Son of Pilot Who Dropped A-Bomb Opposes,

[Takeda Shingen]

Originally Posted by Zachstar

Ah the usual "OMG THE END OF THE WORLD BECAUSE WE APOLOGIZED FOR SOMETHING OLE GRANDPA DID!!!!!"

For some WW2 just wont end. Again I note how some people went nuts over a Admiral from the Navy of Japan saying a prayer and a saying of peace at the site of a discovered minisub that had gotten into Pearl and Fired its torpedoes.

Well, it really wouldn't be such a big deal if, as Ducimus pointed out, we were dealing with a country that acknowledged it's attrocities committed against a multitude of peoples and nations.

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by Takeda Shingen

Well, it really wouldn't be such a big deal if, as Ducimus pointed out, we were dealing with a country that acknowledged it's attrocities committed against a multitude of peoples and nations.

Here's a post i made awhie ago

Just as an aside, what got me looking more closely at japanese warcrimes was when i was doing research for the bungo pete/akikaze mod in TM.

I ran accross this page:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan...s_pacific.html

Primarly because an incident took place called "THE 'AKIKAZE' EXECUTIONS". Naturally it peaked my curiosity. Not wanting to take a obscure user page at face value, i started googleing some of the incidents described on that page, and they all seem to have really occured.

If all incident's listed are correct ( cursory searching leads me to think they are), Japan has a lot to answer for. Scuse me while i scoff at the idea of my country apologizing to the unapologetic.

[Oberon]

To be honest...I do ponder if Soviet and American generals and politicians would have been so reluctant to use a nuclear weapon in action had they not used two on Japan already and seen the destruction that they caused.
The two bombs on Japan could well have prevented several being used on China during the Korean war. After all, no-one really believes in the destructive force of something until they witness it for themselves in action.

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by Oberon

To be honest...I do ponder if Soviet and American generals and politicians would have been so reluctant to use a nuclear weapon in action had they not used two on Japan already and seen the destruction that they caused.
The two bombs on Japan could well have prevented several being used on China during the Korean war. After all, no-one really believes in the destructive force of something until they witness it for themselves in action.

A most interesting comment. There was consideration for the US to "drop" the first nuclear weapon on an island as a show of capability. This was not adopted for several reasons, both logical and emotional.

1. There was not enough 235U for a second uranium device
2. Implosion construction was still pretty new and uncertain. This is why the PU device was equipped with contact single point ignition fuses as a back up so that there would be "some" explosion, and the device would be destroyed to prevent examination.
3. It would be a lot easier to over look a "dud" if it were dropped in combat, then if it were part of an advertised and witnessed "demonstration".

But your comment is most interesting to consider. Did we, in fact, destroy two cities in order to save the world? hmmmm

[heartc]

Unit 731.



And in other news: Rape of Nanking.

Etc.

Now, do the deaths and murder of those innocent people justify the deaths of yet another thousands of innocents on the Japanese side? No they don't. The death of innocent people can naturally not be "justified". But war itself is not just. I don't know war because I've never been to one, but I think it is safe to say that by its nature, it is the opposite of justice, decency, compassion and sympathy. It is when these things end, that war starts.
So, while the death of tens of thousands of people in 2 nuclear attacks is not "just" in any event, the above examples show what kind of enemy the US and Allied Forces were up against in the Pacific as well. And in light of the timid recognition of their own horrible atrocities, I would have a hard time with the Japanese demanding an apology for the nuclear attacks.

Either everybody apologizes to everybody for any wrongdoing that might have happened (well, aside from waging war on one another in the first place), or better, gives it a rest.

The only sincere apology / real peace settlement can only be between individuals, anyway. Most everything else is just politics.