Did we really have to nuke Japan?

[saintmichaeldefendthem]

HE was not in charge. the IJA was. their belief was the Americans had only 1 bomb. it would not happen again

They believed that in spite of the fact that we told them we had another bomb and were going to use it if they didn't surrender. Anyone even remotely compassionate for the welfare of their people would have heeded that warning even if they didn't heed the first.

there was no compassion for civilians. they were nothing more than slaves. also we did drop leaflets warning civilians to leave large cities

Truman had so much compassion for Japanese civilians, that he incinerated them on a vast scale for no legitimate reason.

Considering what the Japs had been doing for the last 100 years to all their neighbors, they got off easy.

There is no doubt the Japanese military and leadership was ruthless and deserving of destruction. Innocent women and children are not worthy of such actions and if America is a just nation, seeking peace and justice for all, murdering civilians by the hundreds of thousands is something we should never condone.

America is a just nation. That's why we brought the Empire of Japan to its knees and ended its reign of terror on the Pacific Rim. Their recalcitrance led to the dropping of every bomb. Your Leftist tendency to shift responsibility is on parade here.

 

[Unkotare]

there was no compassion for civilians. they were nothing more than slaves. also we did drop leaflets warning civilians to leave large cities

Don't be ridiculous.

 

[FA_Q2]

there was no compassion for civilians. they were nothing more than slaves. also we did drop leaflets warning civilians to leave large cities

Truman had so much compassion for Japanese civilians, that he incinerated them on a vast scale for no legitimate reason.

try reading history. its all there

It sure is. I learned from it and you did not.

no you did not. imagine if you will (or can) having a brother who was in the Marines. and he was killed during the invasion. a year later you find out Truman had a weapon that would have saved his and millions and didn't use it. your satified with your borthers death right??

Your post proves you have failed to learn the history. Your entire premise is BS. No invasion was necessary.

Try to understand that Japan was defeated before the bombs were dropped. The war was over. All we needed to do was go home.

If that was true then why did they continue to fight?

Mostly because THEY didn't think the war was over. They would have continued to fight.

 

[HenryBHough]

Did we HAVE to?

Maybe not but it sure felt good at the time.

 

[gipper]

Did we HAVE to?

Maybe not but it sure felt good at the time.

It may have felt good only because our government and media, at the time, had effectively demonized the Japanese people. Made them less than human in the eyes of Americans. So murdering them on a vast scale, was accepted by Americans as good. How is this any different from what the Nazis did to Jews and others they found less than human?

Japan's military and leadership were no doubt ruthless killers, but how are they any different from what Truman did to Japanese civilians?

Japan committed many terrible atrocities against civilians, but not American civilians. They bombed Pearl Harbor killing mostly American military personnel. America bombed civilian centers killing hundreds of thousands of Japanese. How are American actions comparable or just?

 

[ImGoing2Heaven]

We had to save Christendom from the east, so yes we had to send them to hell where they belong!

 

[Unkotare]

Would most Japanese continued to fight to the death if the emperor said nothing and allowed the military to continue? The history of the Pacific War indicated they would.

History does not "indicate" that.

 

[regent]

Would most Japanese continued to fight to the death if the emperor said nothing and allowed the military to continue? The history of the Pacific War indicated they would.

History does not "indicate" that.

Would most Japanese continued to fight to the death if the emperor said nothing and allowed the military to continue? The history of the Pacific War indicated they would.

History does not "indicate" that.

I think the history of the Pacific war does so indicate. How many Japanese soldiers died needlessly for the code? It was one of differences in the Pacific war and the European war that many never understood.

 

[Unkotare]

Would most Japanese continued to fight to the death if the emperor said nothing and allowed the military to continue? The history of the Pacific War indicated they would.

History does not "indicate" that.

Would most Japanese continued to fight to the death if the emperor said nothing and allowed the military to continue? The history of the Pacific War indicated they would.

History does not "indicate" that.

I think the history of the Pacific war does so indicate. ...

You're wrong, and you need to study history in greater depth. Many Japanese soldiers would have fought to the last breath, just as many Americans would have, but the fact is that the Japanese people in general were starving, sick and tired of the war, and fed up with the government. Love of country doesn't negate that anymore than it would among Americans. If you really look at Japanese history, you'll see that surrender was not at all unheard of. It happened all the time during various periods of frequent warfare. Nobody likes it. Americans sure as hell wouldn't like it any either. What was rare in Japanese history was wholesale slaughtering of civilian populations. Most of the civilians on Okinawa, for example, were not considered 'really' Japanese, and so it was 'acceptable' to convince them that the Americans would violate and slaughter each man, woman, and child (hence, so many committed suicide as America took the island) as a tactic to slow the inevitable American march toward the 'real' main islands. Old ladies and children would not have fought to the death with sticks on Honshu in the event of a theoretical American invasion. In the fact of the actual American occupation, they did not do so.

 

[regent]

I can't speak for the feelings of the Japanese people, but I did see a few
Banzai charges that we considered a form of suicide. Also the number of Japanese soldiers that killed them selves when surrender would have given them a life.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

We had to save Christendom from the east, so yes we had to send them to hell where they belong!

"Christendom" must be pretty damn weak then.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Yes...And in the future when we get into a war with china, we will nuke three georges damn.

They have more manufacturing than we do and we can't beat them any other way.

 

[Nutz]

Yes...And in the future when we get into a war with china, we will nuke three georges damn.

They have more manufacturing than we do and we can't beat them any other way.

