There is no question that the Japanese in the Philippines, in Shanghai were barbarians of a sort that most of us cannot imagine. They turned the streets into Nazi style concentration camps. What they did to our soldiers is unspeakable.

Read Iris Chang, The Rape of Shanghai.

However, the descendants of those who lived through the atomic bomb blasts continue to suffer.

Is that justifiable? I am not asking if what the Japanese did was justifiable. I am asking if what we did was.

Wow! I am more than a little hesitant to comment on this article, since the commenters before are all over the map so to speak! I appreciatee the sincerity of the writer, but feel a little, no alot of historical perspective is necessary! The DOD, or War Department authorised 8 atom bombs to be dropped on Japan. That's an 8 folks not a 2! The US showed great restraint, not brazen madness. More lives were lost in the conventional bombing of homeland Japan than were lost at these two targets. Should we vilify and demonise Dolittles raiders? Hindsight is always 20/20 they say! But not this time! I have met doctors and surgeons and lawyers and yes preachers who work for the sake of humankind now who were preparing to go into the mouth of the Tiger, the islands of Japan, before the bombs.

The Nuclear genie is now "out of the bottle" and we have yet to see where that leads. Don't start what you can't finish is a good lesson to one and all.

Nuclear weapons are an issue that concerns every single one of us, from a new born baby to yourself, so make your plea! And help free the world from nuclear weapons! It is your voice that speaks out for the world's future!

Go to: Millionpleas.com

It won’t take you more than 1 min.

Why don't you also paint the portraits of survivors of the Japanese invasion and occupation? These survivors and their descendants are eternally grateful to America and Americans for liberating them from the horrors of Japanese torture. It took real courage for Pres Truman to make his extremely difficult decision but the Japanese very ably forced the Americans to that course of action. It's easy to say we are all ONE and why can't we just get along. Keep telling the Japanese that.

Jane Smith Bernhardt, our beloved President Harry Truman is not here to defend himself from yours attacks, but I would like to remind you this old adage: don't judge a person until you have walked in his mocassins for two moons.

JPMinNC,

Excellent post. Thank you! I keep hoping, naively, that we learn something from history, that noncombatants are noncombatants, that all nations will dispense with nuclear weapons.

I cannot understand how we continue with this insanity knowing what we have done to the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The consequences of that hideous bombing are with these people still, not merely psychologically, but physically, and we do not know when they will end.

In the interim, the former USSR brought us Chernobyl, whose inhabitants continue to suffer to this day--children and grandchildren.

We all give lip service to right and wrong, yet nations conduct themselves following other guidelines. We cannot remain witnesses to history. How to change that?

BEHOLD the W-A-R-N-I-N-G, O' Ye/Yo 'Satanic-VersUS' Lovin, ELDERS OF Wahhabi/Ayatollah Ummah! STOP Supporting America's Over Building of Mosques and Causing Problems! Pleazzza! Note: Because abe ISHLAMi etal is Not Made in America nor Made for American(s) that, Before RAMADAN, or During Ramadan or After Ramadan ends, in less than 30 days after that but NOt more, that Ye [Wahhabi & Ayatollahi's Mouth Peices, not Peace's] Promise to stop being SATANIC here (in Kafir-Amerik-U.S.A.) Show US Kafir-Ummah & Islami-Ummah Ye really Love/want Ever Lasting [SECULAR RULE] Peace on Earth.. ELSE, ELSE, ELSE.. Thank You Talibani & Ishlami's & GOODBYE! PS:, no Bb.Ss., STOP Marrying 9-Year Old Girls! Sha-ame on folk like Irani's Ahmadinijihad & Ayatollahs & Gulf States Wahhabi's like ABDULAH' et al!
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Correction. Meant, "... It is also Prophesied that the (un)Holy AL AQSA Dome in JERU will also have a similar fate as the (un)Holy Rectangular, unlike APPLE COMPUTER'S Computer Mega Store's 'Rectangle-Box' that was on 5th Ave N.Y.C., Kaaba-Box in Mecca, Saudi ..." see:

Excerpt: 'In the business area of midtown ManHattan in New York a new bar is opened in the named of Apple Mecca which is similar to Kaaba Mecca. The muslims of New York are pressurizing Govt of USA to not open this bar.'

http://eddyra.net/news/mecca-cube-vs-apple-cube/ [Very Good Article; Takes longer to load because of great Illustrations via photos].

