All over the world, the mainstream media have used the 68th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing to make comments on fears regarding peaceful nuclear power.
The killing of 70,000 people was an act of war. Nuclear power is peaceful. But the mainstream media are far more opposed to nuclear power than nuclear weapons. They never miss a trick to warn people about the dangers of nuclear power.
Here are a few examples:
http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/hiroshima-marks-67th-anniversary-of-atomic-bombing_792005.html
http://www.denverpost.com/world/ci_23799932/hiroshima-marks-anniversary-us-atomic-bombing
The nuclear power plants in Japan were built under government supervision. If the plants failed, this is because the government failed. These were not independent, free-market projects. They were extensions of the government.
I like your postings for the most part, however I have to comment on this one.
The dropping of Nuclear Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were both completely indefensible criminal acts. War crimes, in fact. Japan was beaten, had been requesting terms of surrender, in fact, the only sticking point was the Japan’s Emporor, which they wanted to retain, and DID retain even after the bombings.
Truman could have accepted terms of less than unconditional surrender, do a demonstration bombing on an uninhabited pacific island for the Japanese to observe, instead he chose to commit 2 separate war crimes using as a defense, the BS excuse of “saving American lives”, there was NEVER any question of an American invasion, Japan was beaten, and would have surrendered after a demonstration bombing under terms eaxctly as they eventually did surrender, keeping their Emporor. I find it horrible that people STILL won’t acknowledge this terrible WAR CRIME that Truman did.
“If the plants failed, this is because the government failed. These were not independent, free-market projects. They were extensions of the government.”
True, but the Fukushima reactors were built by General Electric. Three of GE’s design engineers quit in protest over short cuts the company was taking to squeeze more profit and substitute inferior materials. After the disaster a number of European governments cancelled their orders with GE.
Also, there are strong indications that the Stuxnet virus jointly created by the US & Israel, specifically to attack the Siemens controllers in Iran’s nuclear plants, went viral and may have infected the Siemens-controlled Fukushima reactors as well.
No idea if your tale is true…if it is then it was indefensible. However, if it is then I'm sure a lot of progressives will seek to demean the current generation and seek reparations.
But that's not what this piece is about. AT ALL.
Nuclear power (particularly new reactor technology like LFTR) is the obvious answer to energy poverty, air pollution, and satisfying the warmists. That the left isn't on board is further evidence that they have no sense.
Hopefully "Pandora's Promise" will make some headway with the numbskulls.
Truman was given an estimate that it would cost 1 million American military lives to successfully conquer and defeat Japan, he very reluctantly chose to kill 70,000 enemy populace to save 1,000,000 American military. It was not an easy decision due to the horrific nature of the weapon, but he put America first…. A notion lost on Liberals.
My wife's cousin was at one point a rabid "nuclear protester" years ago. We have had many discussions about its use. But now that she is in need of nuclear medicine because of a rare condition, she realizes what a hypocrate she was; how the nuclear use has over the years been made safer and contributes to a greater need. Too bad she bought the propaganda for all those years from the anti's because had she used her intellegence to understand, there would have been one less "protester" and now cleaner energy sources.
Exactly! A Commander in Chief makes difficult decisions using the knowledge and information that they have at hand. They do not have the luxury of waiting until things are "proven" after the fact. Truman struggled with the decision until his death but ultimately remained at peace becasue he saved American lives, which is precisely what an American leader is supposed to do.
As for the GE-built reactors, I believe I recall that there is a huge company whose initial's are something like GE whose top dog has some incredibly close ties withthe adminstration. But that simply can't be possible, can it? No one that closely affiliated with the wonderful work the Progressives are accomplishing would use profit as a motive to cut corners. That is something that only evil Republicans would do. Maybe I'm just dreaming about the whole GE thing…
In what sense is GE a free-market company? They are so in bed with the government, they might as well be the same thing.
Noni77 – That's the propaganda that we're told in school, and I don't believe it any more. What John said is FAR more believable. The Japanese were suing for peace, the only sticking point was "unconditional surrender" (a totally modern and corrupt concept, anyway.) The terms that were accepted by both sides AFTER the two war mega-crimes were precisely what Japan was offering before the bombs were dropped.
The real reason the bombs were dropped was because the US fedgov WANTED to drop them, as a part of the whole "See, world? We're on top, now." thing.
The bombs were dropped to prove to the Soviet Union in the already-planned Cold War future that the US had the will to use nuclear weapons. Something to remember when neocons shriek about where the “nuclear threat” is coming from in the world today. Only one nation in history has ever used nuclear weapons against the civilian population of another country.
