Show Printable Version Search This Thread Advanced Search   Atomic Heritage Foundation Message Board Register  |  Login  |  Search  |  New Posts  |  Chat Atomic Heritage Foundation > Forums > Was the U. S. Justified? > I Was Shocked...   Username: Password:   Remember Me? Thread Tools  | Search This Thread  Reply   Author Comment   View Member ProfileSend Private MessageSend EmailFind Member's Threads Find Member's Posts Gadget1945 Registered: 07/23/04 Posts: 134      07/28/04 at 06:35 PM Reply with quote #1 The following e-mail was received from Lucy...no e-mail address provided: "I was just searching for information on the Manhattan Project, and was actually quite shocked by your website. Why do you want to honor people whose primary work in life involved aiming to destroy the lives of others, and on a ridiculous and unnecessary scale. The people killed by these scientists were innocent and the problems could have been resolved without taking such horrific drastic measures. America should not be proud of it's actions, killing hundreds of thousands of people with it's bombings for no good reason is nothing to brag about. If anything, you should be ashamed. I agree it is important for the history of such a huge event to have a website like this with a high amount of detail, but to me it seems like you're bragging about your achievements when all you achieved was to bring the world one step closer to destroying itself. I can see that war, fighting and death are at times unfortunately essential, but the kind of mass destruction your team are responsible for has no justification." Lucy View Member ProfileSend Private MessageFind Member's Threads Find Member's Posts willorwell Registered: 08/09/04 Posts: 40      08/09/04 at 01:54 AM Reply with quote #2 Frankly, this issue is very complex and when you know more facts, and not legends, you understand how complex this issue is. Most analyses are simplistic and do not consider many things. I think that when you understand that even in the face of 2 atomic bombs, the Japanese military 1) refused to surrender and 2) contemplated an assault on Japan by the US and its allies in which they expected every person of Japanese descent do fight, and to win the battle or commit hara-kiri if they lost. That mind set cannot encompass defeat--it is a disgrace and, in defeat, your only option is to take your own life. I don't know if anyone has ever analyzed the whole Samurai tradition is being responsible for Japan's refusal to surrender which necessitated the use of the atomic bombs. I'd be interested in such an analysis because, I believe, that the Samurai tradition and principles were at work here, among a great deal of other things. __________________ Will Orwell was here. View Member ProfileSend Private MessageSend EmailFind Member's Threads Find Member's Posts Bongopete Registered: 09/18/06 Posts: 17      09/19/06 at 12:51 PM Reply with quote #3 I personally think we should be proud of the project. Face it world...England had a project and then folded it into the American project. Germany had a project (did Heisenburg sabotage it?) and most certainly would have used it, probably against Moscow. Japan had a project, small...but it is the intent of the action, and besides they killed thousands in their germ warfare research. Russia had a project which came to fruition after the war.  Does anyone seriously doubt that ANY of these nations would not have used this weapon? America simply got there first, the science has ALWAYS been there and others were looking for it.   Since 1945, and despite all the anti nuke/anti US hooha, England, France, China, Russia, Israel, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Iran etc etc etc have gone nuclear....that we KNOW of.  NONE of these nations have renounced their arsenals.   Europe stayed free because of the American nuclear umbrella during the cold war, not because of any standing army on European soil. View Member ProfileSend Private MessageSend EmailFind Member's Threads Find Member's Posts mikey1003 Registered: 02/26/08 Posts: 1      02/26/08 at 11:53 PM Reply with quote #4 A very simplistic answer would be that my two beautiful grand children would not be here today if the two bombs were not dropped. My father-in-law was waiting to be in the first wave to attack Japan. But a much better answer came to my wife and myself during an emotional visit to the USS Arizona Memorial. We took a hokey tour lead by a guide in WWII uniform. The tour of all of the important Pearl Harbor sites was incredible. The time spent on the Arizona was one of the most emotional experiences in my life. BTW, I was born five days before the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. After leaving the Memorial, I asked the guide if he got many Japanese tourists on his The land of the Free tour. He said that they had a separate Japanese guide because of such high demand. He went on to tell the story about a group that he witnessed on the 60th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor bombing. He said that members of the 509th were there that day and (I believe he said that Gen Tibbets spoke) someone from the 509th spoke. An old Japanese man and woman, several younger Japanese couples and many very young Japanese children approached the speaker (Tibbets?) and crying and bowing thanked Paul for what he had done. The old man was ready to fly a Kamakazee mission the day after the war ended. And he brought his wife, children and grand children to the Arizona to thank us for ending the war. No one knows how many hundreds of thousands of American and Japanese people were saved in those two flashes. (The fire bombing of Japan's cities killed many more people, but the war didn't end) Yes, the US was justified! Previous Thread | Next Thread Reply   Bookmarks    Digg  del.icio.us  StumbleUpon  Google