When I was at the Hiroshima museum around 2005, there were some Japanese school girls there. They were unaware of a place called Pearl Harbor or it's significance. Had we not dropped the bombs, probably a million more would be dead including many Americans.

Curtis LeMay's firebombing of Tokyo was as unnecessary as the later two war crimes. The people killed by it were no more or less dead, qualitatively. Dead is dead. A stabbing murder isn't any less final or lethal than an H-bomb. What frightens people about nukes is the knowledge that it will be all inclusive and not just limited to 'those other folks over yonder'.

There is no humane way to fight wars. The idea of rules being able to civilize slaying of one people by another is absurd; slaughter cannot become something dignified because it is carried out with a set of rules.

If terrorism is murder of civilians so as to reduce willingness to fight or to save lives of combatants, how does it suddenly become dignified when we not only do it but admit to the motives? Japanese civilians became more acceptable as helpless sacrifices than the loss of our combatants doing a mop-up operation on an already defeated enemy.

WE dropped leaflets to warn them. It is as laughable as the Israeli IDF calling people in a building in Gaza by phone or signaling them with a small explosion to get out now and two to three minutes later incinerating them... What dignity and humanity we show with rules. How much less dead they are because of our touching regard for being civilized about methods.

Idk if commenters are simply ignorant or blinded by nationalist fervor. There was neither a need nor benefit to dropping atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This rank propaganda was debunked by Truman’s Chief of Staff, the Commanding General of US Army Air Forces and the Naval Commander of the Pacific Fleet.

If you care enough to commit to a position, at least do some research.

There are good arguments for and against the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many on both sides made by prominent folks who were actually there. Certainly it was a terrifying chapter in human history. But I wasn't there and I'm not much for Monday morning quarterbacking. I believe that the only thing for certain is that those bombs saved U.S. soldiers' lives...maybe a relative few if we'd been able to force a surrender by carpet bombing...maybe hundreds of thousands if we'd been forced into a land invasion. We'll never know for certain.

So how about a few modern day hypotheticals? Suppose one of our modern allies - say for example Germany, Great Britain or Australia - was being invaded by overwhelming ground forces. And we were seeing atrocities such as those which continued to be inflicted by the Japanese right up to their surrender in WWII. Would the use of tactical nukes be justified?

What if some nutbag terrorist somewhere in the Middle East got their hands on a nuclear missile and had it pointed at us? And we couldn't pinpoint which cave he was holed up in? Would it be justified to nuke an area just to be sure we got it before it got us?

Here's a good one. What if we found out said nutbag had already gotten a really big bomb into some U.S. suburb. And we could only determine within a few miles where it actually was. Would a smaller bomb be better or worse than taking a chance that the big bomb would be successfully deployed? Would a small bomb that takes out half of The Bronx be better than possibly a big one that takes out everything from the Washington Bridge to JFK?

Of course, these are all impossible questions...and we all hope never to be faced with such a situation.

But sometimes the lesser of two evils is the only choice there is.

Hindsight has shown it was unnecessary and was dropped as a message to Russia. That being said, the Japanese do not own their history. My brother has lived in Japan for 20 years and while he loves it, this is one area that drives him nuts! They do not teach their children their history.

The bombing raid code named Operation Meetinghouse was conducted on the night 9/10th March 1945 and killed an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people. It left a 16 square mile area of Tokyo devistated. An estimated 1.000.000 homeless.

Never heard anyone complain about that.

As tragic as they were, the atomic bombings were a lesser of two evils. Millions more would have died if we had invaded.

Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack....no warning. (December 7, 1941)
The total number of military personnel killed was 2,335, including 2,008 navy personnel, 109 marines, and 218 army. Added to this were 68 civilians, making the total 2403 people dead. 1,177 were from the USS Arizona.

We weren't at war with Japan until they did this. All their deaths are a result of the decisions made by their military and government leaders.

Don't attack the biggest kid on the playground and then bitch when he beats you to a pulp.

Lest a repeat of fanatical fascists fighting to the last 13 year old as in Berlin, an assault on Japan would have been too great a cost in allied lives. It took 2 atomic bombs. Not one but 2. That is how fanatical fascists can be. I for one lament its use & that it was my country that had to use 2. Celebrate not the burning of babies.

2 words.... Pearl. Harbor.

August is hot enough as is.

Many of the principal military officials such as Admiral Leahy and Eisenhower were of the opinion that it was totally unnecessary.

I have heard the arguments that Japan would never have surrendered and more may have died.

But I still think the first bomb should have not been dropped on a population center.

The power could have been easily shown on a forest or something else.

Then say...."We've got another one. Care to talk?"

Also, the fire bombing of Dresden killed more civilians as I recall.

USA! USA! USA!!!!
Unfortunately, I believe that with the proliferation of the technology, I'll live to see a limited nuclear war take place.