The estimates of personnel losses in case of an invasion of Japan were like a fish story: they got higher with each re-telling, and in any case they were simply not true. Japan was finished, and American leadership knew it.
And Truman was by no means "reluctant" in dropping the bomb. After it had been done, he was delighted and excitedly called it the greatest event in the history of mankind.
The brass were uniformly against it, and even Major General Curtis LeMay, in charge of the B-29 bomber command in the Pacific, said the bomb "had nothing to do with the end of the war.". Don't think so? See for yourself:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3…
Also, the two atomic bombs did NOT put an end to the fighting. The largest air raid of the Pacific war took place AFTER the atomic bombings. Read for yourself:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2009/08/laurence-m-van…
US Navy submarines had cut shipping to resource-poor Japan to zero, and the large Japanese force in mainland China was in no position to return to Japan to defend the home islands. Long range US bombers had been hitting Japan from the Marianas since the previous October and, as LeMay said, by this point there were only "garbage can targets" left because virtually everything of tactical value had already been destroyed. Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been spared because there was nothing in them worth bombing; this made them, however, "virgin" targets to study the full effects of atomic bombings.
The true target of the bombing was the USSR, which had successfully pushed back the Wehrmacht out at a cost of 20 million lives. The Soviets took note that the US used the bombs when they would gain nothing for the US, where there was no valid target, when they would just kill hundreds of thousands of old folks, women and children. If the US would kill so many people in the country of a shattered foe, it would certainly be more than willing to do so to the USSR. Message received, loud and clear.
"Oh, Americans don't do that sort of thing!" If you believe that, then you just haven't been paying attention.
That’s what you get when living under fascism: big government and big business united against the common good. If big business makes money they get to keep it; if they lose money the loses are dumped on the voters. That was how Mussolini defined fascism (and he knew a thing or two on the subject).
I should qualify the statement that unconditional surrender is a modern concept. Actually, many ancient powers also used it…the Mongols come immediately and horrifically to mind. However, for hundreds of years the European powers had conducted war in a much more civilized fashion. Not that war is ever civilized, but anything you can do to mitigate the horror is positive. The whole unconditional surrender/total war thing came back into vogue with the American Civil War.
A MILLION American military lives?
Think about it: How many troops were in the military?
Talk about propaganda…
Perhaps you should read a history book John . . . preferably one written over 50 years ago . . .
What the Japanese did through the 30's was "War Crimes" . . . what the Japanese did to British, Canadian, Australian and US soldiers was a "War Crime" . . . .
Japan would have never surrendered . . . our guys would have had to fight for every street and building in Japan . . . at a cost of many Allied lives . . . some experts believed 100's of thousands . . . Your fantasies are just nonsense . . . the Japanese war culture of that day would have fought to the last man.
Funny how "Revisionist" leftists always want to mold history into their own faulty belief system . . .
REALITY is John . . . Truman saved 100's of thousands of Allied lives and crushed the Japanese war machine, probably forever . . . Japan and its citizens went on to be an upstanding member of the world community.
John…regarding your Tirade about Truman's "War Crimes". The Japanese killed MORE civilians in China between 1933 and 1941 than ALL the civilian deaths in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Also…those wonderful people you are defending used Biological Warfare and Poison Gas on those same Chinese. As far as the Japanese being defeated…they were FAR from it. To the very end they still had thousands of aircraft prepared to use on a potential American Invasion Fleet…all as kamikazes. Find this book: "Japan's Legions" . Skip everything but the last two chapters and you MIGHT get a clue. There was a faction within the Japanese 'Government', such as it was…that were prepared to Crash-Dive the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Harbor on 2 Sept 1945. Had that been done, the Allies would have taken the view that the Japanese were UTTERLY treacherous…and the slaughter on both sides would have been too horrible to contemplate. Are you aware that the expected casualties on our side was pegged at 200,000 wounded and on the order of 80,000 killed. Two million Purple Hearts were made in anticipation….thankfully not needed. Some of those 2 million were awarded to American Servicemen as late as the First Gulf War…in 1991. Sir…..you are a fool.
That's what they expected in casualties…both KIA and wounded.
Perhaps you should read a history book. Yes, they were prepared to surrender. Please look somewhere else other than your 4th grade teacher for history. Thank you.
Geez, the number of little lemmings and willingly blind sheep is becoming so laughable as to be idiotic. AJohn has a much stronger grip on reality than you blind boy.
