'My God What Have We Done'

Reuters ^ | Mar 28 2002

[BluesDuke]

I just wish we had not used the A-Bombs on non-combatants. There are alternatives.

The actual, specific target of the Hiroshima bomb was the headquarters of the Japanese Eighth Army - a legitimate combat target - and not the civilian population of the city. That was the military installation to which Mr. Truman referred in his announcement that the bomb had been dropped. Not a one of us here would ever favour the loss of non-combatant life, but wish though we might the bitter reality of war is that people die. By no means was the Hiroshima bomb targeted primarily toward the city's civilian population. The absence of a Japanese surrender following the Hiroshima bomb prompted the Nagasaki bombing, a bombing that said, essentially, You thought we were kidding around? Guess again - we mean business here..

Harry Truman was hardly without his faults, but I have no doubt, based upon my entire reading of the era, that had the Japanese surrendered after Hiroshima, Nagasaki would not have gone down. And, if you consider the argument that without the atomic bomb the war might have dragged on more interminably, requiring a ground assault upon the Japanese mainlands which would have delivered far more lives lost - not to mention, a Japanese adversary which tended to count its wars in decades, not years, and would likely have fought deeply enough that civilian casualities would have been unavoidable no matter how the battles were traveled - it is small wonder that, among other writings, the critic Paul Fussell could write an essay of the bombings with the title that also became the title of an anthology of his which this essay led: Thank God For The Atom Bomb.

[TPartyType]

Yeah, but do you understand? Certain things should not be an option to those who value humanity, civility honor and life.

[Lancey Howard]

Yes I understand completely.
On Hiroshima we experimented with uranium. On Nagasaki it was plutonium.
Do you understand?

[TPartyType]

I think you ought to read some Weaver. Then maybe you'd hold a more conservative than a barbaric view. Conservatives are not war mongers.

[Doc On The Bay]

My Point is--we ALREADY HAVE "Justification" to use "Whatever Means" to annihilate any & all 'Threats' to our culture!

"Al Queda" is merely a temporary irritant; we have the means & justification to "Nuke 'EM" if needed.

Our Species has moved beyond "Tribal Rivalries;" We have every right to "wipe out" potential threats to our potential Destiny.

The SPECIES known as "MAN from EARTH" is now "Going OUT!!"

NO "Cultural Throwbacks--'Islam'" are acceptible.

Doc

[Prodigal Daughter]

BRIGADIER GENERAL CARTER CLARKE
(The military intelligence officer in charge of preparing intercepted Japanese cables - the MAGIC summaries - for Truman and his advisors)

"...when we didn't need to do it, and we knew we didn't need to do it, and they knew that we knew we didn't need to do it, we used them as an experiment for two atomic bombs."

Quoted in Gar Alperovitz, The Decision To Use the Atomic Bomb, pg. 359

[TPartyType]

Read post #60.

[TPartyType]

I admit I don't understand your #63.

[koba]

The stakes have certtainly gotten higher with modern technology. Either Al-Queda wipes out the U.S. or the U.S. wipes out Al-Queda, it's that simple.

[nopardons]

Now, NOW you speak for GOD ? Shame on you !

Since you so enjoy cherrypicking scripture, to prove your ponts , please don't forget that GOD instructed the Hebrews, many times, to kill others , in war, utterly destroy the country, and kill even the old, women, chidren, and babies. Wanna rag on GOD for that ?

You don't know, and neither do I ; however , maybe, just maybe GOD directed the men, who made the A Bomb, as well as those who called for i to be dropped, and those who dropped them. : - )

[BluesDuke]

Read post #60.

And your point is? Mine, alas, still stands. Hiroshima was not a civilian-specific target; it was the headquarters city of the Japanese Eighth Army. By the way, I quite agree that we of the right are not and ought not to be warmongers. We certainly weren't in World War II. Were Mr. Roosevelt still alive, you could ask him.

[TPartyType]

War was prettier when the combatants operated under a strict code of war. Total war is an abomination. Of course cowards hide behind civilians. That's why conservatives detest such acts. And that's why I have a problem with Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I understand some good came out of it. It probably did end the war quicker. But, heaven's sake, friends, we could get any war over in a jiffy if we'd only nuke 'em again. So why don't we? Because we know we have to avoid doing so again, if at all possible. It's too horrific. (I'm not a peacenik. I'm trying to make an ethical argument here.)

[TPartyType]

Hey, Prodigal Daughter. Could you please elaborate on your #66?

[AndrewC]

and would likely have fought deeply enough that civilian casualities would have been unavoidable no matter how the battles were traveled - it is small wonder that, among other writings, the critic Paul Fussell could write an essay of the bombings with the title that also became the title of an anthology of his which this essay led: Thank God For The Atom Bomb.

Death for anyone is a sobering concern. But revisionism does not change facts.

Okinawa was the site of the only land battle in Japan during the War. American forces landed on the Kerama Islands in Okinawa on March 26, 1945, then moved onto the main island of Okinawa on April 1st. Pitched battles continued on the ground until the Japanese army's last stand in the south of the island in June. Unable to rely only on the strength of its soldiers, the Japanese side drafted civilians into a "volunteer corps" and sent them into battle. As a result, a vast number of citizens in the prefecture, including both elderly residents and children, fell victim to the war. In fact, the number of civilian deaths surpassed the loss of military personnel in this battle. While the residents were fighting for their homes and lives, the Japanese authorities were using the Battle of Okinawa to buy time for what they thought would be the decisive battle of the war: the impending battle for mainland Japan.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

One of those little things that always intrigued me was that when we bombed Nagasaki, that city was actually the third target that day. The first two targets were passed over because the clouds were too thick.

Kokura was the primary target but was obscurred by smoke from the fires caused by the previous night's bombing of Yawata and haze. Three runs were made on Kokura when Sweeney decided to head to Nagasaki, their secondary target. So writes Charles Sweeney, pilot of Bock's Car, in War's End, chapter 19.

[TPartyType]

You wrote, "Not a one of us here would ever favour the loss of non-combatant life," but that's exactly what SentryoverAmerica advocates in #60.

[okie01]

Let's test your Presidential judgment.

On the one hand, we have an option that will kill 100,000 of the enemy. And, in doing so, probably end the war.

On the other, we have an option that will kill 500,000 of the enemy and 100,000 of our own troops. Whereupon, hopefully, the war would come to an end.

And you would choose...???

[nunya bidness]

---

MANHATTAN PROJECT

Imagine a time when it all began
In the dying days of a war
A weapon that would settle the score
Whoever found it first would be sure to do their worst
They always had before...

Imagine a man where it all began
A scientist pacing the floor
In each nation always eager to explore
To build the best big stick
To turn the winning trick
But this was something more...

The big bang took and shook the world
Shot down the rising sun
the end was begun it would hit everyone
When the chain reaction was done
The big shots try to hold it back
Fools try to wish it away
The hopeful depend on a world without end
Whatever the hopeless may say

Imagine a place where it all began
They gathered from across the land
To work in the secrecy of the desert sand
All of the brightest boys
To play with the biggest toys
More than they bargained for...

Imagine a man when it all began
The pilot of "Enola Gay"
Flying out of the shockwave on that August day
All the powers that be, and the course of history,
Would be changed for evermore...

[Prodigal Daughter]

That's one of the quotes from Some prominent Americans who questioned the atomic bombing of Japan