Posted on 04/07/2002 7:52:03 PM PDT by Rule of Law
Some people have been saying that they are happy that Japan is talking about how they can have nukes any time they want them. These people talk about how the Japanese are our friends.
Maybe they've forgotten. Maybe they just don't care. Maybe the rice rocket in the driveway and the big color TV means more to them than what our "friends" did in WWII.
But maybe they just need to be reminded. Read this if you've got the stomach for it. But I wouldn't eat first.
And Here's some more. I haven't got the stomach to read it all. But maybe you have.
Read it and then tell me that these people are our friends and that you want them to have nukes.
For the most part, Japan has been a good friend to the US for the last 57 years. Certainly better than some other allies I could name.
The younger generations need to learn the truth about their country's atrocities from 1936-1945, as the Germans learned about their Nazi past .
However, we should not punish innocent Japanese people for what prior, vanishing generations did in the 20th century.
The atomic bomb has and could have saved more lives, but not in World War II. Maybe you ought to read up on Yalta and the Russians invasion of Manchuria.
Millions could have been saved in Cambodia by the use of the bomb or its threat, like we did in Korea, but no way. 50,000+ of our boys died to ensure millions more would meet the same fate.
They attacked a military installation, not civilians. We did everything we could to provoke the attack, knew in advance of the day and time of the attack and delayed warning our troops of it to ensure full propaganda effect, which you have eaten up with a spoon.
They do. The Japanese government's attempts at rewriting history books to downplay Japan's role in WWII have not been warmly received.
Actually, they just wanted to be left alone in the Pacific to capture the Philippines.
The British started "terror-bombimg" civilians in May of 1940, when they were far from the German city limits. No one can adequately explain what happened at Dresden where the Americans joined in the unjusified slaughter of innocent civilians, except that they had a lot of support from cowards back home, so afraid for themselves that they even thirsted for the blood of children to be spilled.
Do you think these Japanese generals gave a damn about civilians. What they needed was arms and soldiers, most of which were in Manchuria. That is why the Russia invasion of Manchuria, on the same day the Nagasaki bomb was dropped, is very important.
The Japanese Generals could not transfer their main fighting force to defend the islands. They were beaten. Stalin would then use the weapons taken from the Japanese, to wage war in Korea. But that is another story.
I'm not saying to punish them. I'm saying don't let them rearm and, especially, don't let them have nukes. How can that be considered a punishment?
And the 20th century wasn't that long ago.
You're right, there's really no comparison. We killed a lot of Indians and were none too gentle about it. And we did starve some of them out.
But I don't think we ever held contests to see who was best at disemboweling live prisoners. Nor did we do vivisection "experiments" to see how long it would take someone to die if we removed his liver.
Yeah, we killed a bunch of Indians. Some may have been tortured. But it wasn't a systematic thing. Not like the Japanese. The Indians were much more likely to torture a prisoner. That was part of the culture of many tribes. Just like it was a part of the Japanese culture.
As I pointed out, we also fed the Indians. If it hadn't been for the US Army most of them would have starved. (Government Indian agents being a corrupt bunch that stole much of what was suppose to go to the Indians.) That was our culture.
I would agree that the Japanese of today should not be punished for what was done in the past. But I don't think that keeping them from getting nuclear weapons is a punishment. And before the get nukes, I'd like to see a lot more evidence that the Japanese culture has changed. Right now, evidence points to the Japanese culture being intact with minor cosmetic changes. Though I will admit that many people are making efforts to bring about a permanent change.
You're right that evil ideas are the heart of the matter. But the Japanese and German cultures have an evil idea at the core. Both the Japanese and the Germans believe that they are the Master Race. The difference is that the German government and German people has taken steps (extreme steps) to eradicate that notion while the Japanese government and people still embrace it.
Very true. And to my thinking, the one thing that perpetuated that animalistic, methodic, systematic type of torture was the Japanese military. Throughout their history the Japanese military "caste" has been the perpetrator of the most vicious atrocities against enemies...even their own countrymen back in the 1500s.
But, in that the Japanese have been deprived of a true military for lo, these 50 years, I believe that cultural mindset may have gone by the wayside.
I agree with you that nukes would be a bad toy to reward them with, but it may be time to give them the benefit of the doubt. So long as they can prove their trustworthiness.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.