Comments Posted By Thomas C. Cook
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REMEMBERING THE BOMB, FORGETTING WHY
Back in 1986, I was an exchange student living in Hiroshima. I attended the annual ceremony at Peace Park (which was about 1/2 mile from where I was living), and was greatly moved by the whole day, including the speeches from survivors and Bishop Desmond Tutu, as well as the tour of the Peace Park museum and standing under A-Bomb Dome (including seeing the concrete with the outlines of burned people - something I will never forget). However, during my time in Hiroshima, I had the opportunity to speak in private with several survivors of that day. What struck me at the time, and does still today, was their apparent lack of bitterness or hatred towards the United States for dropping the bomb. Almost to a person, each of the survivors that I spoke with expressed great grief and sadness over what had happened, and the loss of loved ones that they suffered, but they also expressed their understanding that the war had to be ended, and that any other approach taken would have greatly prolonged the war and cost countless more lives to be lost than were caused by the bomb. As you have pointed out in your article, history bears out this point of view. With Okinowa as an example, it was painfully evident what a full scale invasion of Honshu would have entailed. We knew it, the Emperor knew it, and Japanese people knew it. Yes, no more Hiroshimas. However, I think it can be safely argued that dropping the bomb was the only real option that we had at the time.
Comment Posted By Thomas C. Cook On 13.08.2008 @ 13:39