LOL...what an idiot. All we have to do is win the economic war against China. No need for nukes. There is no way China could feed and arm their soldiers long enough for a victory after we cut off trade with them. After we cut off their supply lines. A billion Chinamen would starve in a matter of a year.

 

[FA_Q2]

Yes...And in the future when we get into a war with china, we will nuke three georges damn.

They have more manufacturing than we do and we can't beat them any other way.

LOL...what an idiot. All we have to do is win the economic war against China. No need for nukes. There is no way China could feed and arm their soldiers long enough for a victory after we cut off trade with them. After we cut off their supply lines. A billion Chinamen would starve in a matter of a year.

Cut off trade with them?

You do understand where things are manufactured, right? Hint: it not here.

 

[Nutz]

Yes...And in the future when we get into a war with china, we will nuke three georges damn.

They have more manufacturing than we do and we can't beat them any other way.

LOL...what an idiot. All we have to do is win the economic war against China. No need for nukes. There is no way China could feed and arm their soldiers long enough for a victory after we cut off trade with them. After we cut off their supply lines. A billion Chinamen would starve in a matter of a year.

Cut off trade with them?

You do understand where things are manufactured, right? Hint: it not here.

And, you also understand we won't be using cheap TV and widgets to fight a war...right? How much of our money is needed for the Chinese economy to survive?

What, do you think two nations at war still trade?


I know...too deep and complex for you. Stick to the hate threads...boy.

 

[FA_Q2]

Yes...And in the future when we get into a war with china, we will nuke three georges damn.

They have more manufacturing than we do and we can't beat them any other way.

LOL...what an idiot. All we have to do is win the economic war against China. No need for nukes. There is no way China could feed and arm their soldiers long enough for a victory after we cut off trade with them. After we cut off their supply lines. A billion Chinamen would starve in a matter of a year.

Cut off trade with them?

You do understand where things are manufactured, right? Hint: it not here.

And, you also understand we won't be using cheap TV and widgets to fight a war...right? How much of our money is needed for the Chinese economy to survive?

What, do you think two nations at war still trade?


I know...too deep and complex for you. Stick to the hate threads...boy.

Cheap TV's and widgets - lol. You obviously don't know where things are manufactured. Its not cheap TV's that America no longer makes - its virtually all electronics. Smartphones, tablets, computers and anything electrical as well as the chap crap. China produces a LOT of things - most of which we consider to be quite high quality. Look for that made in America sticker on a unit or device - its pretty damn rare. even when you find one you will discover that most things are simply put together in the states and the actual parts are made somewhere else.

 

[Nutz]

Yes...And in the future when we get into a war with china, we will nuke three georges damn.

They have more manufacturing than we do and we can't beat them any other way.

LOL...what an idiot. All we have to do is win the economic war against China. No need for nukes. There is no way China could feed and arm their soldiers long enough for a victory after we cut off trade with them. After we cut off their supply lines. A billion Chinamen would starve in a matter of a year.

Cut off trade with them?

You do understand where things are manufactured, right? Hint: it not here.

And, you also understand we won't be using cheap TV and widgets to fight a war...right? How much of our money is needed for the Chinese economy to survive?

What, do you think two nations at war still trade?


I know...too deep and complex for you. Stick to the hate threads...boy.

Cheap TV's and widgets - lol. You obviously don't know where things are manufactured. Its not cheap TV's that America no longer makes - its virtually all electronics. Smartphones, tablets, computers and anything electrical as well as the chap crap. China produces a LOT of things - most of which we consider to be quite high quality. Look for that made in America sticker on a unit or device - its pretty damn rare. even when you find one you will discover that most things are simply put together in the states and the actual parts are made somewhere else.

Who are the consumers of cheap products if we were to go to China. How do they replace that income???? Sure, we get a lot of consumer products from China....but we don't depend on them for our military needs.

Again, if we cut off trade with China...where do they get their money? If we don't pay our debts to China...where do they get their money for their military. How do they feed their troops and afford ammunition? How long will CHinamen starve while their fathers and brothers are dying.

China already lost any war....they are dependent on the US for their economy.

 

[kflaux]

Many Japanese soldiers would have fought to the last breath, just as many Americans would have, but the fact is that the Japanese people in general were starving, sick and tired of the war, and fed up with the government. Love of country doesn't negate that anymore than it would among Americans.

Indeed

I'll just add that many people forget, if they ever knew in the first place, that the wartime J government was authoritarian, actually pretty much totalitarian. Dissent of any kind was not tolerated and was always harshly punished.

As one point on the graph, some time ago I read about a middle-aged Japanese man who wrote in a letter "I wish this war would end". The censors, who opened mail randomly, read his letter, arrested him for treason, threw him in jail, where he died before the war's end. His wife/widow and two children were left to their own devices; I think one of the children starved before war's end.

If there were no protests, letters to the editor etc advocating an end to the war, that certainly didn't mean the populace was not beyond sick of it all.

 

[whitehall]

The only argument that the pro-nukers have left is that lots of Americans would have been killed in the invasion of Japan. Can any reasonable sane human really defend that argument? Evidence, that's right, freaking evidence indicates that the Japanese were so desperate to negotiate surrender terms that they turned to Stalin when the idiot that democrats had appointed to succeed FDR seemed clueless. The hangup for surrender negotiations was the promise not to execute the Japanese emperor but Truman was bound by his dead boss's mandate of unconditional surrender and refused to negotiate terms while Stalin was lying to the Japanese about liberal terms of surrender. It's ironic but the one thing the Japanese surrender terms hinged on was authorized after Truman signed off on the incineration of two Japanese cities full of civilians.

 

[HenryBHough]

Last good thing Truman ever did.