Israel forced to apologise over offensive Hiroshima comments

''The stretch of road upon which we now travelled brought ever worsening scenes of horror. I saw many women with their children held in their arms running, burning and then falling and not getting back up. We passed masses of people made up of four or five corpses, each probably a family, visible only as a pile of burned substance no larger than a small child. Many men and women fell over suddenly without having caught fire.... Silently and with the last of their force, women tried to save their children. They carried them pressed close. Many of these children were already dead, without their mothers knowing.''


http://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=55

 

During the battle of Okinawa alone, the death toll look like this -

148,136 Okinawan civilians
74,796 Imperial Japanese soldiers
14,005 U.S. soldiers
a small number of people from South Korea (189)
the U.K. (82)
North Korea (82)
Taiwan (2

The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the war and probably saved more lives in the bigger picture. I wish it could have not happened but it did and the Japanese were in full fury to fight for the motherland !

 

On this day, U.S. warplanes launch a new bombing offensive against Japan, dropping 2,000 tons of incendiary bombs on Tokyo over the course of the next 48 hours. Almost 16 square miles in and around the Japanese capital were incinerated, and between 80,000 and 130,000 Japanese civilians were killed in the worst single firestorm in recorded history.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/firebombing-of-tokyo

 

It's like you didn't read the thread.

 

Which is exactly why they should have known an unconditional surrender was needed.

Japanese air defense was awful.

When facing an enemy that can obliterate you with relative ease, you either surrender unconditionally or you face possible extinction.

Had we wanted to, we could have removed all Japanese from the planet. Instead, we just used them as a testing ground essentially.

 

That is not an unreasonable assumption/claim. Still even if that (the above quote) is true would the world had been better off if Hitler had gotten the bomb? Or the USSR? Whoever answers yes must be history challenged, or of pure Aryan blood and are certainly not on the list of those considered ‘undesirables’ by the Nazis of WW2 Germany. Personally speaking even considering the many faults of the USA government, many of them a fairly recent acquisition ie after 1950, I am happy the USA got the bomb first during WW2. However, I am sure there are some here at PF ie those that lack of ability in critical cerebral areas that enable most of us to chew gum and walk simultaneously would rather Nazi Germany to have acquired the A- bomb before the USA during WW2. I am referencing the ‘usual suspects‘. How can anyone debate with anyone that feels an A bomb enabled Hitler is a good thing?

reva

 

You, the USA, is inhumane. It has no honor what so ever. It is the Empire of the Anti Christ. And your words just proved those statements to be 100% true. The USA is the enemy of us all.

 

Alfalfa provided most of the information that is required in order to judge the case of the USA killing hundreds of thousands of civilians with 2 A-bombs, namely:

1) That the US leadership was faced with the disagreement of many very senior military figures that the use of the bombs on civilian centres was absolutely NOT a military necessity. Equally vehement disagreements of ethical and moral grounds came from scientists and sociologists. But Truman went ahead anyway.

2) That the arguments most commonly put forward in defence of the use of 2 A-bombs, namely that by using the bomb millions of allied lives were saved, is nothing but fragile speculation, given the position that the Japanese found themselves in (see below). This fact can no longer be ignored or swept under the rug on the basis of one or another speculative theory. Evidence is provided in an interview with ‘hawk’ Twenty-First Bomber Command, Major General Curtis E. LeMay:

3) That the surrender by Japan was made complicated for them by the threat to prosecute the Japanese Emperor. Consider the following Wiki quote:

It would have been the equivalent of prosecuting the Queen wrapped in the Dalai Lama. Acting Secretary of State Joseph Grew reasoned that a change of terms assuring Japan that their Emperor would not be displaced or harmed seemed likely to end the war.

4) So, if the terms of the surrender had been altered to remove threats to the Emperor, then this, combined with the dramatic impact of the forthcoming Russian declaration of War against Japan once Germany was defeated, was clearly understood by the Japanese, and would have hastened the surrender even further. In fact this happened on August 8, 1945. The Hiroshima bombing took place on August 6 and that of Nagasaki on August 9.

5) And if, having properly considered all of this, it was still considered by the US to be necessary to add even more ‘push’, this could have been equally (if not more) impressive done by bombing some uninhabited islands in Tokyo Bay.

[Main reference for the above facts and quotes: http://www.doug-long.com/ga1.htm]

But as Serfin’ USA noted, the US wanted to show its power to the Russians. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki#Hibakusha So Truman ordered the deaths of 450 000 Japanese. The initial rate of death in those 4 days was higher than that of any other case of genocide in World history, closely followed by the Tokyo firestorm.

 

No, I think you'll find humanity is what lacks honor.

The only difference between us and the rest of the world is our power.

And when we fall, someone else will take up the mantle of power.

Look through history, and every major power is very similar. It's life, so get used to it.

 

Dude I think serfin was agreeing with you. Allegorical, may I ask you a couple of questions? Are you male or female? Blonde? No, not an insult I really want to know....


reva

 

England wasn't much better during their colonial invasions and wars. Are you willing to condemn England as the "anti-christ" as you do the US?

 

When you fall? You are falling and our fear is that you take us with you.

No the World has a chance to kick out your bloody Corperates and Arms makers, who you, America, were duped into thinking were your mates by Edward Bernays and his gangs of Freudians and find ourselves again. Of course there will be greater and richer powers by none as Insidious and wicked as you have allowed your PtB to be.

 

Yes also something it took me a long time to learn and yes I was blonde before I began shaving my head, lol but the thing I learned the hard way is; The world is not fair, nor is life fair, and the worst part is most people do not care about you when it goes beyond talking the talk, if you know what I mean. That is why I was so awed by truly religious (not the fair weather wanna’ be types) folk.

reva

 

I do not defend and never have defended the British Empire.

That though was of a different time and a different mind set and of course the injustices and sheer ignorance of some of the Acts of the British make one weep, literally. Where any Empire different ? And they were Empire they didn't say they were anything else .................

No no no this one is different. It is a false Idol. Pretending it is Gods gift to man kind and stabbing all Gods children in the back. killers of Hope is correct

try read Killing Hope by William Blum

As for the British we have faced our faults as a nation which is why Blairs tyranny was so much more painful to us ............. when wounds of the past were healing, when guilt was not so painful, when Ireland was over it was a nice feeling walking down the road we had begun to feel comfy with ourselves again but Afghanistan and then Iraq ........finni .......................You have all that yet to come

 

More or less, but we can logically assume that greater death tolls will occur as technology advances.

Although the atomic bomb was impressive for its time, it pales in comparison to hydrogen weapons.

Also, the neutron bomb is probably the most effective nuclear weapon due to the fact that you can occupy an area affected by it in a relatively short amount of time afterwards.

If there is any constant in human history, it's that we are exceptionally creative at finding new ways to kill each other.

 

Keep telling yourself that. The greater the power level, the more corrupting it becomes.

And again, as technology advances, there will be more power to usurp.

There will probably come a time in the not so distant future that America will be seen as relatively merciful compared to what comes after us. Just consider yourself lucky if you don't live long enough to experience it.

 

Should anybody use nuclear weapons there will not be anybody left to occupy anyplace afterwards.

It doesn't have to be that way. All we have to do is to proscribe death and outlaw any industries which lead to it. You'll have to give up your guns, of course.

 

I believe we are better than you do.

 

Fair enough. England is the "anti-christ" as well.

 

Should have gone to Specsavers...

 

Admiration for Blum is about the one thing you and I have in common. I recommend 'Rogue State', if you haven't already read it. I recommend all 'patriotic' Americans read it too.

 

Britain is complicit .......point scoring is not how we shall make this World the better place it and we all deserves to be. And that is you problem.

When the British were kicked out of all their regions of influence and or control at least there were concrete charges against us at least it was tangible.

The poor old US, I shall be kind, naive public have been told for so long that they are the goodies and the rest of us are the baddies that they believe it but all that you have done is so insidious the messes so tangled, and were never a tangible Empire, for God forbid that The Land of the Free should be an Empire, so that it is possible to meet concrete charges are challenged with un American ( for that is all Manning was charged with and imprisoned for) or mad conspiracy theory or but it was just one person .a fluke or they started it or on and on excuses and what evers.

 

Pity the British, for god has not made an empire so narcissistic and self absorbed...

...except for the French.

 

Seeing as how governments will always need guns, so will individuals to protect themselves from government (and from each other).

 

I can't see the point of sewing oneself into a bag.