I was wondering why the firebombing of Tokyo -- that burned to death
100,000 people -- doesn't get the same attention as Hiroshima? Lots of German and Japanese cities were fire bombed and many thousands of civilians were killed by napalm and related incendiaries. Indeed, during the war US research labs continually sought better burning materials that would stick harder and burn hotter to Japanese buildings. Analysts worked to develop the most efficient ratio between explosives and fire -- how much explosives to use to properly blow something apart, and then fire to burn it all up; all in a way to maximize destruction. Nobody talks about this stuff.I point all this out because "the bomb" must be taken in context with the rest of the WW II, not in isolation. We also must look at the causes of WW II. That's a lot harder.
It's easy to denounce war. It's something completely different to prevent. On Sept 11, many people worldwide cheered when the World Trade Center was destroyed and thousands of people were killed. That kind of cheering seems rather warlike to me.
It's easy for someone to say in hindsight "I would not have dropped the bomb." But it's a lot harder to rethink decisions made by the Allied countries in the 1930s in response to Axis powers aggression. The Axis powers thought they had a legitimate right to do what they did. Germany felt it was unfairly screwed at the end of WW I and was only making things right. Japan felt it was unfairly shut out of world commerce by actions of western powers.
At the time, it sure seemed that Chamberlain was doing the right thing making concessions to Germany and avoiding war at that moment. That's a decision people need to rethink carefully.
Do they remember the victims of the London blitz? Do they remember the victims of the 'rape of Nanking'? The Bataan death march?
TELECOM Digest Editor's Note Note was responded to by Gene S. Berkowitz:
It has been 60 years since nuclear weapons were used. They were used only once. However, conventional weapons and new weapons (like hijacked airplanes) have been used many times.
The "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" is an interesting magazine; it has a lot of good history and international political affairs articles.
However, I don't agree with their general theme.
As I understood it, the Bulletin was established by some scientists from the Manhattan Project who were opposed to using the bomb they created against Japan. They intended it for use against Germany, but they objected for use in Japan. In my opinion, those who objected at the time did not understand the situation as well as the political leaders who had to make the actual decision. The scientists had been busy in their laboratories and didn't realize the horrors and casualties Allied soldiers suffered in the war in the Pacific. The scientists knew firsthand how evil Germany was. But Japan's military government was just as bad and had to be completely removed from power. Their actions at the time as well as subsequent history shows clearly that military government was not about to step away despite a string of defeats.
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A group of World War Two veterans in a counter-demonstration over the weekend at Arlington Cemetery carried banners which stated 'had there been no Pearl Harbor there would have been no Hiroshima.' PAT]