Note: Now The Wahhabi Guldf Elders of Al Taqiyah are against Research in Motion's "BLACK-BERRY" instead of APPLE-MECCA? See:

Excerpt: 'Officials in Saudi Arabia say the country has reached an agreement with BlackBerry, avoiding a permanent ban on the smart phone's messaging service'

http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/Saudis-BlackBerry-Maker-Strike-Deal-100182649.html

iMportant Revealtion: In NYC & other places in the 50 State of America; ISLAMi's Use such 'Technology' Here to Communicate with Their IMAM's and also Carry around Ishlami SERMON''s and or Koranaholic Sura's and Anti-KAFIR stuff or News by the minute.

From What i [WE] See the WAHABI's of Gulf/Saudi Nations & Co; are wanting to over take NYC minorities or Neighborhoods via Secret Ishlami WELFARE SYSTEM (subsidized by Ayatollah n Wahhabi n Charity place (islami Restaurants etc.. here) in this gold ole U.S. of Islam {U.S.I.}, not America! Soon soon very soon.

WHEN did any American ISHLAMi turn in Another ISLAMi in Western Nations? i.e.; Notifying OUR "Secular-Police", Government/Police, about a SATANIC VERSUS Loving Jiahhahaaadista thats about to un-veil here or there against any KAFIRs??

Letter TO: the Satanic-VersUS "WAR-BLESSING" Ummah (ishlami's & CO.) on S.S. Earth, FROM: the Apocalyptic-ON (NOt OFF's) "PEACE-BLESSING" Global-Community Prophecy;

PLEASE Wahhabi Theocracy/Monarchy, Please Ayatollah Theocracy/Monarchy et al: Please Help-Stop the imminent 'Bombing of the (un)Holy Kaaba' predicted for 2010-2012! An Inevitable Prophecy Who's time via Holyi 'TiME' com'eth. Note: NOt Armageddon, soo fogettttaaabouttttiiittt.

Will it be a Less-serious bombing/attack than the Secular's "World Trade Center"s (bldg's 1 & 2 etc.. where i [WE] used to make a living at. note: Peace Be Upon all victims of Islam et al)? or will such a realistic & very possible out-come be a more-serious/sinister awakening than the infamy acts of their beloved Islami-Ummah "MARTYR(s)" Brothers & Sisters too, aka the "MAGNIFICENT 19" [of 911] causing/Perping Secular-Amerika's 2nd Pearl Harbor in the name of my-ALLAH? The Question is; WHY did Arabian Mohammedanism came to blow-up Amerik Mountain (un-invited, like yellow belly JAP's), Because KAFIR's helped ye Discover and pump Black-CRUEL & Now, refine "Yellow Cake" etc.?

RECOMMENDATION to WAHABI Saudi's (Arabs) & Ayatollah Irani's (Persians) Ummah et al; It is highly suggested, THAT

In Order To 'Protect' or preserve the (un)Holy Kaaba in Mecca Saudi; That Ye, unlike israel building walls or an air defence system, that Satanic VersUS Lovin'it Ishlami's shall Build a Anti-Nuclear & Anti Bunker Buster Missile Dome around the entire Mecca, Kaaba metropolitan Area. AND

Have Ye Ishlami "Religious-Police" [Locally based; not of Ye secret Religious Secret Agents Abroad] to make a Duplicate (like a Painting) of the Contents of what's inside the (Ex-Idol Depository) current Kaaba of (ex-Pagan) Mecca.

SUMMARY: Pleazza IShLAMi's n Ummah,

STOP making so much Noise via such attention getting atrocities/acts and then Blaming Kafir's as if behind such Abrahamic/Vedic Jealousy's.

PS: Please WAHHABI's & AYATOLLAHi's & CO., please Surrender to 'US', surrender Ye "SUNNi-A-BOMB"s (Pakistani) & also the "SHIA-B-BOMB"s (Irani) During RAMADAN or else GOOD BYE KAABA! Note: It is also Prophesied that the (un)Holy AL AQSA Dome in JERU will also have a similar fate as the (un)Holy Rectangular Kaaba-Box in Mecca, Saudi. Please.

[Secrets Stolen via 'AL TAQIYAH'ists employed in the WEST& Northern nations & Built, with Help from Jealous Paper Tiger SINO' and Off the Advanced "KAFIR HUUMATE UMMAH" on S.pace S.hip Earth, never on Ishlami's worlds (planet 'Heaven', planet 'Hell', 'Purgatory'-place etc.].

