[SJSAMPLE]

Pat Buchanan wasn't a young Marine waiting on a transport off the coast of the Japanes islands. He wasn't contemplating the horrors that he would have faced in the invasion of the Japanese mainland. And he certainly wasn't a veteran of numerous island-hopping campaigns that claimed THOUSANDS of lives.

I'm most interested in his use of the term "defenseless."

[Balto_Boy]

Pat Buchanan also wasn't one of the 5-15 million Chinese who were slaughtered in Japan's war against China, which if I'm correct was still being waged by this "prostrate" nation at the time the bombs were dropped.

Hi also doesn't tell us what alternative to the bomb was available that would not have endangered American live and would have resulted in fewer Japanese deaths.

[Stay the course]

Two atomic bombs almost weren't enough. The military members on Japan's ruling council wanted to fight on even after the second bomb was dropped, and the emperor had to be consulted to break the deadlock. Allied commanders estimated up to a million casualties from an invasion, and many millions of Japanese would probably have died. I'm always amazed when people suggest that Truman had any other choice.