Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Japan remembers Hiroshima
Reuters ^ | August 6, 2007 | Toru Hanai

Posted on 08/06/2007 5:13:57 AM PDT by period end of story

HIROSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) - Japan marked the 62nd anniversary of Hiroshima's atomic bombing with a solemn ceremony on Monday as the city's mayor criticized the United States for refusing to give up its nuclear weapons program.

Tens of thousands of elderly survivors, children and dignitaries gathered at the Peace Memorial Park, near ground zero where the bomb was dropped, to remember the more than 250,000 people who ultimately died from the blast.

"Even to those who managed to survive, it was hell where they envied the dead," Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba told the crowd, describing scenes from the bombing such as charred faces and torn clothes.

In a speech followed by the release of 1,000 white doves into the sky, Akiba singled out the United States for failing to halt nuclear proliferation.

"The Japanese government, which has the duty to work for the abolition of nuclear weapons through international law, should protect its pacifist constitution which it should be proud of, and clearly say 'no' to antiquated and wrong U.S. policies."

The crowd bowed their heads for a moment of silence as two children rang the Peace Bell at 8:15 a.m., the same time the Enola Gay B-29 bomber dropped the bomb on the western Japanese city on August 6, 1945.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: atombomb; hiroshima
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-59 next last
To: Pan_Yans Wife

Remember, Japan’s constitution forbids warfare as an instrument of policy. It was written by Dugout Doug.


21 posted on 08/06/2007 6:03:20 AM PDT by PzLdr ("The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am" - Darth Vader)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: period end of story

Without a doubt.

But, of course, Japan was focusing its resources on biological warfare agents, which were tested on POWs, and Chinese men, women and children and analyzed with vivisection experiments.

Don’t want nothing, don’t start nothing.


22 posted on 08/06/2007 6:09:41 AM PDT by SJSAMPLE
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: period end of story

The Japanese started a war with us...

After the experiences of Iwo Jima, Saipan, Okinawa, and a dozen other island conflicts in the Pacific, we knew what to expect if an invasion of the Japanese mainland had to take place.

President Truman rightly decided that it was better that one hundred thousand Japanese die than one more American Sailor, Soldier, or Marine. Add to that the fact that we were killing more Japanese with conventional / firebombing raids on Japanese cities than either the Hiroshima or Nagasaki bombs did. Use of the bombs probably saved millions of lives. And ended the war!


23 posted on 08/06/2007 6:21:06 AM PDT by Rummyfan (Iraq: it's not about Iraq anymore, it's about the USA!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kozak

Damned Right! Remember that picture always!


24 posted on 08/06/2007 6:29:33 AM PDT by Redleg Duke ("All gave some, and some gave all!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Kozak

I just sorry they had only two to drop.


25 posted on 08/06/2007 6:31:52 AM PDT by bmwcyle (Satan is working both sides of the street in World Socialism and World Courts.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Eric in the Ozarks

I’m not saying their constitution should be changed or that we should leave their country. I just believe it is too easy to throw stones at the government of a nation that provides your security.


26 posted on 08/06/2007 6:39:48 AM PDT by Pan_Yans Wife (Life isn't fair. It's just fairer than death, that's all.--William Goldman)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: PzLdr
I fail to produce any sympathy for them...

My father was a young airman who just finished his his training, and likley would have been deployed, had the Bomb not been dropped.

Did the Mayor also describe how the japanese treated captured US airmen?...
27 posted on 08/06/2007 6:45:08 AM PDT by jaydubya2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Pan_Yans Wife

Happens every year in early August.


28 posted on 08/06/2007 6:45:09 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (BTUs are my Beat.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: period end of story
America remembers Pearl Harbor:


29 posted on 08/06/2007 6:51:46 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilisation is aborting, buggering, and contracepting itself out of existence.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: period end of story
Of course the historical revisionists will say that the US bombed Hiroshima because of racism and the Japanese were wholly blameless for WW-II. These inflated casualty figures cited for the bombing of Hiroshima would be nothing compared to the casualties that would have occurred if the US had invaded mainland Japan. The US military had stockpiles of poison gas already in the Pacific and would likely have used that in addition to continued fire bombing of Japanese cities as part of the invasion.
30 posted on 08/06/2007 7:06:01 AM PDT by The Great RJ ("Mir we bleiwen wat mir sin" or "We want to remain what we are." ..Luxembourg motto)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ontap
Maybe they should remember Pearl Harbor!

And Nanking....and Manilla...and Unit 731....

