Axis of evil

Originally posted by Nic Name
OK, dham, while I find you some evidence that American's viewed the Japs as less than human, can you clue us in as to the proof you have that has given you this entrenched belief that dropping the bomb on Japan saved lives?

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaank. Americans think all sorts of things. The KKK thinks "niggers" are less than human. That doesn't shape American policy.

Regardless of whether or not even the President viewed Japanese citizens as less than human, I want proof that it was "justified" by a belief that Japs were "less than human". Those are your words, not mine. Back them up.

As for proof - I will gather information on this when I get home. Unfortunately, I am at work and have a critical piece of software that needs to be delivered on the 12th, so I can't spend time gathering it here. But here's what I'm going to show you, basically:

Number of deaths at Hiroshima + Number of deaths at Nagasaki < (Number of deaths of American forces invading mainland Japan and forcing an unconditional surrender + Number of deaths of Japanese soldiers defending mainland Japan + Number of deaths of civilians committing suicide because of invasion + Number of deaths of civilians who took up arms against invading Americans who were then forced to "neutralize" said civilians)

The last numbers and ideas have traditionally been based off the total population of Japan, the total number of ground forces needed to invade the island, the likely number of casualties, and the fact that the civilian death toll on Okinawa is estimated to have been <b>at least</b> 42,000 by <b>suicide alone</b> (suicide, in this case, being that they sealed themselves in caves) - the estimated civilian death toll on <b>Okinawa alone</b> was estimated by the US Army to have been, I believe, some 140,000 on an island with a population of about 350,000.

Anyway, yes, I will show you real numbers later that would convince even the most skeptical that if the US had invaded mainland Japan, the losses would have been far larger than those suffered by the dropping of the bombs.