The aniversery of the only time nukes have been detonated on human beings.....

[Will Carry]

The Japanese killed 250,000 Chinese as reprisal for the Doolittle Raid. Then of course there is the Rape of Nanking where Japanese officers made bets on who could lop off the most heads with their swords. The Japanese systematically raped and murdered tens of thousands of women and children. Over 140,000 died in Nanking.

Of course don't ever forget the Bataan Death March. Or the hundreds of thousands of civilians in the Phillipines, Burma, China, Viet Nam, Korea and Manchuria that were slaughtered and raped. Or the Korean women who were enslaved and forced in to prostitution as "Comfort Girls" for the Jap army and navy. Or what about the way the Japs treated POWs? Using American POWs in experiments with chemical weapons or just starving them to death.

The Japanese made the Nazis look like Boy Scouts. The Nazis killed 6 million jews, homosexuals, gypsies, mentally handicapped and so on. The Japanese were worse than that. If we had not dropped the bomb on Hirsoshima and Nagasaki and invaded Japan, they would have lost many times more civilians than they did. Plus many young American men would have died....by the tens of thousands.

The bomb was the right thing to do at the time. I have no problem with guilt about nuking the Japs.

[vontar]

I agree.

BTW, the people that currently protest the use of those 2 nuclear weapons here is some addition things to consider.

By using those bombs when we did, it saves countless lives on both sides.

It is estimated that had it come to a land invasion of Japan, it would have cost at least 1 million American Mens lives, not to count the wounded. Also in Japan, they would have fought to the last man, woman, and child, that was their mind set at the time.

Fast forward, if 1 million American Men where removed from the population 65 years ago, many of the protesters would not have been born to protest, as so many more men would have been drafted and sent in harms way.

We did not start that war, we finished it.

As a kid growing up, my dad told me never start a fight, never throw the first punch, but he gave me permission to finish it. That is all we did.

Had Japan been able to make a weapon like that, they would have had no hard feeling about using it on us.

Germany was trying to make Nuclear weapons and best I remember the Brits kept blowing up their heavy water plants.

Also, notice, after that, we actually changed their culture.

[Will Carry]

My father was in Manila with MacAurther when they dropped the bomb. He was an 19 year old rifleman in the infantry. He always felt that if we hadn't dropped the bombs, he would have never made it home alive.

[Ebow1]

Without the bombs an invasion of either country would've been a bloodbath on both sides. We all knew then and know now that every Japanese would fight till their last breath, and Admiral Yamamoto said about us that "There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass".

[mikegideon]

I've always thought we should have popped a couple over Afghanistan on 9/11, but folks tell me that's a little harsh..

[tntnixon]

I've always thought we should have popped a couple over Afghanistan on 9/11, but folks tell me that's a little harsh..

I wouldn't tell you that. What a lot of people don't realize is that the Japanese were just as "hard core" as the Islamic terrorists. Many people are willing to give up their lives for God, country or their core beliefs. The decision that we forced upon the Japanese was that not only are you going to give your life, but everyone who looks like you and believes like you will die along with you. That is a choice that very few are willing to make.

I think if we made the Islamists face a similar decision, we would have a similar outcome.

[Guest HvyMtl]

The blind eye turned to the facts the U. S. was going to have to do a mass landing on each Japanese Island, fight across each, wiping out both combat troops and civilians, who would be ordered to attack U.S. Soldiers, and effectively eliminate the Japanese Nation, is pure revisionism on the part of some Japanese.

A weapon is a weapon. It is to be used to fight and win Wars. In this case, the use of these weapons actually shortened the war and save mass casualties on both sides. Casualties which would make the losses from the two bombs a mere drop in the bucket.

Japan did not face as much wrath as they should have. This was due to the realization of the Cold War. Where the Soviets were now a threat at the end of the War.

One must not forget, the tinge of racism Japanese culture shows to the rest of the world. That still impacts their view of all those around them, and their view of history.

[Mike.357]

sometimes when you are the nastiest dog on the block you need to get off the chain.

Well done USA

[Will Carry]

I am reading a book called "Sea Of Thunder" about Adm. William "Bull" Halsey, Cdr. Ernest Evans, Adm. Takeo Kurita and Adm. Matome Ugaki. Great book! The US Navy today dominates every ocean in the world. They are the most powerful force ever created by man. God bless'em. Go Navy. (My Ass Rides In Navy Equipment)

Edited August 8, 2010 by Will Carry

[1gewehr]

If teh Japanese had NOT surrendered after Nagasaki, Operation Downfall called for each of the nine invasion beaches to be hit with a nuke before the assault. Even with that, American casualties were STILL expected to be close to 1 million. Keep in mind that the Japanese were also killing ~100,000 Chinese and Koreans each month. Given that the invasion of Japan was expected to last at least two years, that means that dropping the bomb saved 1 million Americans, several million Japanese, and at least 2.5 million Chinese and Koreans. No matter how you cut it, the 250,000 deaths caused by the two bombs was small change to the cost of an invasion.

[tnhawk]

War always has a hight cost on economics and population. Japan knew the price, they thought their enemies would bear the worst of it however. With the introduction of nukes, the game changed. The war only ended when they saw their country could not survive if they continued fighting.

[Guest Ghostrider]

It was actually the emperor who made the decision to surrender; the jap military WANTED to fight to the last life.

I have often suggested (and been ridiculed for it) that had we not nuked japan; had the emperor not surrendered; had we been forced to proceed with downfall and coronet, that today japanese would be like big foot.

Everyone would have heard of one, but no one could ever prove that they existed.

Nukes are like the death penalty. They only work if you use them to deter others from the same behavior.

[mikegideon]

Nukes are like the death penalty. They only work if you use them to deter others from the same behavior.

...and who does that apply to today?

[Guest DRB]

We should have let China occupy Japan at the end of the war. That would have been THE END of the Japanese race.

BUT NOOOOOOOOOO - We LET them move the war to an economic front - And they are winning!

[Guest HvyMtl]

Mike, they did keep us out of a "hot" war with the Soviets. But now, I am not too sure who they keep us out of war with...

[Guest 6.8 AR]

We should have let China occupy Japan at the end of the war. That would have been THE END of the Japanese race.

BUT NOOOOOOOOOO - We LET them move the war to an economic front - And they are winning!

They may have been winning a war, but not by a long shot anymore. Their economy is in the tank like

most everyone else's.

[vontar]

I have often suggested (and been ridiculed for it) that had we not nuked japan; had the emperor not surrendered; had we been forced to proceed with downfall and coronet, that today japanese would be like big foot.

Everyone would have heard of one, but no one could ever prove that they existed.

I suspect you are right