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Originally posted by Hubris Boy
Personally, I think Japan's collective guilt is FAR greater than any that accrues to the United States, and is compounded by the fact that most of the Japanese government KNEW they couldn't win a war with the United States, but they chose to start one anyway. What kind of government deliberately leads their nation into destruction?
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I don't think it is the incinerated civilians' fault, in any event. I think the use of the atomic bomb was a war crime that would certainly have been called to account and responsibility if it had been perpetrated against the good guys.
I was trying to explain was that it was unnecessary to drop the bomb to end the war, or to "save lives" as dham says, but that it was perceived as a justified retaliation for the attack on Pearl Harbor by a race that had been dehumanized by years of war propaganda.
United States Strategic Bombing Survey -- Japan's Struggle To End The War.
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6. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs did not defeat Japan, nor by the testimony of the enemy leaders who ended the war did they persuade Japan to accept unconditional surrender. The Emperor, the lord privy seal, the prime minister, the foreign minister and the navy minister had decided as early as May of 1945 that the war should be ended even if it meant acceptance of defeat on allied terms.
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I think that having essentially won the war, the President used the bomb and sacrificed the Japs to achieve a better result in the balance of power with the Russians. And that seems to be the consensus in the historic documents that I've seen.
And I apologize for not having had all my facts correct on all points. But I don't think it's all bullshit, nonetheless.
There is a wealth of good original documentation on this at the
Truman Library.