Posted on 08/10/2010 5:42:30 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
Last I heard Japan was only months away from dropping a bomb on US.
It was us or them.
Throughout World War II American commanders had gone out of their way to avoid civilian casualties.
On the night of 9th March, 1945, the U.S Air Force firebombed Tokyo. the resulting firestorm killed more than 100,000 people, more than died immediately in Hiroshima.
Our commanders, and specifically Gen. Curtis LeMay, were not trying to avoid civilian casualties.
Cities that had already been severely damaged by conventional bombing were eliminated from the list of those considered for atomic bombing, as this would not have provided an accurate demonstration of the power of the bomb. An exception was Nagasaki, but this was not the original target of that bombing mission. I believe that it is true that we avoided bombing Kyoto for cultural reasons and that President Truman may have been involved in this decision.
“Akin’s argument is that they were not collateral deaths: they were the target. Their deaths were not just foreseen, but intended for strategic psychological impact.”
I disagree with this premise. You don't warn folks to flee if your intention is to nuke ‘em in order to kill them.
It may be that the Japanese ultimately interpreted the Bomb as Akin believes it was intended. It may be that there were some folks involved in the execution of the attack who intended it that way. It may even be that it was an unavoidable secondary effect of the use of the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
But at least to me, it's tough to say that it was the direct, intended effect of the Bomb, considering that the American military dropped large numbers of leaflets warning Japanese to flee.
These actions suggest to me that the formal, direct, primary, intended effect was to demonstrate to the Japanese government that we could easily, readily destroy everything they had that could possibly be used to make war, every economic asset, every bit of infrastructure, every factory, every port, every airfield, every building that could possibly used in any tangential way toward the war effort, without even breaking a sweat, and therefore, further resistance was futile.
sitetest
Thanks.
For starters, the United States was NEVER even considering accepting anything less than the total surrender of Japan. People can think whatever they want, but we were going to be at war with Japan until they surrendered and this was something that the the American people completely supported.
The name of the planned invasion was “Operation Downfall” and estimates for just AMERICAN deaths ranged from around 100,000 to nearly a million. A stockpile half a million Purple Hearts were cast in anticipation of the invasion of Japan, the American military is still using this stock TODAY.
The reality is that American estimates were way off, the Japanese had more than twice the number of operational planes we thought they had. Plus, Westerners were just beginning to understand the concept of suicide missions, Japan was full of civilians (older men, women and children) who were eager to die for Japan — this is something totally different from what we encountered in Germany.
Based on what we know today, it is very possible that between the Allies and the Japanese that between three and five million people would die and two to three times that number would be seriously injured. The Atomic Bombs SAVED millions of lives.
What seems to escape some people’s attention is that it took TWO bombs with threats of more to get them to capitulate.
The first one wasn’t enough. The second one almost wasn’t enough.
It wasn’t until they realized that we were serious that they voted to surrender.
Don’t forget that this was the same country which bombed Pearl Harbor in a sneak attack while their ambassador was in Washington signing a peace treaty.
And the atrocities committed against non-Japanese by the Japanese soldiers were abominable.
They had to be stopped and if that’s what it took to do it, so be it.
I don’t hear anyone decrying their sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, or whining about the morality of THAT.
And Tojo was not nearly ready to surrender, in fact there were plans to assassinate Emperor Hirohito, to keep the war going.
Where’s the condemnation of Japan for its sneak attack on Pearl Harbor?
I guess it depends some one which country is doing the attacking....
But...but...they were only responding to our criminal embargo, don'cha know? (I'm sure eventually that is what our textbooks will end up saying)
I’d love to know where you heard that.
Japan DID NOT have an atomic bomb or anything even close to it in magnitude.
By Spring, 1945 the Japanese Navy had been pretty much destroyed and the Allies controlled the Pacific. They wouldn’t have had any means to fly a bomber to the United States.
Absolutely agree.
I may be wrong, but wasn’t it Germany that was close to having the bomb?
I think Germany was close to having something. It’s questionable if they would have ever been able to perfect it though.
Even if they did develop one they would have never been able to use it against the United States. They would have used it against either England or (and this is far more likely) the Soviet Union.
Totally disagree!!!
Thank you. That's something that is not mentioned much.
The movie is “Japan’s Longest Day” made in 1967 in Japan. The Ol’ Mizris and I were riveted.
Details, details.....
Hindsight is 20/20.
There's a world of difference between indiscriminately murdering someone and ending a war.
God's command is *Do not murder*, and yet in war, the Israelites killed and did not break that command.
Neither is capital punishment, which was instituted by God, murder.
This was not killing just for the sake of killing.
If you want to condemn the US because innocent civilians died, as they do in any war, that is your prerogative, but the Catholic church is not the boss of the United States.
If the Vatican wants to let itself be annihilated, that's their own business, but they have no business dictating to our government how it should conduct its affairs.
Nor is it reasonable or rational to apply standards from the Catholic catechism to situations which occurred BEFORE the catechism was written.
Your condemnation of the US for moral failure is appalling.
I had heard that but couldn't find anything about that on the web.
It was something on the History channel, IIRC.
It was a couple years ago, but they were allegedly working together with the Germans in assembling the bomb. I think that Germany was providing the fuel and it was en route to Japan at the time of the attacks.
I’d have to look up more on it, but it’ll have to be later.
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