Interesting article about Nagasaki after the atomic bomb attack

Jstas

Written by George Weller about a month after the attacks. It was originally censored by MacArthur and just now was released for public viewing.

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/specials/0506/0617weller.html

AsSiMiLaTeD

Alot of people call that a big black eye for the U.S.

IMO this pales in comparison to what we did in Dresden...

MacLeod

Not me! This ended the war and saved thousands of American lives.

If there hadnt been a Pearl Harbor, there wouldnt have been a Nagasaki!

ND13

Originally posted by Polkmaniac
Alot of people call that a big black eye for the U.S.

IMO this pales in comparison to what we did in Dresden...

Here you go http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II#Was_the_bombing_a_war_crime.3F

Frank Z

Originally posted by MacLeod
Not me! This ended the war and saved thousands of American lives.

If there hadnt been a Pearl Harbor, there wouldnt have been a Nagasaki!

x2



..and I can think of a few places that might need a pre-emptive strike in the not to distant future.

bikezappa

ND13 nice encyclopedia site.

Good data, without opinions.

Very rare in these days of misinformation.

Thanks

Peter

AsSiMiLaTeD

This thread probably isn't headed in the right direction...

I read that article just before you posted it, and it appears to be based mostly in fact...but nothing is without bias. Any way you slice it, killing 250,000 people or just 25,000 people, what we did there was wrong, period. THis was a city of little (if any) military significance, no matter what we're told to believe.

That is a good article, but is a bit one-sided as they only touch on the gross error in judgement we used in targeting Dresden...

bikezappa

...but nothing is without bias.

2+2=4 has no bias.

Math has no bias, just rules.

You are correct that most all news today is biased.

Watts=VoltsXCurrent

Music is the best.

ND13

Originally posted by Polkmaniac
This thread probably isn't headed in the right direction...

I read that article just before you posted it, and it appears to be based mostly in fact...but nothing is without bias. Any way you slice it, killing 250,000 people or just 25,000 people, what we did there was wrong, period. THis was a city of little (if any) military significance, no matter what we're told to believe.

That is a good article, but is a bit one-sided as they only touch on the gross error in judgement we used in targeting Dresden...

I don't want to get into politics, all I have to say is we(allies) did what was necessary to end the war, on both fronts, as quickly as possible without excessive losses to OUR boys. They knew the bomb was powerful, but because of the lack of time, resources and testing(secretive locals)ranges, they had no clue what it would do in an urban setting.

MacLeod

Better them than us!

I know that sounds cold and cruel but Id rather wipe out one of their cities than have out soldiers killed in the multitude of battles that it would have taken to conquer them without the A bomb. Im sorry lives had to be lost but thats what happens in war and its a war THEY STARTED!

I veiw war like a street fight. If youre walking down the street minding your own business and some dude comes by and sucker punches you youre naturaly gonna fight back. This guy is obviously trying to hurt you possibly kill you even. Is it fair to pick up a crowbar and knock his teeth thru the back of his head? Of course it is.

It was a war and they were trying to kill us. They were especially brutal and cruel to our POW's and not piddly crap like playing Christina Aguilera music or making them wear panties over their heads, we're talking brutal torture and torment!

Bottom line though is IT WORKED!!! We dropped the bomb and flattened 2 of their cities and they surrendered ending the war and saving many thousands of Allied lives!

As Sgt Rock says "war is hell".

ND13

The German's were only weeks away from their own nuke. They were trying to share the technology with Japan. I promise you this, if Japan would have had the technology or if the ****'s were finished with their's, they would have bombed us in a blink of an eye, and we'd all be speaking german or Japanese.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Yeah, but it's since been found that our masacre at Dresden had little or no impact on the outcome of the war...hell, most of the peole killed there were refugees...

I'd agree that berlin, and pretty much every other city we bombed was necessary to fight the war...but we made a big mistake with Dresden...

As for H&K...we you guys said it best, they had that coming...

ohskigod

war is hell. mistakes happen.

cold? sure
true. yeah

plain and simple

ohskigod

forgot to add that hindsight is allways 20/20.

bikezappa

I think there would be far fewer wars and deaths if the politicians that declared war were required to send their own children to war.

That was a biased statement.

Some corporations have been making Billions of dollars every year preparing for war and engaging in war.

That is biased also.

ohskigod

war is a fact of life, wether politicians kids fight in it or not. sitting around and doing nothing when problems arise and threats to your security arise is not a valid responce if you want to live as a society for a long time. its human nature. someone allways starts crap and conflicts ensue. God created us, so blame him :rolleyes:

exalted512

The US wanted to stay out of that war. They bombed Pearl Harbor when we had done nothing to provoke warfare. Its like my dad used to say when me and my brother would fight, "I dont care who started it, I'm ending it"
-Cody

Jstas

Wrong.

The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor because of sanctions put on Japanese commerce by the US and the fact that those sanctions were destroying the Japanese economy. Why those sanctions were in place, I cannot remember but the bombing of Pearl Harbor took place to get the U.S. to relieve the sanctions. It sure did relieve the sanctions but brought war with it.

Mjr7531

Originally posted by Jstas
Wrong.

The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor because of sanctions put on Japanese commerce by the US and the fact that those sanctions were destroying the Japanese economy. Why those sanctions were in place, I cannot remember but the bombing of Pearl Harbor took place to get the U.S. to relieve the sanctions. It sure did relieve the sanctions but brought war with it.

It's no different from today, we didn't want to send them oil because they were attacking countries in a manner that we felt they shouldn't, neutral or not, it was the US's right to choose, such as sanctions we place today, it is our choice to choose with whom we trade.

EDIT: I'm just pointing what I think, no intentions to get nasty to anybody, including everybody.

exalted512

Originally posted by Mjr7531
It's no different from today, we didn't want to send them oil because they were attacking countries in a manner that we felt they shouldn't, neutral or not, it was the US's right to choose, such as sanctions we place today, it is our choice to choose with whom we trade.

exactly. We did not provoke warfare, they took the first shot at us first, then we reacted...and its all history after that(or so would say my college prof)
-Cody