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posted by
cmn32480
on Thursday May 12 2016, @03:37AM
from the history-is-in-the-culture-of-the-teller dept.
from the history-is-in-the-culture-of-the-teller dept.
An interesting phone interview with Carol Gluck, a professor of Japanese history at Columbia University.
"The Japanese ignore everything before Hiroshima and the Americans ignore everything after Nagasaki."
On Tuesday, President Obama announced his decision to visit Hiroshima, Japan, the site where the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb in August 1945. Obama will specifically visit Memorial Park, which commemorates the event; he will be the first sitting American president to do so, although he does not plan to offer any sort of apology. The bombing of Hiroshima killed around 100,000 people; three days later, tens of thousands more were killed after the United States bombed Nagasaki.
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How Japan and the U.S. Remember World War II
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(Score: 2) by Spook brat on Thursday May 12 2016, @04:31PM
to end a war and save the lives of your cowardly troops (of which ever side) or other civilians by deliberately attacking non-combatants is a class-A war crime.
It's more complicated than that. It's only very recently that our targeting was good enough to perform precise strikes on desired targets, which is why carpet bombing was a thing in the first place. If you wanted to hit a factory, you had to cover the entire city block to ensure it was hit. Incendiary bombs increased the reliability of the attack; secondary fires could destroy the target if the primary blast was ineffective.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were both chosen as targets because of their strategic importance for the Japanese military. [atomicarchive.com] From that last link, Hiroshima "contained the 2nd Army Headquarters, which commanded the defense of all of southern Japan. The city was a communications center, a storage point, and an assembly area for troops. . . The city of Nagasaki had been one of the largest sea ports in southern Japan and was of great war-time importance because of its many and varied industries, including the production of ordnance, ships, military equipment, and other war materials. The narrow long strip attacked was of particular importance because of its industries".
Yes, it was known that large civilian losses were going to occur as a result of the nuclear strikes on those cities. This was acceptable collateral damage at the time. Modern military analysts are still debating whether our modern style of warfare with its reduced civilian casualty rate is better or not - without these losses, a nation often maintains the will to fight, even if its means for doing so have been neutralized. What's better: more casualties now with an extended peace afterwards, or another war in just a few years' time?
My point is, the strategic nuclear attacks on Japan that ended WWII are not obvious war crimes. There are strong arguments made both then and now regarding why it was necessary, and history has shown that it was effective. This shifts the burden of proof somewhat on to those who call for Truman's lynching; in the absence of an alternate universe to check in on where the bomb wasn't dropped, it's difficult to demonstrate that another choice would have been better, or successful at all.
Death is bad, war is hell. We're trying to learn our lesson from the past, and so far current U.S. war doctrine holds that we should avoid civilian casualties as much as possible. At least that much we've recognized that our previous behavior was bad and we are trying to do better. Play armchair general all you want, you're entitled to your opinions. Please stop before crossing the line of calling for more deaths, especially from among those who were doing their best to make hard decisions.
Travel the galaxy! Meet fascinating life forms... And kill them [schlockmercenary.com]