Yes, that like ruins (and conflicts with) an otherwise fine article.
My dad was the perennial Memorial Day speaker in my hometown, and in 1995 he made the papers after his speech, shown here:
It was the year of the 50th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, and my dad got up there and said it was the right thing to do. Completely unapologetic, matter of fact. Up here in liberal Massachusetts, that non-PC talk is akin to heresy. Didn't faze him at all.
The newspaper headline said something like "WWII Veteran Advocates Use of Nuclear Weapons on Japanese".
Whether we burnt it down for an excellent reason or for a despicable reason (n.b. I lean towards the former) the fact is, we burnt it to the ground. Not only did they rebuild it, they still have the wherewithal to survive this disaster that was 100x worse than the one in Haiti. By getting caught believing that the author is questioning the wisdom of bombing Tokyo, you’re potentially missing the entire point of the comparison between Haiti and Japan, which is a pity because he makes an absolutely excellent point, and he makes it well.
US Air Force was established until 1947.
Oh yeah - apropos of nothing, we just went over there and burned down Tokyo. What a bunch of crap!
At least he could have tried to get it right; U.S. Army Air Corps, not Air Force.
Having read through the thread, I know that this was already pointed out to you, but, I’ll add my 2 cents worth anyway. You totally and completely misread the author’s intent of his words. He was attempting to compare the difference between the two cities hard hit by large earthquakes - the Japanese, after suffering significant damage to Tokyo (not to mention Hiroshima and Nagasaki), managed to rebuild. Whereas, despite all the foreign aid that has poored into Haiti, nothing!! I’m at a loss for how some on FR manage to fail to see the forest because of the trees.
They deserved every bit of it:
Partial list of B-29 missions against Tokyo
* 19 February 1945: 119 B-29s hit port and urban area
* 25 February 1945: 174 B-29s dropping incendiaries destroy ~28,000 buildings
* 4 March 1945: 159 B-29s hit urban area[3]
* 10 March 1945: 334 B-29s dropping incendiaries destroy ~267,000 buildings; ~25% of city[3] (Operation Meetinghouse) killing some 100,000
* 2 April 1945: >100 B-29s bomb the Nakajima aircraft factory
* 3 April 1945: 68 B-29s bomb the Koizumi aircraft factory and urban areas in Tokyo
* 7 April 1945: 101 B-29s bomb the Nakajima aircraft factory.
* 13 April 1945: 327 B-29s bomb the arsenal area
* 15 April 1945: 109 B-29s hit urban area
* 24 May 1945: 520 B-29s bomb urban-industrial area south of the Imperial Palace
* 26 May 1945: 464 B-29s bomb urban area immediately south of the Imperial Palace
* 20 July 1945: 1 B-29 drops a Pumpkin bomb (bomb with same ballistics as the Fat Man nuclear bomb) through overcast aiming at but missing the Imperial Palace[8]
* 8 August 1945: ~60 B-29s bomb the aircraft factory and arsenal
* 10 August 1945: 70 B-29s bomb the arsenal complex
You might have added a sarcasm tag on “Oh yeah - apropos of nothing, we just went over there and burned down Tokyo. What a bunch of crap!
I misinterpreted your comment twice.
However the author does make a valid point.
My comment
The difference between Haiti and Japan.
Japan knew that earth quake/ tsunami was a probability and prepared.
Haiti knew earthquake was a probability and did not.
World flooded Haiti with assistance and still have Haiti as was before.
Japan is back and getting back on its game. What has it been 2 weeks.
Prepare for the worst hope for the best.