In the recent discussion about nuclear weapons, some people say, including Iran, that the U.S. has used nuclear without need against countries, but doesn’t want any one else to. Therefore, they say, we are hogging the power and want to te the world. However much I can agree with the last statement, the U.S. did not use atomic weapons against Japan for no reason.
It was clearly evident in the months leading up to the end of the war that Japan was becoming more and more desperate. With Japan in the early ‘40s, “desperate” meant “suicidal.” In Okinawa, the Japanese fought to the and many American lives were lost because we had to kill every single one of the enemy. That battle was the terminus of a growing tendency of . The kamikazes were becoming more and more devastating to our navy by the day.
This mentality is a direct result of Shintoism. Shintoism worships the ancestors. You’re supposed to please your ancestors the best way you can. The best way to please them is to become a warrior and (preferably) die. This fanaticism lead to, in this case, the Japanese generals attempting to wrest control from the emperor, because he wanted to surrender to the U.S. after the had been dropped.
Anyway, the plan of invasion, though probably successful, would have ended up in millions of lives lost on both sides. The Japanese were developing kamikaze subs, tanks, , and everything else that blew up. They were also mounting defenses on the shore. The government was educating the people on how to resist the American forces and how to die in honor. For the invasion plan, go here.
If the U.S. were intent on being cruel and ruthless, we would have dropped a nuke on Tokyo, Kyoto, or some other more populous city. That would have had a larger effect in lives. But that was not our intention. We dropped it on Hiroshima and Nagasaki because they were strategic places and did not involve a catastrophic loss of life.
Not to mention that after the surrender, we came in there and general Macarthur rebuilt the country. We required them to give up radical Shintoism and the worship of the emperor. We gave them a constitution that promoted growth and wealth. Wait a second; maybe that’s what we should do in Iraq. Oh yeah, we are under the U.N. now, which forbids anything that might solve a situation. Anyway, this productive reform instituted by us is why Japan is such an economical super-power today.
I hope you anti-Americans will realize now the facts of Hiroshima and move on to something else.
May 2nd, 2006 at 8:39 pm
Of course what I have always found remarkable about that whole sordid affair is that SOMEHOW the Japanese figured out that we had only enough time to refine enough enriched uranium to make the one big uranium bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. They didn’t think we had any others so we had to prove it by dropping the plutonium bomb on Nagasaki.
But, yes, as of right now, justified or not, only the United States has ever used nuclear weapons in action.
May 2nd, 2006 at 8:43 pm
You got it.
May 3rd, 2006 at 9:08 pm
Interesting in the discussion of “America Yucky” is that no one would dare say “Japan Yucky” in light of Pearl Harbor. Or “Germans Yucky” for Naziism. But America is always vilified as a nation when other militant groups are distinguished from their country. I guess that would be considerate and we can’t have that now, can we? Oh, yes and “France Yucky” for….ummm…bad moustaches and berets. PS-Al tell Dad I need an “A”
May 4th, 2006 at 9:57 am
Man, I must have wrote a good post, everyone agrees with me, and states things that I wanted to say. (and have said)
No, Sloaneus, I cannot cheat. But I’ll tell him.