Posted on 06/30/2007 7:49:10 AM PDT by weef
TOKYO — Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma said the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan by the United States during World War II was an inevitable way to end the war, a news report said Saturday.
"I understand that the bombing ended the war, and I think that it couldn't be helped," Kyodo News agency quoted Kyuma as saying in a speech at a university in Chiba, just east of Tokyo.
Kyuma's remarks drew immediate criticism from Japanese atomic bomb survivors.
"The U.S. justifies the bombings saying they saved many American lives," said Nobuo Miyake, 78, director-general of a group of victims living in Tokyo. "It's outrageous for a Japanese politician to voice such thinking. Japan is a victim."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
It also saved the remainder of the country from being levelled with the ongoing incendiary bombing campaign which had severely damaged many cities already.
You've been to New Jersey, huh? Which exit?
Japan’s nuke project was located in what is now N Kor. They would have tested nearby if they tested. Present N Kor was the industrial heart of Korea.
Yes, that's certainly my experience also.
I think the news media, generally out great ignorance of any subject outside of popular entertainment, somehow feel obligated to find an "other side" in any news article that somehow doesn't square with their left-wing beliefs.
The equivalent to me would be something like a foreign reporter reporting on the U.S. who somehow felt compelled to find a LaRouchite every time that the subject of the Queen of England came up.
O.K. Let's rephrase that.
"The U.S. justifies the bombings saying they saved many Japanese lives."
Years later, on a business trip to Kyoto, I had a meeting with one of Japan's preeiminent material scientists. He treated me to lunch, (nagi) and during lunch, he revealed that, as a young army officer, he had been one of the first persons who went into Hiroshima after the bombing.
After I explained that, at the time, I was an "aka-chan", and my only recollection of the time was a hazy memory of adult comments about some sort of "secret weapon" being used, he said this:
"That was an awesome weapon. If Nippon had had it, Tojo Hideki undoubtedly would have used it on Los angeles and San Francisco. As you can see, I survived my trip into the devastation. Conversely, I almost certainly would not have survived the forthcoming U.S. invasion. You might say that the A-bombs made it possible for us to enjoy this lunch together."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can't get a much more personal observation and knowledgable opinion than that!
???
They also had a number of jet aircraft including a few high speed bombers..
I have never understood the significance of the manner of death in a war. Atomic bomb or conventional bomb, war is war, death is death. I would posit that an instantaneous nuclear death is far more humane than dying slowly under the resulting rubble of a conventional bomb explosion. To win a war, you must break the enemy’s will to fight. This can be accomplished in an extended bloody campaign or in a blinding flash of light. Either way, people die. The Hiroshima/Nagasaki debate is ludicrous. The anti-war crowd always calls to end war. The atomic bombs did just that.
My Dad managed to survive Okinawa and Iwo Jima. His unit was being prepared for the invasion of Japan when they dropped the bombs. He always said that if they had invaded he and most of his unit would not have survived. He thought the fighting would have been much worse than what they had seen to that point as they would have been fighting the civilian population as well as the military. He never forgave the Japanese and was grateful the bombs were used.
That might be. Quite likely. They were running out of experienced pilots.
Given the nature of war, one that had seen the use of massive fire bombing campaigns against both German and Japanese cities, what would be different about dropping an atomic bomb? Death by poisonous gas, by fire, by any number of ways is still death and that's the point. Causing the death of those you are fighting against is a proven way to stop a war. Do it often enough and your opponent will almost always want to stop fighting.
“Japan is a victim.”
Japan started the war and fought in a savage and inhumane manner against all who stood in their way. They could have surrendered earlier when defeat was inevetiable but instead readied themselves to defend to the last man, woman, and child at home. We would have lost hundreds of thousands in taking them out. They left us no choice.
“”The U.S. justifies the bombings saying they saved many American live”
Probably also saved a lot of Japanese lives too. They would have fought to the end had we landed.
Sagamihara & Yokohama, 1951-1961. Army brat.
Yokota 1961-1964 — USAF “spook” outfit...
The site, the scientists, the technicians all disappeared into the maw of the NKVD and never returned.
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