Figure 1.-- There are many questions those who condemn America for dropping the atomic bomb simply ignore. The central question is how could the Pacific War be ended with LESS loss of life. There is another question that is very important to me. If Japanan had not surrendered in August 1945, how many of the Westrern civilians and POWs being brutalized and worked to death as swell as starved as well as being denied medical care for all kinds of diseases in filty, fetid camps would have survived the War. It is course important to have moral convictions. It is also importnt to understand the consequences of those convictions. Here the healty Allied POWs cheer their rescuers. They are waving the flags of the United States, Great Britain and The Netherlands as the U.S. Navy arrives at the Aomori prison camp, near Yokohama, Japan (August 29, 1945). Notice there were no Chinese flag or Chinese POWs. The Japanese simply killed all the Chinese soldiers they captured.

Discussions of the two nuclear bombs are almost always discussed in terms of live lost. Rarely do we read about lives saved. Less than 0.2 million people were killed America dropped the two atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Adding in those who subsequently died from their injuries means that the bombs killed something like 0.3 million people. This was of course tragic. The lost of one life is a tragedy, so it is absolutely appropriate that the terrible suffering death and destruction from these two bombs be thoroughly discussed. America of course did not launch the War or begin bombing cities, This is what Japan did. But that is not what we want to discuss here. Here we simply want to discuss the lives saved by the bombs. This is something the Japanese have never done. They simply ignore the millions, probably tems of millions of lives saved, including American, other Allied, Asian, and especially forgotten, Japanese lives SAVED because of the atomic bombs. All these want to discuss is Japanese suffering. And you see this most dramatically at the two very tastefully done memorials. But what you do not see at these memorials or the wider Japanese discussion of the bombs is what led to the dropping of the bombs. Why did America drop the bombs? The primary American justification for dropping the bombs and the one that made up President Truman's mind was saving the lives of Allied soldiers who were prepaing the invade the Home Islands. But in fact the lives of many million people were saved becuse America dropped the two bombs. The key calculation here is that BEFORE the United States dropped the bombs, the Japanese killed 15-20 million people, probably more and often in terrible brutal grotesque ways. AFTER America dropped the bombs, the killing stopped. It did not just decline. It stopped! That is a very powerful dynamic. Here we are talking about soldiers, POWs, and civilians. And we are not only talking bout Allied lives, we are talking bout ocupied peoples and perhaps more thn ny other group of lives saved, the Japanese themselves. Often ignored are the thousands of military and civilian internees who were near death from starvation in fetid camps and that the Japanese Army had decided to murder. Or the civilian that would hve been killed, largely by the Japanese, if battles have to be fought to liberate Japanese occupied areas (China, Thiland, Malaya, Borneo, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, and Taiwan. And usually ignored in the debate was the millions of Japanese lives which were saved. This includes the casualties from the planned invasion. The Okinawan tragedy gives us a template for what would have happened had the United States had to invade. Perhaps even more deadly was the impending famine which was developing because of food shortages and poor harvesrs on the Home Islands. Also saved from strvation are the cut off Japanese garrisons throughout the Pacific.

Dropping the Bombs

Discussions of the two nuclear bombs are almost always discussed in terms of live lost. Rarely do we read about lives saved. Less than 0.2 million people were killed America dropped the two atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Adding in those who subsequently died from their injuries means that the bombs killed something like 0.3 million people. It should be mentioned that the conventional fire bombing raids on Japan were killing many more Japanese people than the two atomic bombs. In fact the fire bombing raid on Tokyo (March 9-10, 1945) killed more people than either atomic bomb. A reader writes, "Agreed. But I think most of the complaints of the casualties is from the thought that it was all from only 2 bombs. Not hundreds of bombers doing hundreds of raids dropping thousands of bombs. Then the arguments would have been the same as the ones about bombing of German cities." I think our reader is correct. And if the morality is measured by the number of bombs, than I think it is fair to condemn America. Our belief, however, is that immorality/morality is primarily a derivative of the lives lost or saved.

War Guilt

America of course did not lauch the War or begin bombing cities. This is what Japan did. Any assessment of the atomic bombs has to included who began the war and who began bombing cities. Jaoab began bombing Chinese cities, often without military trgets adecade before launching the Pvific War (1931). And it was Japan that ended diplomtic efforts to resolve differences by launching a massive carrier attck on Pearl Hsrbor before declaring war. This and much more is ht Japan did. All undeniably part of the historical record. That has to be part of the discussion. But it is not what we want to discuss here. Here we want to discuss loss of life which is what the Japanese focus on when discussing Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Need for a Full Discussion

The loss of life from the atomic bombs is of course tragic. The lost of one life is a tragedy, so it is absolutely appropriate that the terrible suffering death and destruction from these two bombs be thoroughly discussed. Here we simply want to discuss the lives saved by the bombs. This is something the Japanese have never done. They simply ignore the millions, probably tems of millions of lives saved, including American, other Allied, Asian, and especially forgotten, Japanese lives SAVED because of the atomic bombs. All these want to discuss is Japanese suffering. And you see this most dramatically at the two very tastefully done memorials. But what you do not see at these memorials or the wider Japanese discussion of the bombs is what led to the dropping of the bombs.

