From: "Gary Wiltshire" 

On Wed, 05 Apr 2006 09:59:26 -0400, Rich Gauszka  wrote:

>
> "Gary Wiltshire"  wrote in message
> news:op.s7i1sxsmeipai0{at}dsl40.bgtnvtpl.sover.net...
>> On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 12:35:43 -0500, Rich Gauszka 
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> "Gary Wiltshire"  wrote in message
>>> news:op.s68lebimeipai0{at}dsl40.bgtnvtpl.sover.net...
>>>> On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 10:52:02 -0500, John Cuccia

>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Yes, that was why I posted the Hirshima picture.   The
"laws and
>>>>> customs or war" are peacetime constructs which
have no influence on
>>>>> wartime conduct.
>>>>>
>>>> And again, you'd have prefered the million or more American and
>>>> Japanese
>>>> casualities a full blown invasion would have cost.
>>>> --
>>>> Gary Wiltshire
>>>
>>> I'm not arguing against the Hiroshima bombing but I do doubt that we
>>> would
>>> have had to go into Operation 'Downfall' and invade even had we not
>>> used
>>> the
>>> atomic bomb.  We did own the air over Japan with the B29s  and the
>>> firebombing raids had done far, far more damage to the morale of the
>>> population ( i.e. 20 square miles of downtown Tokyo a sea of napalm
>>> flame -
>>> either burn or be asphyxiated).
>>>
>>>
>>
>> So firebombing, which killed more and destroyed more would be morally
>> preferable?
>>
>> --
>> Gary Wiltshire
>
> It wasn't an either/or choice as both occurred.  Nor was I debating any
> higher moral purpose here just that Japan would have fallen without the
> need
> for invasion with or without the dropping of the atomic bomb.  Did the
> dropping of the bomb give the Japanese an additional excuse and hasten
> the
> surrender? - probably. Even if we did not drop it someone would have so
> in
> some way one could say it did lead to detente, many bad science fiction
> movies and the rest
>
> "Now I become Death, the shatterer of worlds," Oppenheimer
>
>

So we could have let millions of Japanese starve to death, or better yet
fall under Soviet occupation now that the war in Europe was over.

--
Gary Wiltshire

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