Sure we should apologize. let me start.
I am sorry that you started a war you couldn’t finish.
I am sorry you were batshit insane and forced our hand.
I am sorry we were not willing to sacrifice 1 Million+ more of our soldiers in a protracted Ground war…
Anyone on here who knows me, knows that I am not a warmonger. But if you are going to start shit don’t whine when we finish it.
WW2 was a total war, and Japan sealed their fate when they bombed Pearl Harbor and chose to mistreat/enslave/murder captured Allied servicemembers, as well as the civilian population of the Pacific rim. Think of Fat Man & Little Boy as karmic justice being doled out on a Biblical scale to a nation that deserved no better.
Japan should thank us we didn’t do worse, and that we built them (and W.Germany) up in the 1950’s.
The thing the apologists never mention is that Japan could have surrendered after Hiroshima. They refused and our response was to bomb Nagasaki. Perhaps the emperor thought we only had one bomb, and we were bluffing about having more. Bad call on his part.
But you can see that he was willing to let another couple hundred thousand of his innocent civilians die just to make sure we had the backup. Has Japan apologized to their own citizens for not surrendering after the first bomb?
Either way, their kind need to be planted in the ground quickly in any case. Besides my comment was with a hint of sarcasm for those that don’t know my humor. Cheers, and God save the USA! PS Stalin was a killer…but he did so with no nonsense instead of being a fanatic.
Speaking of Imperial Japan, some of them were still fighting after the war. My priest served during Korea on Guam and there were still Jap soldiers hiding there and even tried to attack servicemen , Also didn’t like the last Jap soldier surrender like in the late 80’s or early 90’s? Talk about your committed soldier right there. Yeah, A bomb was only realistic way to decisive victory.
No I don’t always stir the pot, so apparently you only read my posts when you disagree with me, and what’s the point of a discussion when every viewpoint is the same.
I just don’t take a view to be popular or perceived as hardcore. so I’m not going to justify my actions and demonize it when some one else does the same thing just because they’re a different person. It’s called accountability. Kind of like the difference between a rich person and a poor person stealing a loaf of bread. In my fucked up world views it’s the same crime, not a lesser of a crime because the poor guy is poor so I should view him differently than the person of privilege.
If you can justify the killing of civilians than fine that’s you’re view of morality. In my world view collateral damage happens, but it’s not something you seek out and exploit.
And as a matter of fact one of my relatives had a big influence during the war. Hell he was the General the Japanese Emperor surrendered to, and he didn’t feel the bombs where necessary, he did favor blowing the hell out of China in the Korea war.
Good job and congrats for just being you. No fight here enjoy, and try the veal!
I visited both Hiroshima and Nagasaki last year. We went there mainly to visit the museums (actually just to ride the trains was the main goal, but we chose Nagasaki and Hiroshima as end goals to see the museums).
It was interesting. They try and put you (generic you, the visitor, not necessarily Americans) on a guilt trip for nuclear weapons existing and want you to emotionally come out against them and sign nuclear disarmament petitions and wave the banners of “peace”. I explained to my son (he was 6 then) that Japan did a lot of bad things back then including attack America and that the Atomic bombs were how the war ended. I made no excuses. Yes, atomic weapons suck. Any war and any weapons suck. But now that they exist, you cannot put that genie back in the bottle. And on the “peacenik” front that they seem to push there, I explained that sometimes war is necessary because bad people exist in the world. No sane person wants war. But only sane people prepare for it and when it happens prosecute it to win and bring peace.
It was interesting, and sobering, to see what happened and to visit these places in person. It was also interesting to see what ninnies the world creates who think that when someone declares war on you, you can just walk away and say “No”
(pic of us in Hiroshima)
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30303486&l=6879dea070&id=1408275395
Chad
(wife does not make excuses for Japan’s behavior early 1900s through WW2 and does not fault the US for the atomic bombs. Wife was born and raised in Japan, as were both her parents, but her grandparents [all 4 as I understand it] came from Korea to Japan and she had a Korean passport before she became an American, though she does not speak Korean and had never been there before we went after we got married. She considers herself as coming from Japan)
Every time I think our current executive branch can get any worse…
Why am I surprised - these folks will stop at nothing to rewrite history.
