Hiroshima

[JeffreyLebowski]

I remember watching an interview with the Colonel Paul Tibbets of the Enola Gay. That guy is hard core, even after all the years, he still says he'd do it again. Which is the right attitude to have. Kill or be killed in war. That guy has the biggest body count in history and he can live with it.

Tibbets expressed no regret regarding the decision to drop the bomb. In a 1975 interview he said: "I'm proud that I was able to start with nothing, plan it, and have it work as perfectly as it did... I sleep clearly every night."[5] In March 2005, he stated, "If you give me the same circumstances, I'd do it again."

 

[WT]

I think that interview was with the pilot, Paul Tibbets, not the bombardier. He passed away earlier this year and never regretted his role in the mission nor the way it played out as well.

 

[Iron Woode]

these anti A bombs idiots remind me of the Dresden is a war crime idiots. Dresden was retaliation for what the Nazi's did to Coventry.

Its wrong to firebomb Dresden but its fine to firebomb Coventry? :roll:

 

[Scrodes]

Originally posted by: Cattlegod
so, if you were 2-3 feet under water when the blast hit, would you have survived?

No, you would be very dead in a very painful matter.

Water is generally incompressible. The massive shock wave would ripple through the water unimpeded until it came into contact with your body dissipating all that energy into you, a bag of gelatinous flesh. On contact it would pulverize your internal organs and shred any air filled cavity in your body to pieces. Very painful

The lethal blast radius underwater is far greater than on land.

 

[chuckywang]

Originally posted by: apac
I have mixed feelings about the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, quoted as "promoting a hope to end the existence of all nuclear weapons". Why should it be specific to Nuclear weapons? 1 atomic bomb is no different than 10000 normal bombs. If there weren't nuclear weapons, there would be something else. They are not the problem. Maybe the problem was Japan starting an unnecessary, selfish war in the Pacific.

How do you turn a Peace Museum into an accusation of an extinct government?

 

[chuckywang]

Originally posted by: jalaram

Originally posted by: Iron Woode
it seems jalaram is getting an appreciation of facts vs opinion.

lots of students hear things about the 2 atomic bombs dropped on Japan like:

the US is evil. That's an opinion.
the Japanese were victims. That's an opinion.
the bombs were unnecessary. That's an opinion.
the dropping of those bombs is a war crime. That's an opinion.

Now for some facts:

We (allies) were at war with a barbaric enemy bent on world domination. That's a Fact.
America fought a protracted war, island by island back to Japan. That's a fact.
Japan's resistance was extreme. That's a fact.
American Government struggled with the decision to use the A Bomb. That's a fact.
The bombs brought about a quick end to the war. That's a fact.
Casualties are a part of war. That's a fact.
A land invasion would have cost even more lives then those killed by the bombs. That's a fact.

Japan should have paid more attention to the warning by Admiral Yamamoto:

"I am afraid we have awakened a sleeping giant."

I'll agree to most of your facts and opinions except with:
Barbaric enemy is opinion.
Are civilian casualties part of war? In this case, the deliberate killing of civilians is what sways opinions of the bombing.

However, those facts won't change that many people believe that Hiroshima was a terrible act.

It was a terrible act. It was also a necessary one.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Attitudes were obviously different in those days. No way in hell dropping atomic weapons on civilians would be acceptable these days, regardless of the reason. These days it would be a war crime.

 

[DaWhim]

Originally posted by: randay
140,000 innocent civilians. the price of war is too high.

get your fact straight. in WW2, japan has turned into a war machine, everyone in japan helped in the effort. innocent civilians? I don't think so.

 

[Mursilis]

Originally posted by: DaWhim

Originally posted by: randay
140,000 innocent civilians. the price of war is too high.

get your fact straight. in WW2, japan has turned into a war machine, everyone in japan helped in the effort. innocent civilians? I don't think so.

Innocent of starting the war, certainly. The average person has little interest in anything which could result in their own death, or prolonged pain and suffering.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Originally posted by: DaWhim

Originally posted by: randay
140,000 innocent civilians. the price of war is too high.

get your fact straight. in WW2, japan has turned into a war machine, everyone in japan helped in the effort. innocent civilians? I don't think so.

Shit, I had no idea babies helped in the war effort. Propaganda much?

 

[chuckywang]

Originally posted by: DaWhim

Originally posted by: randay
140,000 innocent civilians. the price of war is too high.

get your fact straight. in WW2, japan has turned into a war machine, everyone in japan helped in the effort. innocent civilians? I don't think so.

