Re: [Fwd: [sixties-l] Re: sixties-l-Vietnam War Memorials]

From: Jerry West (record@island.net)
Date: Thu Jun 22 2000 - 22:44:10 CUT

  • Next message: Jerry West: "Re: [sixties-l] purity, Nader, and ... crimes"

    William Mandel wrote:

    The atomic murder of tens of thousands of civilian children, women, and
    mmen in Hiroshima and Nagasaki is not what ended the war, ....

    JW reply:

    I agree with you, William, but this is not the issue and you never did
    answer my question which was:

    Hiroshima was a valid military target being an Army headquarters, and
    neighboring Kure was a major naval base, so one could make an argument
    for bombing it. What if the pilot truly believed that by dropping his
    weapon he would save upwards of a million American lives? (the estimates
    on the invasion of Japan, another needless exercise in my opinion, were
    horrendous). Is he more of a war criminal for bringing a quick end to
    the war, or for refusing and maybe dragging the war on for who knows how
    long at great cost of life on both sides?

    Remember, the question here is not whether the bombing of Hiroshima was
    right or wrong, but whether the pilot was wrong and a war criminal if he
    truly believed that he was saving lives by doing so.

    Whether there was actually good reason to bomb Hiroshima or not is not
    the issue. For the sake of this point you must assume that from all of
    the information provided to him the pilot believed in good faith that
    there was.

    -- 
    Jerry West
    Editor/publisher/janitor
    ----------------------------------------------------
    THE RECORD
    On line news from Nootka Sound & Canada's West Coast
    An independent, progressive regional publication
    http://www.island.net/~record/
    



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