You are very correct. I flubbed my dates.
Actually most of the Germans I know who were raised in post war Germany were made very aware of what happened during the war and who was to blame. I’d almost say they are more knowledgeable about German atrocities than most American students who aren’t Jewish.
Part of that IS our fault.
We went out of our way not to shame them. We were even culpable for things like Unit 731.
While we were willing to put nearly any member of the “nazi party” on trial in Nuremburg (even those who simply delivered the mail) we only took the “big names” to task in Japan.
Even worse we cut deals like giving those in charge of Unit 731 immunity in exchange for their data. Imagine if we gave the same deal to Mengele or some other SS doctor. Many Japanese war criminals even went on to government positions in post war Japan. Many still regarded as heroes to this day.
We even helped perpetuate the absurd notion that the Emporer was some kind of innocent bystander during the whole conflict.
Japan went far out of their way to deserve Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Yes. I lived 50 miles outside Munich 1991-1993 while I worked for a computer company in Munich. I was also involved with a boy scout group at church (German congregation of the LDS church) and was put in charge of the young men (we only had 2 of the age for boy scouts). They let me know in no uncertain terms that they equated “patriotism” with Nazis and what the Nazis did. To them it was one and the same. The post war German nation is the Nation of Guilt – even for those kids born in the late 70s and early 80s and whose parents were born after the war as well and had nothing to do with it.
Does this apology come with cheese, peanut butter, hunting/fishing rights and a casino?
Well stated. I always found it interesting that the German people today shun nationalism in any context, save for sports.
They don’t sing their national anthem, don’t really display their flag, and can’t effectively discuss the problems related to non-Germans (Turks and Russians) putting such a heavy burden on their social welfare system, because any such actitivities lead to whispers of Naziism.
Up until very recently, the Bundeswehr didn’t even have a decoration to award for bravery for deserving soldiers in places like Afghanistan. They have done a typically-thorough job of neutering all references to national strength, and effectively erased any memory of the military accomplishments of the past. It isn’t that the Germans don’t know about their history, but rather that they have been taught that there is only one valid context in which to consider it: one of deep shame.
Oddly enough, the only time you will ever see a rank-and-file German going out of his way to make an overt display of patriotism is during the FIFA World Cup … then, the country is a veritable sea of black, red and gold.
AC
Statistically speaking, you are always in greatest danger from being murdered by your own government, then by any invading army or criminal. No four words in all of human history lead to the death of more people then “it can’t happen here.”
I’m sorry we didn’t drop a few on the Soviet Union when we had the chance.
Um, was that not the apology you were looking for?
The Japanese still don’t realize the true nature of their idiocy. They think we have some sort of belligerent hatred of their race. The truth is prior to Pearl Harbor no nation was better liked by us. We opened them up to trade, helped them industrialize, trained their military, educated their privileged and took their industrious immigrants. After they bombed the crap out of Pearl Harbor and the Philippines we didn’t know what to think, it major league screwed with the national psyche. Betrayal by any other word.
Them bombing us over our sanctions against their lunacy is the moral equivalent of shooting an RPG into an ice cream shop who refuses to sell to you because you beat up neighborhood kids for their lunch money.
Here’s the circle-jerk Japanese methodology for WWII…
-Need raw materials and oil in case America attacks us, because we have such limited resources.
-Will get raw materials and oil from countries other than America, because they won’t sell if we’re shooting at them.
-Getting these raw materials and oil initially requires American raw materials and oil.
-Oh crap, the Americans just embargoed us.
-To prevent a disastrous war with America in which we have limited supplies and thus will lose, we will attack them right now when we have limited supplies… and hope for the best?
These dummies created the proverbial perpetual-motion-machine of self fulfilling prophecies, against people who liked them.
Armakraut, nice post…love your style!
Thanks.
You never really hear the Japanese seriously debate any of this stuff, because it literally sounds as stupid as “you paid me too much money, I had never had that much money, so I blew it all, got in debt and it’s all your fault!”
Stop now, please! I just spit up my Earl Grey laughing!