On August 6th, 1945 at 11:02 a.m. Hiroshima had a single bomb exploded of her. On August 9th, a single bomb exploded over Nagasaki. In review of history I favor the dropping of these bombs for the reasons of that time. It did save countless thousands of lives that might have otherwise been lost.The Good:
Japan, the country that thought they would attack the USA and get away with it, surrendered on August 14th. Formal surrender ceremonies took place on September 2, 1945.Arguments for and against dropping the A-Bomb on Japan prevail to this day. All that really matters are the facts. The bombs were detonated for the sole purpose of making Japan surrender as fast as possible so as to save lives of allied forces. Emperor Hirohito, in his own words, said it was because of the A-Bombs dropped that he surrendered when he did. History proves the intended goal was achieved.
The Bad:
It was unfortunate that the people of Japan were under the control of a single person, Emperor Hirohito. Anyone that knows a drip of anything about Japanese history will know he was considered a deity, and his subjects would have done anything for their deity. I've been to Japan many times and I like Japan and the people - but WWII was way before my time and the Japan I see now is not quite the same I'm sure. If only they didn't do that nasty surprise attack.The Ugly:
Now here is an interesting FACT that liberals that bash our current efforts in Iraq never tell the public. They bash this country and say "oh, look how many innocent people American (or Bush) have killed because of Iraq" (or something similar). Yes, it's sad but there are accidental deaths of civilians in war time. However, the accidental death count fades greatly in comparison to the intentional killing of civilians with the two A-Bombs by Democratic President Truman!
14 comments:
It's important that we bear this in mind and remember it. The anti-war folks would rather that everyone join hands and sing kum-baya. The fact remains; we need to have military strength and not weakness. That means staying ahead of any "arms race" and making sure we can defend ourselves. Great post, JAD.
Oops I forgot to change my identity. Turns out there are some old posts still over at blogsnot.
Very good point pundit and I'm glad you mentioned the fire bombings. I would agree that the glow bombs get the attention because of the liberal sympathic (pathetic) movement!
Thanks!
Do you think during such ceremonies that anyone makes a comment about Pearl Harbor? Maybe a sentance like:
...and let us not forget the penalty for our sneak attack on the United States, and the death and destruction we brought upon ourselves.
I am concerned that such reprisals will be a thing of the past once a liberal president gets in. Our last liberal let A-Bomb secrets go to China and allowed the 9/11 terrorist to train in our own country.
there are serious counterindications that dropping the bombs didn't prevent anything. The Japanese were ready to surrender, and in fact offered surrender only on the condition that the Emperor not be forced to lose face. The US refused--only to grant the condition anyway after the bombing. Several of Truman's top advisors were strongly against the bombing, believing there was simply no need. Among these were General Eisenhower himself, someone with a pretty fair grasp of military strategy.
The concept also ignores other possibilities suggested at the time which could have achieved much the same goal: dropping a bomb off the coast of Japan, or in a rural section of the country rather than downtowns of major cities. If scaring the Japanese into capitulation were the goal, these would have sufficed--or even if not, would not have prevented our ability to escalate by bombing a civilian population.
Torrid, although your comment is interesting, what part of Emperor Hirohito, in his own words, said it was because of the A-Bombs dropped that he surrendered when he did. don't you understand?
Also, your "other possibilites make no sense - just read pundit's account of the hundred of thousands that were killed in fire bombs - yet they still didn't surrender.
what part of "they were willing to surrender before the bombs" don't you understand?
I don't see the relevance of Hirihito's comments. Everyone KNOWS that they surrendered because of the bombs. That's not the issue--it's would they have surrendered WITHOUT them. If you have something indicating that only bombs dropped on population centers would have caused them to surrender, bring that.
It has already been brought - especially with over 800,000 victims of the firebombing. The only thing that made them surrender was the 2 A-Bombs. Now if and when they would have surrendered otherwise, it is pure speculation. However, the reality of the facts remain.
What facts? To make the case that the bombs were necessary, it needs to be shown that dropping them was the only way to gain surrender. That's not in fact the case--we knew BEFORE dropping the bombs that they would have surrendered without them, with the condition the US agreed to when the surrender was actually signed.
I'm also entirely unconvinced by claims of Hirohito, compared to the HUNDREDS of Japanese leaders interviewed by the US Strategic Bombing Survey, which concluded that a Japanese surrender was a certainty by the end of the year, even without the bombs OR the Russian invasion. The probability was that it would happen by November 1st, they estimated.
All good comments (except the scum I had to delete). Nobody noticed the posting time for this was the same as the dropping of the Nagasaki bomb - clever I thought.
Everyone knows that Nagasaki was the 2nd target right? The city of Kokura was the primary, but the pilot reported too many clouds.
Thanks again pundit for reminding us all of that which many liberals and the Japanese would like us to forget!
Excellent comment!
"I'm also entirely unconvinced by claims of Hirohito, compared to the HUNDREDS of Japanese leaders interviewed by the US Strategic Bombing Survey, which concluded that a Japanese surrender was a certainty by the end of the year, even without the bombs OR the Russian invasion. The probability was that it would happen by November 1st, they estimated."
Wrong... Japan refused to surrender even after Hiroshima which led to the bombing of Nagasaki 3 days later.
Even then, a threat of a third delivery was necessary to convince Hirohito to surrender.
That doesn't sound like someone who was already planning to surrender, then suddenly deciding to sacrifice a possible 100,000 more lives.
How right you are loboinok. You know your history well. It was stated from Hirohito's own mouth to his people on radio that his country could not survive and his race vanish if they didn't surrender due to the force of the A-Bomb.
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