31 posted on 08/06/2007 7:08:34 AM PDT by dfwgator (The University of Florida - Still Championship U)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: period end of story
Must...fight...the...temptation...

must...not...speak...

32 posted on 08/06/2007 7:12:51 AM PDT by gogeo (Democrats want to support the troops without actually being helpful to them.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: period end of story

Maybe you’ll think twice about attacking us next time, morons.


33 posted on 08/06/2007 7:14:39 AM PDT by newguy357
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

"... and clearly say 'no' to antiquated and wrong U.S. policies."

Well, Tadatoshi, those policies kept you from being occupied by the Red Army and if you think that would have been a picnic you're nuts. The next time you turn on a light switch in your office you can thank those same Yankee imperialist dogs who rebuilt your country after we destroyed it and figured out how to harness the power from a nuclear reaction to run the 53 nuclear power plants in Japan and for keeping your sorry, ungrateful a** free for 62 years.

34 posted on 08/06/2007 7:18:16 AM PDT by A.A. Cunningham
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: period end of story

I believe Japan was getting ready to drop a “dirty bomb” on San Francisco.


35 posted on 08/06/2007 7:24:28 AM PDT by Calvin Locke
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: period end of story
The mayor of Hiroshima has demanded that the US renounce nuclear armament in the past, most recently in an letter to the editor in the WSJ in January 2007.

A week later, my response to the mayor's letter was published in the WSJ. Here is the text of my letter:

Why Are We Still Free? Because We're Vigilant and Nuclear-Equipped

With all due respect to Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba ("With 20/20 Foresight, Mayors Around the World Join to End Nuclear War," Letters, Jan. 23), nuclear deterrence has protected U.S. soil from conventional attack, keeping our country inviolate since a few years after Imperial Japanese forces landed in the Aleutian Islands in June of 1942. For more than 60 years, the U.S. nuclear triad (aircraft, naval vessels and ICBMs) has provided the guarantee of massive retaliation in response to an attack by a rogue state, a deterrent unmatched by any other means of defense.

Prior to the development of nuclear weapons, the security of nations rested on conventional forces. These forces, while strong, were not infallible and could be bested by a dastardly surprise attack, as evidenced by the terrible events of Dec. 7, 1941. With no fear of instantaneous obliteration by way of an irresistible retaliatory nuclear strike, a nation, even in the 21st century, might feel emboldened to launch a bold strike against a fellow nation.

While the events of Sept. 11, 2001, prove that the U.S. faces a new enemy of a stateless nature, the remnants of 20th century rogue states, like Iran and North Korea, remain a threatening reality in the new millennium.

Mayor Akiba refers to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as the victims of nuclear attack. I'd ask him to consider those cities as the victims of Imperial Japanese national arrogance and temporary insanity, from a sad period in history when Japan was a rogue nation, perpetrating brutalities upon the peace-loving peoples of several countries. Until the propensity to launch ruthless surprise attacks is somehow removed from the human psyche, I must respectfully disagree with Mayor Akiba and call for the retention of U.S. nuclear retaliatory capabilities.

As an American, I sleep soundly knowing that Trident-equipped U.S. naval submarines lurk deep beneath the waves, Minuteman III missiles wait silently in their silos on the Great Plains and Air Force bombers are ready to deploy, should any nation attempt some desperate gambit and attack our country. The U.S. has the stated position of using nuclear weapons only in retaliation to an attack on our country. Until we abrogate that commitment, I support our remaining vigilant, resolute and nuclear-equipped.

I'm still awaiting a response from the Mayor. Funny, he hasn't responded.....

36 posted on 08/06/2007 7:36:36 AM PDT by Panzerfaust
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #37 Removed by Moderator

To: A.A. Cunningham

The US Army Signal Corps rewired Japan after the war. 60 cycle electricity was something entirely new to the country...


38 posted on 08/06/2007 7:55:43 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (BTUs are my Beat.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: period end of story
...the city's mayor criticized the United States for refusing to give up its nuclear weapons program.

Every Japanese citizen should thank Almighty God for the atomic bomb. It saved them, and us, from a hideous bloodbath.

39 posted on 08/06/2007 7:57:42 AM PDT by TChris (The Republican Party is merely the Democrat Party's "away" jersey - Vox Day)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: period end of story

The Japs have a very selective memory!


40 posted on 08/06/2007 9:44:17 AM PDT by TexasRepublic (Afghan protest - "Death to Dog Washers!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-59 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson