Hiroshima remembers the day the bomb dropped

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

So are we mass murders as touted on this forum for using the bomb or would you have rather had your grand father be on that first wave to hit japan soil ?

Wars generally do involve mass murder... The folks who don't believe that tend to believe it's some sort of holy calling.

[Sousuke 1,214]

I agree that had the allies invaded Japan, the death toll would have been very very high.

The reasons for this include:

1. Allied casualties at Okinawa

2. Civilian Suicides at Okinawa

3. There were Japanese super weapons that would have been deployed by the time of the invasion (like improved versions of the ME 262)

However, its obvious now that there were certain miscommunications between the Allies and Japan regarding the terms of surrender. One could argue another month of diplomacy and it would have ended.

Another argument is that the bomb is somewhat irrelevant when compared to B29 fire bombing. Hiroshima was not the most deadly attack for instance.

Lastly, on the fringe you have the idea that Japan may have actually had a bomb as well. Its probably not true, but there were a few witness to a bomb test in Korea. They could have delivered it to San Francisco by submarine.

With all of these factors, its hard to condemn or approve of the bombing. One thing I will say (this is from one of the people on the Manhattan Project) is that the world did sort of look at the US (at the time) as having the moral high ground so to speak, but once the bomb was dropped the country lost that.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Nuke all let God sort them out

[GandD 5,966]

It's also believed the first bomb was a signal to Russia of what we could do. The second bomb illustrating we could do it many times.

[lostinblue 1,989]

[JohnR! 5,495]

Either that or they have their heads shoved a mile deep inside their rectums.

Wars generally do involve mass murder... The folks who don't believe that tend to believe it's some sort of holy calling.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Calling war murder is grammatically incorrect.

[eieio 1,594]

Some people just don't have the capacity to understand the difference between murder and killed.

Since the atomic bomb was never classified as an illegal weapon during WW2…it was not murder. Pretty simple.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Some people just don't have the capacity to understand .......

Precisely.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Some people just don't have the capacity to understand the difference between murder and killed.

Since the atomic bomb was never classified as an illegal weapon during WW2it was not murder. Pretty simple.

It must really absolve the conscience to use a spurious legal argument to justify the deaths of 140,000 people

[ready4ONE 5,400]

It must really absolve the conscience to use a spurious legal argument to justify the deaths of 140,000 people

The Japanese government started the war and while it may be distasteful the Japanese citizens killed during the war are directly attributable to the Japanese government.

I get that you feel like all war deaths are abhorrent and I do feel sorry for everyone that suffered during WWII, but you are very clearly misusing the word murder in describing the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Bataan Death March was murder. The Nazi concentration camps were murder.

I don't get the point of view that as US citizens we need to feel that the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings were the wrong thing to do nor do I get the callous disregard for the Japanese citizens caught up in them some here have expressed. It's quite possible to recognize that the decision to drop atomic bombs was a tough call to make, but they were reasoned and complex decisions which were quite justify able at the time. Calling those decisions murder puts your point of view to the other extreme.

It would have been nice if a lovely game of tiddlywinks was the manner in which WWII was fought and decided but it is not a particularly reasonable wish.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

The Japanese government started the war and while it may be distasteful the Japanese citizens killed during the war are directly attributable to the Japanese government.

I get that you feel like all war deaths are abhorrent and I do feel sorry for everyone that suffered during WWII, but you are very clearly misusing the word murder in describing the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Bataan Death March was murder. The Nazi concentration camps were murder.

I don't get the point of view that as US citizens we need to feel that the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings were the wrong thing to do nor do I get the callous disregard for the Japanese citizens caught up in them some here have expressed. It's quite possible to recognize that the decision to drop atomic bombs was a tough call to make, but they were reasoned and complex decisions which were quite justify able at the time. Calling those decisions murder puts your point of view to the other extreme.

It would have been nice if a lovely game of tiddlywinks was the manner in which WWII was fought and decided but it is not a particularly reasonable wish.

It's a moral argument, not a legal one. From a moral perspective - it was mass murder. As I said earlier and very clearly - in the context of a war we just use different language to characterise it. Why? Because then it becomes justifiable.

Every country is morally, if not legally accountable for the actions they take in war. Look at it Iraq - supposedly legal, yet most people I'd say, recognise it as being morally wrong and that it was justified by a twisting of the law and legal definitions. Ethics and morals are distinct from the law.

Personally, I believe the people killed in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki deserve more recongition on the 70th anniversary of their deaths, than a half-baked legal 'analysis' from a group of armchair lawyers.

My only point here, is that the loss of life, commemorated last week in Japan, has been totally overlooked here in favour of nationalistic chest beating and 'look what the Japs did, they deserved it'.

Edited August 11, 2015 by Venkman

[ready4ONE 5,400]

I absolutely recognize and feel badly for the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I think it's good to commemorate and sincerely hope that they are the last victims of atomic bombs.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

When someone is trying to kill you and you fight back it ain't murder.

When you are in a fight with someone who is trying to kill you, you don't let them back up

So simple even a muddy ditch lib should be able to grasp it

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

When someone is trying to kill you and you fight back it ain't murder.

When you are in a fight with someone who is trying to kill you, you don't let them back up

So simple even a muddy ditch lib should be able to grasp it

You continue to miss the point. Never mind.