re: fg:and so it starts.....the americans are the
The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were a terrible but necessary action.
To view the Americans actions in this instance as War Crimes is single minded and ignorant of the facts.
The Germans during WWII were in a race to produce an Atomic weapon. The conclusion of the war in Europe ended before they could complete their Nuclear program.
Considering that the German and Japanese alliance existed it would not be unreasonable to believe that the Japenese were also working on a nuclear weapon. Since the war has ended it has become clear that in fact the Japanese were close to creating a nuclear weapon.
The history of the Japenese Imperial Army during WWII would tend to show that they would not hesitate on using an atomic weapon on purely civillian targets if they were given the chance.
The behaviour of the Imperial Army both in China and the Pacific during the war matched the barbaric behaviour of the Nazis during the same War!
Do we forget the - Intentional sinking of marked hospital ships, the Machine gunning of Australian Nurses or the Mass murder of persons not of Japanese decent through out Asia and the Pacific. Do we forget the treatment of Allied Prisoner's of War seen as sub human??
The statistics of K.I.A/M.I.A and Injured personnel through out the 'Island Hopping' Pacific campaign were devastating and costly to the allies in particular the U.S.
When the Americans invaded Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Tarawa which were islands of the Japanese mainland the statistic were brutal and costly. It was estimated that to take the mainland, casualties would exceed an additional 250,000.
The Imperial Army refused to surrender and fought on after Hiroshima, though they were advised more Atomic Weapons would be dropped if they didn't surrender. It wasn't until after Nagasaki that the Emperor intervened and forced his military to surrender.
The bombing of civilian targets started with the Axis Powers. I would sugguest any responsible Commander would prefer to lose 250,000 of the enemy rather than 250,000 of his own troops!
Perhaps many Australians and Americans owe their existance to the deployment of those two Nuclear Devices.
History should be remembered the way it happened and not the way we prefer it to have happened to suit one's own political views.
War is a terrible thing, but sometimes there may be no choice.
