Enola Gay pilot, BG (ret) Paul Tibbits has died.

[Damnyankee]

Given that they were already willing to talk peace, why couldn't we have come to an agreement without either invading Japan or dropping A-bombs? That way, we could have prevented any additional deaths.

And what would have prevented widespread revolt within the Military? Nuking Japan showed the Military that it was pointless to fight.

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

Given that they were already willing to talk peace, why couldn't we have come to an agreement without either invading Japan or dropping A-bombs? That way, we could have prevented any additional deaths.

We might have tried that except that it is quite possible that accepting a conditional surrender might have lead to more deaths later on. The decision to drop the bombs was political as well as military since we wanted not only to win the war but to win the peace afterwards. Truman and his advisers certainly didn't want to tie America's hand behind its back after the war by making promises that could turn disastrous or that we would have to renege on later. Considering that dropping the atomic bombs brought about the exact course of events that was desired (unconditional surrender->relatively painless occupation->friendly independent Japan) I think the decision to drop the bombs has been vindicated.

 

[Norton II]

And what would have prevented widespread revolt within the Military? Nuking Japan showed the Military that it was pointless to fight.

What would have caused such a revolt in the first place? True, there was a coup attempt even after Nagasaki, but it hardly enjoyed widespread support, and its only object was to prevent acceptance of the Potsdam declaration. Peace terms more acceptable to the military would not have led to a revolt.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Also, whatever you believe, you can't possibly place blame because of radiation poison as this was not known at the time. You kind have have to drop a bomb on someone and observe the affects to find that out.

Well, that's not completely true...

It was known that radiation was bad news and that it would mess you up.

We still don't have a complete understanding of how it affected those in Japan at the time... but it was pretty clear that it wouldn't be good.

 

[Norton II]

We might have tried that except that it is quite possible that accepting a conditional surrender might have lead to more deaths later on.

It's also quite possible that it might not have.

The decision to drop the bombs was political as well as military since we wanted not only to win the war but to win the peace afterwards. Truman and his advisers certainly didn't want to tie America's hand behind its back after the war by making promises that could turn disastrous or that we would have to renege on later.

Not sure what you mean here.

Considering that dropping the atomic bombs brought about the exact course of events that was desired (unconditional surrender->relatively painless occupation->friendly independent Japan) I think the decision to drop the bombs has been vindicated.

That's just post hoc ergo propter hoc, isn't it? A negotiated peace could've led to a similar outcome.

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

Well, that's not completely true...

It was known that radiation was bad news and that it would mess you up.

We still don't have a complete understanding of how it affected those in Japan at the time... but it was pretty clear that it wouldn't be good.

Radiation poising was known to be bad news but it was not known that dropping an atomic bomb would cause such long term problems. At any rate, you could hardly expect Paul Tibbits to be an expert in nuclear physics.

 

[Narz]

If I city contains factories that builds war materials for the purpose of conducting war, then they most assuredly are.

So, if a city has even one military base it's worth bombing despite however many civilians may live, work and play there?

 

[Strider]

Do any of us have the right to call him a mass murderer or anything else? Hell no. I doubt anyone alive will be put in the same situation he was in. The man was told that "this could end the war." The worst war the world has ever seen. The man had likely seen many comrades die during combat. It would be impossible to know how many letters he got from home about friends or family members who had died elsewhere.

Nobody alive has the right to make a judgment one way or the other about the guy. Just let him die and be forgotten.

So, if a city has even one military base it's worth bombing despite however many civilians may live, work and play there?

Would you kill 1 innocent person to save 100? Not everything is placed so simply into wrong or right.

 

[Narz]

Would you kill 1 innocent person to save 100? Not everything is placed so simply into wrong or right.

More like kill 100,000 innocents to get at a few thousand soldiers.

 

[MobBoss]

So, if a city has even one military base it's worth bombing despite however many civilians may live, work and play there?

Depends. If that one miltary base has the enemies nuclear silo in it, then maybe it is. If the base merely consists of a minor enemy presence with nothing special about it, then maybe not.

 

[Bugfatty300]

Peace terms more acceptable to the military would not have led to a revolt.

What would have been acceptible? Manchuria? Korea? The retained power of the Japanese military?

Japan needed to be defeated. Not negotiated with.

 

[Norton II]

What would have been acceptible? Manchuria? Korea? The retained power of the Japanese military?

Japan needed to be defeated. Not negotiated with.

Yup. We had to make China and Korea safe for communism, even if a couple hundred thousand innocent people had to be vaporized to make it happen.

 

[MobBoss]

Yup. We had to make China and Korea safe for communism, even if a couple hundred thousand innocent people had to be vaporized to make it happen.

Please go do some reading. It wasnt a 'couple of hunnert thoushand". If you are going to talk about it, at least be educated about it.

 

[Japanrocks12]

They weren't willing to talk peace. In fact, after the bombs, the emperor still had a tough time convincing his generals to surrender.

 

[kalif]

glad you are dead, mf!

 

[scy12]

Good Riddance.

 

[Echse]

now i know someone more who´s watching us from hell ^^

 

[Japanrocks12]

another thing to point out is that we aren't necessarily honoring the fact that he killed some hundred thousand people. We're honoring his ability to carry out such an order, putting aside any qualms and doubt about what had to be done. You can, actually, continue to view the action with disgust, but still honor him for being up to the task despite the mountain of pressure that it may have entailed.

 

[alex994]

To a great man.

 

[Bugfatty300]

Yup. We had to make China and Korea safe for communism, even if a couple hundred thousand innocent people had to be vaporized to make it happen.

The Soviet Union's stunning invasion made China and Korea safe for communism. Not the A-bombs.