Another idiot. Sorry pal but the Japanese were already ready to surrender in late 1944. Their only condition is that they keep their emperor. Well the psychopath Truman dropped the bombs anyway. Your 4th grade teacher was wrong.
"John…regarding your Tirade about Truman's "War Crimes". The Japanese killed MORE civilians in China between 1933 and 1941 than ALL the civilian deaths in Hiroshima and Nagasaki"
Yes, so? That justifies another cowardly act by The Imperial City, aka, Washington DC?
" As far as the Japanese being defeated…they were FAR from it."
"Sir…..you are a fool. "
No little boy, you're the fool. When you and your other propagandized children grow up and awaken to reality let us know
Still listening to your 4th grade teacher? You need help pal.
Isn't amazing how article like this bring all the Weeaboos out of the woodwork?
How's that NAME-CALLING contributing to your 'tirade'? "Little Boy? Ad Hominem is always the sign of one with no real argument to make.
YEP…that's for sure. That original FOOLE is a smug little whack, isn't he?
Funny you wrote these silly little libertardic ramblings, b/c I’d post a link for you to pop every. single. spew that dribbled off your sippy cup and into our eyes that had even john steward redact his flippant snarks a few days later. Sadly for you (more then likely since it aint free) it’s a subscription site called PJTV_dot_com under the Afterburner link~ But do yourself a favor and do something interesting! type out – lemay bombing leaflet – .. and that’s the tip of your wackiness! Understand that a surviving Japanese pilot who lead the attack on Pearl Harbor even admitted that the mentality of every Citizen in Japan where more than willing to commit suicide attacks with anything they carried. CHILDREN where being taught to wear grenade packs and run under tanks ! Oh the fun~ Fun~ FACTS out of this 16 and a half video would ruin years of your own schooling.
+
By the by… Why didn’t we use the FORTH Atomic bomb? did ya know we had Four bombs? Was that sentence not written in your school books? ..questions questions…
How many troops were involved in the Pacific Theater?
Think about that before you believe in a million "lives lost", as Truman said.
Military deaths in WW2 for the USA: 416,800. Total: 418,500. (Remember: this is total for the ENTIRE war.)
What was the total number of combat troops for the Pacific Theater? You will need at least a million to hit the million casualty number.
"They never miss a trick to warn people about the dangers of nuclear power."
Poverty from energy scarcity is far more dangerous than nuclear power, at least by the measurement of the body count.
You do understand that Okinawa had just fought to the last soldier (OK, a less than 1% surrender) and had cajoled/forced civilians to leap to their deaths to avoid the stain of Japanese citizens surrendering.
Secondly, why did we owe Japan anything. After the atrocities committed against the Chinese, the Filipinos, the Indonesians, the list goes on; murder, rape and torture of civilians and POWs. Name one Asian country that has protested against the use of a nuclear bomb on Japan. There are none. So, you can find it horrible if you want. War is horrible. Just because you say the Japanese were ready to surrender doesn't make it so. They could have surrendered, couldn't they. We were supposed to make it politically acceptable for them? Screw them, they LOST THE WAR, THEY DON'T GET TO MAKE DEMANDS.
It should have been very easy. By comparison, the Japanese killed 100,000 Chinese because of Chinese aid to the Jimmy Doolittle raid survivors.
In the old days, the WINNER would have insisted upon the head of the Emperor as a condition to the surrender. We could not leave the war criminal chief in charge, which is what the Japanese wanted. They may have wanted a CONDITIONAL surrender. We demanded an UNCONDITIONAL surrender. See the difference.
Stalin said: “If one person dies it’s a tragedy; if 100,000 die it’s a statistic.”
Liberal MSM says: “If 100,000 die from one bomb it’s war crime; If 100,000 die from 10,000 airplanes dropping 50,000 tons of TNT it’s a military strategy.”
Thank you for the update, Comrade. We should always look to your Soviet brothers for lessons in benign behavior and a strict observance of the rules of war. I am glad that you have truly learned the history of the peaceful Soviet people in their search for peace and prosperity. How much LSD did you use back in the day?
"Prepared to surrender" . . . that is just nonsense ! ! ! Lieberal revisionist history for leftist loons . . .
So you believe that the Allied forces would have just walked into Japan and got the same welcome they got in Paris or Berlin ?
That is just "insane" man . . . Japanese culture back in the day was quite different from today . . .
