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previous: pierre debs Maybe I am wrong, but the war was o... -- 1115635595

Re: Hiroshima

5/9/2005 12:02 PM
SpeedRacer	Re: Hiroshima The war was not over when we dropped the bomb. We demanded unconditional surrender from the Japanese, and they were coming back with lots of conditions. Given the popular anger over pearl harbor, + general xenophobia and racism of the age + war mentality.. nothing else would do. If we'd let them get by with less that what we got from Germany there might have been a popular revolt. At the same time there were a number of issues.. we were worried about the Russians coming further into asia, potential US losses if we invaded Japan (est at >200,000) not to mention collateral damage on the country. We had just taken enormous casualties in the battle for Okinawa and the other islands. (IIRC casualty rates were pushing 40%?) Time was of the essence and we wanted an end quickly. We got it. No one understood the effects of radiation exposure at the time either. I'm not saying it was a 'good thing' we did, or that it was right or wrong. It was a calculated decision made in a time of war. It may be my bias as an American, but while horrible I find it much less so than systematically rounding up people and killing them for who and what they are in my own countries.. non-combatants, women, children. While the Jews get a lot of attention (and rightly so) we also must not forget the est 5 million Russians who died in the camps, and then the gypsies and other groups which were sent to the death camps as well. Maybe a visit to the Holocaust museum would be helpful. I know it brought the whole thing home for me.. It was one of the most powerful experiences of my life As for bombing the camps, as far as I am aware we did not know until the end of the war in Europe what was happening and the suggestion of bombing civilians to possibly save more civilians does not make much sense to me. It would make more sense, I think, it more Germans had stopped and taken a hard look at what was going on and just said, "No. This is wrong.". Easier said than done to be sure, but how anyone could go along with wholesale murder of civilians like that is difficult to comprehend. Then again we have family friends who are from Dresden and her mom was there for the firebombing and never forgave the Americans for that. So perspective has a lot to do with judgement. Our satan is someone elses hero. "War is Hell" about sums it up for me.

5/9/2005 12:02 PM

SpeedRacer

Re: Hiroshima

The war was not over when we dropped the bomb. We demanded unconditional surrender from the Japanese, and they were coming back with lots of conditions. Given the popular anger over pearl harbor, + general xenophobia and racism of the age + war mentality.. nothing else would do. If we'd let them get by with less that what we got from Germany there might have been a popular revolt. At the same time there were a number of issues.. we were worried about the Russians coming further into asia, potential US losses if we invaded Japan (est at >200,000) not to mention collateral damage on the country. We had just taken enormous casualties in the battle for Okinawa and the other islands. (IIRC casualty rates were pushing 40%?) Time was of the essence and we wanted an end quickly. We got it. No one understood the effects of radiation exposure at the time either. I'm not saying it was a 'good thing' we did, or that it was right or wrong. It was a calculated decision made in a time of war. It may be my bias as an American, but while horrible I find it much less so than systematically rounding up people and killing them for who and what they are in my own countries.. non-combatants, women, children. While the Jews get a lot of attention (and rightly so) we also must not forget the est 5 million Russians who died in the camps, and then the gypsies and other groups which were sent to the death camps as well. Maybe a visit to the Holocaust museum would be helpful. I know it brought the whole thing home for me.. It was one of the most powerful experiences of my life
As for bombing the camps, as far as I am aware we did not know until the end of the war in Europe what was happening and the suggestion of bombing civilians to possibly save more civilians does not make much sense to me. It would make more sense, I think, it more Germans had stopped and taken a hard look at what was going on and just said, "No. This is wrong.". Easier said than done to be sure, but how anyone could go along with wholesale murder of civilians like that is difficult to comprehend.
Then again we have family friends who are from Dresden and her mom was there for the firebombing and never forgave the Americans for that. So perspective has a lot to do with judgement. Our satan is someone elses hero.
"War is Hell" about sums it up for me.

Replies:

pierre debs I visited a concentration camp outs... -- 5/9/2005 1:30 PM