Why America Dropped the Bombs

Why did America drop the bombs? The primary American justification for dropping the bombs and the one that made up President Truman's mind was saving the lives of Allied soldiers who were prepaing the invade the Home Islands. For the President, the Japanese response to the Potsdam Declaration made up his mind. There have been many books and aticles published in both Japan and America about the atomic bomb. Japanese scholars have reserched the decission making process that led to the dropping of the atomic bombs. Almost always the focus is on Truman and Ameican military leaders. Many Japanese writers insist that Japan was a defeated country and would have surendered without the use of the bomb. Little real evidence is presented to substantiate the claim that Japan would have surendred. Rarely do Japanese authors address the role of Japanese political and military leaders. One American presidential adviser reports that Japanese reserchers and journlists have interviewed him a number of times during visits to Tokyo. They ask about when the decission was made to drop the bomb. He replies that it was the Japanese leaders who made the decission when they rejected the Potsdam Declaration. He says that this response is never included in either published articles or broadcasted television interviews.

Japanese Killing BEFORE the Bombs Were Dropped

But in fact the lives of many million people were saved becuse America dropped the two bombs. The key calculation here is that BEFORE the United States dropped the bombs, the Japanese killed 15-20 million people, probably more and often in terrible brutal grotesque ways. Much of the killing was done in China. There were however deaths in the millions outside of China, especially in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and Indochina (Vietnam). The killing in these these three countries is difficult to assess because it was so massive and widespread and no records were keo either by yje Japanese or by the people targetted by the Japanese.

Japanese Atrocities and War Crimes

The atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers defy the cognitive abilities of the human mind. It is difficult to believe that any nation could have carried out the barbarities perpetrated, mostly on innocent civilians. Japanese war crimes were not only unimaginably brutal and widespread, but they are without prescedent even in Japanese history. Some of the atrocities were official Japanese war policy. Many others were ordered by local commasndrs or committed by individual soldiers. NAZI war crimes and depravity are better known, but the Japanese in some ways were even more barbaric thasn the NAZIs if that can be imgained. Despite 8 years of War, there were no Chinese POWs to liberate--they had all been murdered. Japan in sharp contrast to Germany did not and does not today admit the full extent of its responsibility for launching World War II and the brutality of their soldiers during the War. Many Japanese attempt to hide the extent of their country's war crimes. Some claim that the decision to go to war was forced upon Japan. For the most part the Japanese prefer to view their country as a victim of the War. Japanese school childtren are largely tought briefly about the War with text books and school ceremonies that focus on the atomic bombs. The treatment by Japanese text books approved by the Ministry of Education has been a recurring issue affecting relations with China, Korea, and other countries occupied by the Japanese during the War. Virtually unknown to the Jaspanese people are the war crimes perpetrated aginstg their own people. The list of Japanese atrocities and war crimes is very long, involving the deaths of millions, mostly innocent civilians. The list in its entirity is too long to list here, but we need to mention some of the most grevious atrocities committed by the Imperial armed forces.

Japanese Killing AFTER the Bombs Were Dropped

AFTER America dropped the bombs, the killing stopped. It did not just decline. It stopped! That is a very powerful dynamic. Here we are talking about soldiers, POWs, and civilians. And we are not only talking bout Allied lives, we are talking bout ocupied peoples and perhaps more thn ny other group of lives saved, the Japanese themselves. Often ignored are the thousands of military and civilian internees who were near death from starvation in fetid camps and that the Japanese Army had decided to murder. Or the civilian that would hve been killed, largely by the Japanese, if battles have to be fought to liberate Japanese occupied areas (China, Thiland, Malaya, Borneo, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, and Taiwan. And usually ignored in the debate was the millions of Japanese lives which were saved. This includes the casualties from the planned invasion. The Okinawan tragedy gives us a template for what would have happened had the United States had to invade. Perhaps even more deadly was the impending famine which was developing because of food shortages and poor harvesrs on the Home Islands. Also saved from strvation are the cut off Japanese garrisons throughout the Pacific.

Created: 1:39 PM 6/21/2017
Last updated: 7:16 PM 6/21/2017