Hiroshima at 75: bitter row persists over US decision to drop the bomb

I don't think this will ever be resolved to everyone's satisfaction. Did it really shorten the war? Or was it a warning to the USSR:

 

It saved american lives . And it has kept another world war at bay because of MAD.

You can bet your ass Japan and Germany would have used it if they got it first with no guilt later on! Neither were snowflakes.

 

I had an uncle who was a marine stationed on Tinian. He was assigned to a security detail to guard the bombs. Until just before he died that was all I knew. In a discussion about the war in the Pacific he said the Japanese were ruthless killers and determined to fight to the last man. He said they almost got their wish, he told me there were more than two bombs and we would have used as many as it took to end the war. When I asked him about the other bombs he replied that, that was all he had to say about the matter. I imagine what he told me is still a secret if it's true, I have no reason to believe it's something he would lie about. He stated many times that he had no use for the Japanese and hated every one of them. My dad told me that he had seen a lot of action in the Pacific and lost a lot friends. He served from 1942 until the end of the war in 1945. I think the issue was resolved in his mind.

 

I guess the only question is whether it's okay to drop bombs on civilians.

Or anyone.

 

It's over. We need to get over it and stop judging. Killing was going on by both sides and the side that killed the most won the war. Had the Japanese had the bomb on Dec 7, 1941 they would have used it on the whole of Hawaii. Some people today are against the USA dropping the bomb but it's easy to be against it in today's time period. Those looking back and against it are trying to sound caring and intelligent. They are just showing their ignorance.

 

It shortenned the war. Whether meaningfully or not, we'll never know.

It was a warning to the Russians. Whether it prevented anything or not, we'll never know.

It was an opportunity to find out what a nuke does to a city. We learned a great deal from studying it.

It was evil. Nuking civilians can never be anything else.

 

I had a brother, a brother in law and a uncle and my wife had two uncles who would have been on ships to invade Japan had it not been for the bombs. The Japanese started it and they were absolute savages when it came to their enemies and they would have fought to the end. I believe it shortened the war, but it makes no difference. It is over and done.

 

This should be a reminder to all the snowflakes that whine about harming civilians.

Our greatest generation understood the value in it.

You fight the other side to win, with any means necessary.

 

A million or so men were poised to invade mainland Japan.
Ask them if they thought it was the right decision.

 

RIP civilians murdered by US Atomic bombs -- Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

RIP civilians murdered by US Armed Forces in Korea 1950-53, Southeast Asia 1965-73, Iraq, Yugoslavia. Total of about 3 million.

 

Evil went out the window at Pearl Harbor.

 

Murder, wrong choice of a word. Try again.

 

I prefer to be better than my enemies.

Otherwise evil innevitably wins.

 

Saipan and Okinawa showed what an invasion of mainland Japan would be like. Utter horror for all concerned.

Dropping the bomb was the right decision

 

The Germans surely thought so. Danzig, Warsaw and other European cities all got that hospitality.

I served two years in Japan when the defeat was still raw even after 25 years. Huge demonstrations took place regularly outside the gate to the base, very likely a thousand or more in their red bandanas howling how wrong we were to save a million of our own men and end a war they began by treachery beyond imagining.

One of the puzzling aspects of that whole pacification was that we needed a second bomb to finally bring Hirohito to the table. It's taken me 50 years and all I can think of is, after millennia of being told you're a god, defeat by barbarians is completely incomprehensible. From our view, it had to happen or that war would have lasted until Japan glows in the dark from our peace offerings.

 

The only question remains:

Okay to drop bombs on people?

 

And that's the thread.

 

RIP Pearl Harbor. And RIP civilians killed by the axis of evil

 

We firebombed the German city of Dresden.

Code-named Thunderclap, a plan put forth by Allied military leaders to bomb sequentially one large German city after another, the Dresden destruction began the night of February 13, 1945, when Britain's Royal Air Force sent planes to bomb the city. In all, the Royal Air Force sent 800 aircraft over Dresden, dropping incendiary bombs that caused massive devastation — not because of their initial impact, but because of the fires that ensued. The following afternoon, the U.S. 8th Air Force assaulted Dresden with 400 bombers, then continued with 200 more planes on February 15. A brief respite ensued after these February bombings, but on March 2, the U.S. 8th Air Force again bombed the city, using 400 more aircraft. Finally, the destruction of Dresden concluded with the 8th Air Force sending 572 bombers over the city on April 17.

The number of persons killed during the two-month bombing of Dresden is impossible to pinpoint precisely. Estimated casualties range from 35,000 up to 135,000.

 

In Korea 1950-53 and Southeast Asia 1965-73, about 3 million civilians were killed by US firepower.

RIP.

 

If it saves millions of other lives, the reluctant answer is yes. And do it first. That mutually assured stuff doesn't work for me.

 

As if the Cong weren't killing civilians during their attacks on U.S. troops. Or as if Pol Pot and his Killing Fields was not a harsh murderous reality.

 

Yes, and the question remains:

Is it okay to drop bombs on people?

 

So it's okay to drop bombs on people?

If, for instance, China decides to drop bombs on us, that's okay?

 

China would glow in the dark if they did. And they know it. Mutually assured destruction may not work for me but it works for U.S. defense policy. In war, NOTHING is out of bounds. EVERYTHING is on the table, so "okay" becomes a touchy subjective phrase if you really do want to win.

That said, when our factories went offshore, and China seized one industry after another here in the U.S., the Kung Flu impact on our economy clearly reminds me that patience is something China has in endless supply. They have tentacles so deep into our educational system, our economy, and our very way of life (owning entertainment companies for example) that separation is absolutely necessary for our national survival.