You are one angry dude man.

 

[randay]

Originally posted by: DaWhim

Originally posted by: randay
140,000 innocent civilians. the price of war is too high.

get your fact straight. in WW2, japan has turned into a war machine, everyone in japan helped in the effort. innocent civilians? I don't think so.

oh really? you call that a fact? so how do the babies help? they put them to work assembling bullets or something? and even if that were possible, how does that make them not innocent?

youre either a soldier, or youre a civilian. period. and _thats_ a fact.

 

[zerocool84]

Where exactly is the dome? I don't see it where they say it is in the pics.

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky
Attitudes were obviously different in those days. No way in hell dropping atomic weapons on civilians would be acceptable these days, regardless of the reason. These days it would be a war crime.

of course.

we would just drop loads more of conventional bombs that would kill the same number of people; but at least we can claim the moral high ground.

:roll:

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: zerocool84
Where exactly is the dome? I don't see it where they say it is in the pics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FileSCN0282.JPG

that funky thing on the left.

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: Iron Woode

Originally posted by: zerocool84
Where exactly is the dome? I don't see it where they say it is in the pics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FileSCN0282.JPG

that funky thing on the left.

Oh I thought it was like literally a dome/big hole in the ground. So the "dome" is just a memorial site of where it was dropped at?

 

[StinkyPinky]

Originally posted by: Iron Woode

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky
Attitudes were obviously different in those days. No way in hell dropping atomic weapons on civilians would be acceptable these days, regardless of the reason. These days it would be a war crime.

of course.

we would just drop loads more of conventional bombs that would kill the same number of people; but at least we can claim the moral high ground.

:roll:

Oh really? No idea we targeted citizens these days.

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky

Originally posted by: Iron Woode

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky
Attitudes were obviously different in those days. No way in hell dropping atomic weapons on civilians would be acceptable these days, regardless of the reason. These days it would be a war crime.

of course.

we would just drop loads more of conventional bombs that would kill the same number of people; but at least we can claim the moral high ground.

:roll:

Oh really? No idea we targeted citizens these days.

they are collateral damage in war.

there is no way to wage a war and not kill civilians.

 

[IAteYourMother]

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky

Originally posted by: Iron Woode

Originally posted by: StinkyPinky
Attitudes were obviously different in those days. No way in hell dropping atomic weapons on civilians would be acceptable these days, regardless of the reason. These days it would be a war crime.

of course.

we would just drop loads more of conventional bombs that would kill the same number of people; but at least we can claim the moral high ground.

:roll:

Oh really? No idea we targeted citizens these days.

remember the cold war?

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: zerocool84

Originally posted by: Iron Woode

Originally posted by: zerocool84
Where exactly is the dome? I don't see it where they say it is in the pics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FileSCN0282.JPG

that funky thing on the left.

Oh I thought it was like literally a dome/big hole in the ground. So the "dome" is just a memorial site of where it was dropped at?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima_Peace_Memorial

more or less.

 

[dennilfloss]

Originally posted by: So

The first H-Bomb was detonated in March 1954, nearly ten years after the war...and it was a hell of a bang.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Bravo

There were smaller thermonuclear devices detonated before Castle Bravo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Greenhouse

Still, the first full hydrogen fusion bomb test was Ivy Mike.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Mike

 

[Cogman]

A life is a life. Military unit or civilian. IMO the death of the civilians saved the lives of many in the military. It sucks, yeah, but in this case the ends justify the means. The war would have been extended by years had the bomb not been dropped, and who knows what the outcome would have been.

Heck, had we not dropped the bomb then, I don't believe there is any guarantee we wouldn't have dropped it later in a skirmish. It would have been just as devastating.

 

[Regs]

They have the special running on HBO now.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

It never ceases to amaze me how easily Americans can rationalize dropping nuclear weapons on civilians. You guys really do have a... uhh... different perspective.

 

[Cogman]

Originally posted by: GodlessAstronomer
It never ceases to amaze me how easily Americans can rationalize dropping nuclear weapons on civilians. You guys really do have a... uhh... different perspective.

It never ceases to amaze me how easily The Rest of the World (TRW) can rewrite history to make Americans the villains. You guys really do have a... uhh... different perspective.

Seriously? You really would rather have island warfare, several more years of war, famine (Potentially leading to more civilian deaths), ect?