember correctly. Didn't they conduct autopsy and teaching techniques on live conscience Americans?

[Nuc1]

I think AC is absolutely correct. It is the only thing that has a long term hope of stopping the madness we are facing.

Thanks for the pics. I think we need to get Roman on Iran and Syria. And implement Ann's plan.

[Bogie]

When will anyone ever get it right. The atomic bomb was the lesser of two evils. It spared millions of Japanese lives. The only other option was to burn every Japanese village to the ground with napalm.

[FlyVet]

I think it was Richard Bong, that great p-38 fighter pilot, who carried a .45 on missions, and said that if he was shot down, he'd never be taken alive. That, because he had heard tales of what the Japanese did to American fighter pilots. Such as, tying them to a tree, and slicing a steak off their buttocks, and frying it up and eating it right in front of them.

Got nuked? Action = Reaction.

[skinkinthegrass]

thanks, for the ping.

sushiman, has a "very lively" thread....ouch! :)

[skinkinthegrass]

Roman Military Maxim: "oderint dum metuant, i.e., let them hate, as long as they fear"...

[SunkenCiv]

---

January 30 -- Farm Minister Shoichi Nakagawa apologizes at the lower house Monday morning for ignoring a cabinet decision to send food-safety officials to U.S. meatpacking facilities before Japan made a decision on whether to resume beef imports.

---

[Daus]

If anyone needs a refresher course on what this 'crime' put an end to....

Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston, FDR's Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of Her Survivors

[SunkenCiv]

That was fast:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoichi_Nakagawa

[chilepepper]

the message to Japan, and to the rest of the world, could not be clearer:

Attack the United States at your own risk.

Stalin and the Soviet and Chinese hierarchy got this message (at least the gist of it), and the message of Hiroshima and Nagasaki kept the Cold War from getting any hotter than Korea, Vietnam, or Afghanistan.

the Muzzies are too stupid to have got the message, so we are still in the process of "enlightening" the Muzzies that they shouldn't mess with us. pulling stunts like 9/11 is not healthy for them.

Vengance IMHO is the real reason we pulled down Saddam and the Taliban, but it looks like the message hasn't quite reached the punchline yet since the Iranians and Syrians are still making stupid threats...

[Ditter]

Then maybe you will think twice before you bomb us again!

[DMZFrank]

How would Mr. Nagakawa charecterize Unit 731?

[WilliamofCarmichael]

I favored it back then and I'd favor the use of nukes to end once and for all the radical Muslims' war on us.

Would any American disagree -- especially after the next attack that will likely kill thousands more of us here -- or Heaven forbid, thousands of U.S. military on the battle field?