Japan was working on Nuclear Bomb

[sfc_darrel]

Our Friends the Japanese
Time was when history was written by the victors. Today, it seems, it's written by the victims. Today is the 57th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and Reuters reports the top local pol marked the occasion with some anti-American cant:

Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba lamented the world's growing tendency to forget the horrors of the atomic bomb and warned his audience that the dangers of nuclear war were rising. . . . He added that the possibility of history's repeating itself had grown since the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Akiba invited [President] Bush to Hiroshima "to confirm with his own eyes what nuclear weapons can do to human beings" and lashed out at Washington's go-it-alone stance.

"America has not been given the right to impose a 'Pax Americana' and to decide the fate of the world," Akiba said. "Rather, we, the people of the world, have the right to insist that we have not given you the authority to destroy the world."

Editorialists at the Boston Globe pick up the theme, wringing their hands about the possibility that America will "follow Japan's earlier path of wanton military aggression and contribute to future suffering." This is a rather appalling thing to say when America is defending itself against wanton aggression.

A pair of articles in left-wing British papers--of all places--provide a nice counterpoint to all this America-hating nonsense. The Independent picks up a report in Japan's Asahi newspaper that Japan itself had plans to build a nuclear bomb. Asahi "says the military ordered the destruction of the plans the day before Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945," the Independent reports. But "scientists . . . thought this was 'a waste' and decided to save at least part of the plans." They gave them to a researcher named Kazuo Kuroda, who later became a professor at the University of Arkansas. The plans surfaced when Kuroda died in April 2001.

Still among the living is Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay, the airplane that nuked Hiroshima. Studs Turkel interviews him for the Guardian and asks his views on current events:

Turkel: One big question. Since September 11, what are your thoughts? People talk about nukes, the hydrogen bomb.

Tibbets: Let's put it this way. I don't know any more about these terrorists than you do, I know nothing. When they bombed the Trade Centre I couldn't believe what was going on. We've fought many enemies at different times. But we knew who they were and where they were. These people, we don't know who they are or where they are. That's the point that bothers me. Because they're gonna strike again, I'll put money on it. And it's going to be damned dramatic. But they're gonna do it in their own sweet time. We've got to get into a position where we can kill the bastards. None of this business of taking them to court, the hell with that. I wouldn't waste five seconds on them. . . .

Turkel: One last thing, when you hear people say, "Let's nuke 'em," "Let's nuke these people," what do you think?

Tibbets: Oh, I wouldn't hesitate if I had the choice. I'd wipe 'em out. You're gonna kill innocent people at the same time, but we've never fought a damn war anywhere in the world where they didn't kill innocent people. If the newspapers would just cut out the sh--: "You've killed so many civilians." That's their tough luck for being there.

Not for nothing are Tibbets and his peers called the Greatest Generation.

[Keith_Hixson]

Everybody is a victim. These lamenting Japanese never tell of the horrors they performed all through the Asian Continent that made it necessary to drop that Atomic Bomb. The horrors against the China, Philippines, Burma, Russia, United States. The cruelity they did to the peoples they conqueored.

I'm a victim, I did nothing wrong. What a crock! Nothing but pure stupidity. Anyone with any common sense can see right through it. Only the naive, ignorant, or mentally slow would fall for that line. Just read your history. Imperialism pushed by the Japanese brought the bomb, not the American Airplanes.

I hope the politicians don't buy into all that garbage. I do have an awful lot of sympathy for the innocent women and children, I know the suffering they went through was terrible but the responsibility belongs totally with Japanese Government's Imperialism.

Keith

[David]

Akiba said. "Rather, we, the people of the world, have the right to insist that we have not given you the authority to destroy the world."

First off he needs to learn how to form sentences in the English language before he tries to use the English language and secondly I agree with Keith. These people were barbaric in there treatment of anyone and everyone around them. They are lucky to have met such a compassionate foe as the United States. I am sure China would not have stopped at 2 nukes had they the technology at the time.

[xgrunt]

for their revisionist views of WWII. They decry the A-Bombings that ended the war they started but where is their revulsion of the Rape of Nanking or the infamous medical tests run in China? America's every action is second guessed by every country in the world but when the excrement hits the fan who is the first country they yell for help from? If we're such a bad influence why does almost every culture in the world wears Levi's, want to ride Harleys, and play rock and roll? I never thought I would find myself repeating the words of the isolationists from the 30's but I'm tired of this country being bashed. Screw them all- AMERICA FIRST.

[sfc_darrel]

Japan's Daily Yomiuri has a curious report on Tuesday's Hiroshima ceremony:

The advanced age of many hibakusha [victims of the nuclear bombings] has made it more difficult for the city to keep alive memories of the bombing and remind the rest of the world of the importance of peace. The average age of hibakusha is just under 80.

At the ceremony, which began at 8 a.m., city officials placed in the cenotaph 79 volumes of lists containing the names of the 226,870 people who died as a result of the bombing, including 4,977 people who died in the past year.

It sounds as though the Japanese are blaming America when bombing "victims" die of old age.

[Andy]

Just a few weeks ago there was an interesting program on the History Channel. Apparently the Nazi's loaded up a sub with V-1 and V-2 parts and information along with heavy water and details of the German work that was done on building an A-bomb. Please excuse me, can't remember if the sub was sunk, captured or got to Japan too late to make any difference. Damn short term memory!

Mr. Akiba doesn't seem to have much of a grasp of history. There was an era known as Pax Romana. Much later there was a period of history known as Pax Britania now we are living in the time of Pax Americana. The US is the unquestioned world power. Akiba is right, "...no one gave us the right..." That's the way it always is. To be the top dog you earn it, it isn't given to you. A little over a half century ago Japan wanted there to be a Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere; same same Pax Japan. Sorry bout that but when you loose you don't get to be the He bull in this barn yard.

We paid reperations to Japanese for what happened in WWII. When Japan does the same to people from China, Korea, England, the US, Southeast Asia, etc. then maybe they could start talking to us about how to act. Oh, it might be polite of them to stop trying to steal our trade secrets while giving us a lecture on morals.

Stay healthy,
Andy