Was it necessary to drop the bomb?

[Darth_Pugwash]

And it never occured to you that the history taught in Europe might be biased?

Those poor indoctrinated Americans, eh?

But anyway if your going to read about the bombing some more, you should at least remember that Alperovitz is by no means the first to write about them, and that there are different interpretations on all sides of the question.

I'm not going to post my views again, you know them by now.

 

[ravensfire]

BTW noncon, thanks for posting the paper, it's interesting. Beyond the fact that Hirohito stayed, I didn't realize that the 'de-nazification' in Japan was that limited...that is a bit weird.

Douglas MacAurthur was a fairly inspired choice to oversee the occupation of Japan. He probably had a better understanding of Japanese culture than most other American generals. His decision to maintain the Emperor, but seperate him completely from the military was somewhat controversial and turn him into the virutal figurehead he is now was controversial, but seems to have worked well.

He and his staff were able to use the shame and despair the Japanese felt from the loss to force a lot of changes to Japanese law and culture. It's an interesting example of a successful occupation.

-- Ravensfire

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

BTW noncon, thanks for posting the paper, it's interesting. Beyond the fact that Hirohito stayed, I didn't realize that the 'de-nazification' in Japan was that limited...that is a bit weird.

Don't worry. Limited 'de-nazification' in Japan means that the United States let war criminals get away and a thorough 'de-nazification' would have meant the United States was acting like a second gestapo.