"The first American landing on Japanese territory, at Iwo Jima. US troops invaded in February 1945, following ten weeks of relentless aerial bombardment. As the Japanese emerged from tunnels and underground bunkers, a bloody 36 day combat began. While the US lost 6381 men, 20,000 Japanese soldiers perished. The invasion of Okinawa followed in April 1945. The Japanese launched massive kamikaze attacks on the US invasion fleet in the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War."
You come from a point of "Pure Speculation" Mike . . . reality is Japan would have been much like Afganistan . . . and would have cost many Allied lives . . . . the Japanese were far better fighters than the Afgans.
"Comrade"? LSD? I was a US Army paratrooper and later a career USAF officer. My father was in the 73d Bombardment Wing (Very Heavy) at Isely Airfield on Saipan, so I am particularly familiar with the air war in the Pacific. I used to believe the official lies justifying the mass slaughter of civilians, but finally I opened my eyes. Others never will.
A friend who was an infantryman in Vietnam in the 101st Airborne Division described atrocities he witnessed, including the murder of civilians, and wrote, "One of the things I learned in Vietnam is that we Americans are no better than anybody else, no worse but no better. There are a lot of naive people here that think we are and will probably die thinking that." He wasn't wrong.
Nuclear power is a highly regulated industry to begin with. The three disasters that are black eyes on the nuclear power industry are Three Mile Island, (1979), Chernobyl, (1986), and Fukushima, (2011). Back in the 1950s and '60s, General Atomics, was founded to design, and build, the Orion starship. (Not to be confused with the Orion spacecraft). The Orion starship was discontinued in 1966 when the United Nations General Assembly banned the use of nuclear weapons in space. The Orion starship used nuclear bombs to propel it. That's right. Nuclear bombs were supposed to be fuel for the Orion starship. There's a difference between nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Can plutonium be used in nuclear weapons? Yes, it can but that's not what this article's about.
Guess what, for all you that think the bombing of japan was unnecessary you will be very surprised to hear that the Japanese themselves have voice the necessity of this bombing to save lives in japan. When my Japanese friends told me this at a party i was floored for who would know better then them.
The bill gates foundation is looking at small new nuclear technology for developing countries. New generation nuclear, factory built reactors in one case have a big advantage over the old as they do not melt down. The co founder of Greenpeace has indorsed nuclear as the future clean energy. All these people know more e than me.
1. Design flaw in the plants. The cooling water was stored below the level of the core. so pumping required electricity to circulate and the generators were at ground level and vulnerable to flood damage. 2. In the US we have Boron a nuclear reaction “poison” that is stored above the core and does not require power to pump it into the core in an emergency shut down, is will gravity feed and thus kill the reaction chain. 3. The plants were sited in a high potential inundation coastal zone in a country with earthquake potential to produce tsunami and the backup generators were not is a protected location. Now you have the only country to suffer the experience of atomic bombs dropped upon them in anger and suffered the tremendous impacts of radiation and yet they have most of their power generated by Nuclear reactors. If it were such a hazard then I would doubt they would have ventured in to such technology. Newer designs are far safer than many of the older plant designs and if reprocessing of the fuel were allowed very little hazardous waste would exist from nuclear power generation. The fissionable material would be returned to the new fuel rods and continue to generate power the low level materials removed from the fuels are the medically useful isotopes and those used on mining, and industrial processes, smoke detectors and such. Coleman lamp mantels used to be radioactive, due to thorium treatment. How many of you used to carry your spares in your pockets?
FDR’s boss, Uncle Stalin would not hear of anything less than unconditional surrender for Russia’s old enemy, Japan. Stalin likely would have preferred a US invasion of Japan as that would lead to as many as 1 million US military deaths and even more Japanese deaths!
Liberals also claim that a border wall to keep terrorists and illegals OUT is exactly the same thing as the Berlin Wall, designed to keep East Germans inside a police state. Obviously Mexico isn't a police state, because it's run by drug lords.
You are 100% right and it sickens me to know that so many Americans defend these atrocities to this day. It shows that we as a nation still cling to the notion that our govt can do no wrong. Our govt HAS done wrong, on many occasions. FDR was a war criminal as bad as Hitler, and so was Truman. These men wanted to promote Communism and dismantle our Constitution. They were largely successful.
The knee-jerk defense of American WWII policy is not productive in the situation we are in today. It is time to re-evaluate how our govt has undermined American interests and furthered a globalist agenda. FDR was not the first, but may have been the most aggressive until Obama, as he sought to undermine the Constitution and representative govt here at home. Don't close your eyes, but wake up to the truth. We must take responsibility for our own country and not leave it in the hands of career criminals who lie to us and behave without conscience or decency.