What are arguments for and against the atomic bombings of Japan being justified?

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(15) On May 16, 2011 at 3:25 pm Son of Oden [0] said:

Simayi,
the difference between alQueda and America is that America didnt ask for Japan to attack us. Al Queda openly waged war with America, they openly waged war with thousand of citizens who up until then had no idea who they were. Dont sit there and compare these two subjects because they are in two different chapters, two different situations.

(14) On May 16, 2011 at 3:20 pm Son of Oden [0] said:

Ok i know that the bomb has killed thousands of "innocent" lives but the death toll that would have been recieved at the invasion of Japan would have far surpassed this. Millions of innocent men who did not want to be dragged into this war in the first place would have been slaughtered. Also the trauma that would have come with the sight of gory death and pain would have scared people forever. The amount of money spent on defenses and offensives would have also put both America and Japan in a state of pverty. Thousands of Japanese homes would have been destroyed leaving thousands homeless.Japan was given two warnings and their leaders smacked it down the blame should not be put on America but it should be put on Japan. America never wanted this war, we isolated ourselves for a reason.

(13) On April 1, 2011 at 6:38 am Cwreed25 [0] said:

In response to Simayi,

There were only two options to defeat the Japanese in WW2.

1: Invade mainland Japan--resulting in unbelievable loss of human life on both sides.

2: Drop the bomb--resulting in large loss of life for Japan, yet not nearly as catastrophic (for either side) as an invasion.

You make the decision.

(12) On April 1, 2011 at 6:28 am Cwreed25 [0] said:

In response to Priya Reddy,

You talk about innocent civilians beeing killed on BOTH sides? How about the 20 MILLION chinese the Japanese killed between 1940 and 1945? Not to mention the number of women raped and killed by the japanese on Okinawa...although alot of the women there were convinced to kill themselves by the Japanese military.

(11) On April 1, 2011 at 6:24 am Cwreed25 [0] said:

The atomic bombs on Japan were an end to a war that seemingly had no end. The Japanese simply WERE NOT GOING TO SURRENDER. 10 times more people (mostly civilians) would have died if America had invaded mainland Japan. Up to a MILLION American servicemen could have died. Enough said.

(10) On February 14, 2011 at 3:49 am Czxr0294 [0] said:

i totally agree with david cassidy n simayi i mean you cant justify that with any excuse ..

(9) On December 14, 2010 at 2:50 am Priya Reddy [0] said:

it doesnt matter whether or not us bombed japan or japan bombed us. the fact is that both sides killed many innocent civilians with a lame reason like it ends the war faster. Is mass killing really hat effective? Some might say that there was litle difference between civilians and military personnel due to many civilians workiing in factories that produced weapons for the war but when u take away all the en what jobs should women many of whom were housewives to do.

(8) On June 3, 2010 at 6:13 pm Yohny [0] said:

no a blockade wouldnt be an option they would continue to fight the bolckade untill they where out of people and at that point we would have taken a large number of casultys

(7) On May 13, 2010 at 4:22 pm Vovash [0] said:

Would total blockade of Japan be alternative option to atomic bombing or invasion?
Thank you

(6) On May 5, 2010 at 6:40 pm Yohny [0] said:

simayi,
You cant possably use iraq as a compairison or manipulate it to justify anything iraq is a diffrent time and place
THE END

(5) On May 5, 2010 at 6:39 pm Pwner3222 [0] said:

Dear Simayi,
You are a Fail.
the end.

good story.

(4) On April 20, 2010 at 7:04 pm Simayi [0] said:

Anyone who believes in the flimsy arguments that dropping the atomic bombs were "justified" must then contend with the fact that that line of reasoning gives justification to Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda as well. Using Truman's logic, the terrorists will be justified in destroying New York and Washington D.C. with nuclear weapons because an attack with conventional weapons would result in too many deaths of Al-Qaeda soldiers. One cannot use Pearl Harbor as justification as well, because the U.S.'s numerous and extensive wars and military operations in the Middle East provide the same type of justification for bin Laden. Even the atrocities of the Japanese military in various parts of Asia, as horrible as they may have been, cannot be used as justification for dropping the atomic bombs, because the American military have been torturing and committing human rights violations against real or suspected Islamic terrorists.

I would caution anyone who tries to justify the mass killings of any kind, especially of non-combatants, to stop and think whether they would like someone else to use that same principle to kill people of a group that you identify with. If you believe that the U.S. was simply bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki to destroy some military targets, or that they were unaware of how many civilian deaths would be the result, you are being almost criminally naive or ignorant.

(3) On April 9, 2010 at 8:44 pm David cassidy [0] said:

JO4NNE dont be so stupid.If you studied the war in the Pacific youd see that captured US soliders were treated like p.o.w.Yes they were beat for info but the americans did the same.And what if Japan had dropped the atomic bomb on Las Angelas or New York would you have said that it was nesecary to murder 200000 US civilians and have an ever lasting efect on other inocent souls.Would you have said it was nesecary if your realations skin was burned of because of radiation.President Truman should of been hung for what he allowed happen he was no better than Hitler.

(2) On March 15, 2010 at 6:20 am J04NNE [0] said:

I feel that the bomb was necassary because it ended the war quicker and because of all the horrible things the Japanese did to American spys or soliders that were captured. I realise that it killed thousens and many people are still being born with disabilities because of the radiation but if they didn't bomb them I would probably be speaking Japanese right now!!!

(1) On August 16, 2009 at 4:40 am Cnd [0] said:

Japanese soldiers raped 80,000 women, and mureded 300,000 civilians over just six weeks in Nanking - that's THREE TIMES more dead than both atomic bombs.

More research into radiation effects is required - the alleged deaths in Japan were used to predict todays radiation safety models, then when those models had their first real test in Chernobyl, they turned out to be wrong. It would seem to me that Japan wasn't exactly forthright with their reporting of radiation-related casualties.

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