This is NOt a Cartoon; it is More than That.

The essence of tragedy is that within each local context people do the right thing, yet the sum of those right actions is manifestly wrong. Our ethical judgement regarding any action is contingent on the context in which we place it. To say that the Hiroshima bombing was right presupposes one context (i.e., that one set of sacrifices could stop another larger set of sacrifices) while ignoring a different context (i.e., that the bomb would set a precedent of causing immense pain to the wrong set of people). Moral certitude is most worrisome, because it shows a willful failure to imagine consequences outside of a very limited context.

Human beings are born into a state of "fallenness" or imperfection or sinfulness, and cannot evolve or work their way out of that condition. So, the statement, "The need for human evolution beyond the barbaric frontier of physical warfare is obvious and vital" is both nonsensical and dangerous for the naive decisions and movements it engenders. Obama got elected due to such naivete, and now additionally has severely-injured the governmentally-hobbled USA he inherited as POTUS. The world has within its grasp and capabilities to install a reliable missile shield for the world coupled with well-enforced, realistic non-proliferation and anti-terrorism treaties, if it has the will to do so. May God help us collectively to will to do so.

sure we are all sad for what happenned...
but what we did was nothing compared to the torture of Americans and others at the hands of the sadistic japonese...
so...
better to leave the past to the past and move forward...

My father carried the steel from a Japanese mortar round in his back most of his life. So I'm a little biased; however, let's say the Trinity test was a dud. Pfftt. Nuthin'. What then? Well, the skies over Japan would've been full of B-29's raining incendiaries reducing cities to ash heaps. Tens of thousands of G.I.'s and untold millions of Japanese would've perished in the invasion of Japanese home islands. Stalin would've poured in Red Army troops and post-war Japan would've been divided into Soviet and American occupation zones, giving the Soviets an ominous military foothold in Asia. The Korean War would've gone very differently and, in fact, there probably wouldn't be a 'South' Korea today at all. The post-war Japanese industrial rebirth would've happened much slower and been much smaller, if it happened at all. If the atomic bomb hadn't been used, everything in our world today would be much different. Especially for the Japanese. And before you wallow in guilt, this horror can be laid at the feet of Hirohito, Tojo, Yamamoto and the fascist military culture they imposed on Japan. Truman had a terrible choice to make, but think what would've happened had he NOT made it.

Dear Liz Tenety et al, Please Stop Stealing me Ascii Works [This 1 of a kind Blog-Art] Deleting then Plagiarizing, Aye. O' The Jealousy! Stop Already or Ye/yo will be stopped in a very special way.!
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PEACE,PAZ,MIR,FREIDEN, SHALOM,SALAAM,AHIMSA, ZHINGYU..
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..... Credit "JJ" http://onwapo.com/

"The goal of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and partial occupation of Pakistan is eventual occupation and overt colonial rule over the Subcontinent as a whole."

Fool, you think we want responsibility for you? We have enough uneducated and diseased poor Americans in our own land, why would we want to add 600 million of YOUR uneducated and diseased poor?

Whack-o.

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I am India's expert in strategic defence and the father of India's strategic program, including the Integrated Guided Missiles Development Program. I have shown in my blog titled 'Nuclear Supremacy For India Over U.S.', which can be found by a Google search with the title, that all terrorism and insurgencies in the Indian subcontinent and in much of the rest of the world is sponsored by the C.I.A. Both Pakistan's ISI and India's RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) function as branches of the C.I.A. and participate in terrorism and insurgencies throughout the Subcontinent, under direction of the C.I.A. Yes, the ISI secretly supports the Taliban but it does so under direction from the C.I.A. whose modus operandi is support for ALL sides of a conflict to control the course of the conflict in service of its own goals. The goal of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and partial occupation of Pakistan is eventual occupation and overt colonial rule over the Subcontinent as a whole. This will not be permitted and all those participating in this enterprise, including the U.K., will be duly punished; see my blog. The document leak currently in the news has been made in preparation for abandonment of this goal and withdrawal from Afghanistan because of steps I have already taken for the nuclear destruction of New Delhi and then the coast-to-coast destruction of the United States by India with 5,000 thermonuclear warheads and extermination of its population; see my blog.