Stevemac, my biggest problem with your calling the nuclear attacks against Hiroshima and Nagasaki acts of American terrorism is it ignores the historical context of how WWII was fought. The act of terror bombing of civilian targets was widely practiced by both sides. It began with the indiscriminant bombing of Warsaw and other Polish cities, followed by Rotterdam, Belgrade, and many British cities by the Germans. The British bombing of German population centers was born out of desperation. Churchill wrote a famous letter indicating that this was the only hope for stopping the overwhelming prospect of German domination. He considered German domination the ultimate catostrophe. He saw this as the only offensive available to the British. In hard times you are sometimes forced to make ugly choices. When the US finally joined the war we accepted this strategy of terror bombing. It was a standard mode of operation among the participants.
Now I want Turn to the situation in Japan, which our military leaders and politicians had to face. By the summer of 1945 no one in position of power in Japan believed victory was possible for Japan. The consensus among Japanese leaders of the time was that honor was more important than defeat. On June 6 1945 the Japanese Supreme council approved a document called fundamental policy to be followed henceforth in the conduct of the war. This provided for the use of 10,000 suicide planes, 2,350,000 troops to fight on the beeches, backed by 4,000,000 army and navy civil employees, and a civilian militia of 28,000,000. The Japanese Diet soon passed legislation to form this army.
American intelligence quickly became aware of the Japanese fight to the finish strategy. The American military commanders calculated from there experience in the mid-pacific Islands that American land invasion would cost the Americans about 1 million in casualties. It would also cost Japanese servicemen about 10 to 20 million.
Considering the human cost of a land invasion it seemed a rational and indeed humane solution to increase firepower by the development and use of the a-bomb in response to the irrational obstinacy of those in charge of Japans destiny. The nuclear bombings saved enormous American and Japanese lives by making it unnecessary for a mainland invasion.
Chris Gordon impressively hit the nail on the head: the atomic bombs dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki were not in retaliation for anything...they were simply to avoid a mainland invasion of japan...which would have clamied so many more japanese civilians lives...im not condoning it by any means....but war is hell, and the japanese had the chance to surrender after the firstbomb, but choose not to....we gave them 9 days or so before the second one.
