Posted on 04/10/2024 8:04:03 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A group in Hiroshima opposed to nuclear weapons on Wednesday criticized a U.S. lawmaker's remarks on the use of an atomic bomb as a metaphor describing a way to end the prolonged conflict in the Gaza Strip.
The Hiroshima Congress against A- and H-Bombs sent a letter to Republican congressman Tim Walberg and demanded he retract his March 25 remarks calling for an end to the conflict in the Palestinian enclave "like Nagasaki and Hiroshima" to "get it over quick."
"It is extremely inappropriate to mention Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a metaphor for swiftly ending a war," the antinuclear group said. Both cities were devastated by the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing.
"We are disappointed about the ignorance and insensitiveness to the suffering and misery caused by the atomic bombings," it wrote, calling on the Michigan lawmaker to visit the two Japanese cities and talk with atomic bomb survivors.
Tadatoshi Akiba, head of the group and a former Hiroshima mayor, told a press conference that a "widely prevailing U.S. public opinion" that the nuclear bombings hastened Japan's surrender and the end of World War II should be changed.
Walberg's remarks at a local town hall meeting went viral after the video circulated on social media, drawing criticism from Democrats in the United States and Japan's main opposition, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, among others.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa told a news conference last week that there is "no need at this moment" for Tokyo to lodge a protest against the remarks.
Kenta Izumi, chief of the CDPJ, has said it is "unbelievable" that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, whose constituency as a lawmaker is in Hiroshima, has not shown his view on the issue.
In Gaza, the Israeli military has been fighting against Hamas since the Palestinian militant group launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct 7.
Yes, my Grandfather was on of them.
I didn’t suggest Israel nuke Gaza.
I know about the Doolittle raid.
You need to read better.
Tell me where I was wrong? Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear. Doolittle was conventional.
Many fewer U.S. soldiers and sailors would have died if FDR required the USSR to declare was on Japan immediately. Those men should have lived.
What BS! Obviously you never heard of Operation Starvation, Mr. WWII expert. No, the conventional bombing of Japan was not going to end the war. Highly effective, my big toe. The only thing the fire bombings did was to marginally affect what was left of Japanese industry’s individual presses and drills located in homes. The loss of a few hundred thousand civilians meant nothing when Ketsu-Go planned to put a pike or club or grenade in every Japanese man, woman and child’s hands to kill the American invaders. The Japanese planned on tens of millions dying. Why don’t you read about Operation Downfall and its run up before you parade your lack of knowledge of WWII?
I believe I said it was a perfect metaphor. You used the term first, apparently not knowing what that means either.
“a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not LITERALLY applicable.”
Don’t get me started on fdr.
“FDR should have demanded that Russia declare war on Japan immediately. The war in Asia would have ended a lot sooner.”
Umm, I think the Soviets had their hands a little full at that point. Totally unrealistic thing to suggest.
It did end the war in Japan a week later.
Doolittle was too little?
I concur with Walberg
Gaza AND Iran would be perfect cases for the use of Neutron weapons which the Israelis likely could already possess..
Didn’t they invent that technology in the first place? Use it .
We certainly know all about the Doolittle raid, but apparently you don’t as you seem to be confounding it with later bombings raids that actually did damage to Japan. The Doolittle raid was more about morale than anything and did little damage to Japan. It was meant to shake Japan’s confidence in its invulnerability. Since it occurred well before any of the island hopping campaign, it was a small scale carrier based force that was at the outer limits of its effective range (bombers had to land in China after the raid). Larger scale raids did not take place until later in the war, after island bases such as Guadalcanal were occupied. IncreAsing the effectiveness of bombing raids was also much of the impetus behind taking Iwo Jima and Okinawa, since these provided forward bases within range for fighter escorts for the bombers.
Perhaps all those good citizens should think about the fact that those bombs (only 2) probably saved about 10,000,000 (that’s TEN MILLION) Japanese Lives!
BECAUES, YES WE WOULD HAVE PUSHED FOR TOTAL SURRENDER!!!!
I use the Doolittle Raid as an example, people might know about. The point is, that the United States bombed Japan into rubble with conventional bombing. Far more damage was done with conventional bombing than with atomic bombing.
Hate to tell you this but the “Doolittle Raid” did NOTHING but raise morale back home.
Now Curtis LeMay firebombing the hell out of Tokyo and a lot of other cities helped a lot, but until Hiroshima and Nagasaki the Japanese Military was still teaching their civilian population (including children) to fight with BAMBOO STICKS.
10’s of millions would have died on the Home Islands in pointless resistance to the combined allied military might at that point!
And the “Doolittle Raid” did NOTHING, they dropped a few bombs on Tokyo with little damage to show and lost all of their planes and almost all of their crews, that raid pretty much proved that B-25 bombers were NOT Carrier Planes
What the turning point for the US Navy was the Midway Battle, where Navy Carrier air groups kicked the crap out of the Jap carriers.
The Imperial Japanese Navy never recovered.
"Mission Accomplished!"
Regards,
FDR could have "demanded" all he wanted - Stalin wouldn't have budged.
Regards,
Factually untrue!
Of the 16 crews involved, 14 returned to the United States or reached the safety of American forces, though one man was killed while bailing out.
-Wikipedia
Regards,
“Walberg’s remarks at a local town hall meeting went viral after the video circulated on social media, drawing criticism from Democrats in the United States and Japan’s main opposition, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, among others.”
Once you consider who the US Ambassador to Japan is, Rahm Emanuel, you know that this complaint originated from the DNC. That’s how things work now.
They should carefully consider those of us who think we still owe them one for Yoko Ono.
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