Quote:
|
Originally Posted by The_Dunedan
CT:
OK. I'm now stepping into this discussion in my capacity as a military historian.
During WW2, all sides used what would be considered WMD; most commonly the carpet-bombing of industrialized cities with incindiary bombs. The Germans torched Coventry, and the British got Dresden. The Japanese burned, raped, sacked, and genocided their way across coastal China and Korea; the US used atomic bombs of H. and N. Seeing that neither side posessed precision-guided weapons, this was the best they could do in a Strateigic sense. You destroy the enemy's ability to make war, and you have destroyed the enemy.
However, pre-invasion casualty estimates were:
Allied Military: 1-1.5 Million.
Japanese Military: 2-2.25 Million.
Japanese CIVILLAIN: 5.5-6.5 MILLION.
The thing was, the plan for the invasion of the Home Islands called for a 14-day CHEMICAL attack in order to soften the islands up and prevent the kind of mass-scale irregular resistance that we WOULD HAVE faced from the Japanese civillians. Look up the "Last Ditch" Arisaka rifles sometime; it should give you a good idea of the scale we're talking about here.
Source: "The Bodygaurd of Lies" by B. H. Liddell Hart.
So as you can see; the use of the A-bombs to force Japan's surrender was actually a lifeSAVING measure, for both sides.
Secondly, Japan posessed nuclear materials and the potential to produce "dirty nukes" and even a low-yeild nuclear bomb. There is even some evidence to suggest that such a weapon was tested in the northern Japanese islands only 72 hours before Hiroshima was bombed.
Source: "World War Two Magazein, August 1999"
The "dirty bomb" was actually a plan to use submarine-launched highspeed airplanes to scatter radioactive material over cities on the US west coast. The carrier submarines were 3/4 completed and test flights of the airplanes were being carried out when Japan surrendered.
Source: "Japanese Submarines of WW2" produced by The History Channel.
Sorry if this is a threadjack, but the ill-informed America-bashing which always surrounds the A-bomb discussion always irritates me.
|
Oh I am quite informed about most of these matters, as I have a particular interest in all military matters particularly those regarding WW2. I stated above that we can argue all day about whether or not killing half a million civilians was necessary. I think that other measures might have proved equally effective. However, that is another thread. I merely pointed out that the US has used WMD on civilian populations in its past. I never said it was the only nation to do so. Merely that it is an act that we today associate with terrorists and any civilized people would condemn. I fully understand that (to some people) when we do perform these acts it is righteous, yet if others do the same it is terrorism.
And please tell me how this is "ill-informed America-bashing." I merely stated fact, if that displeases you, well... think about that.
An interesting side note: on the Hitler (sorry, History) channel right now is a program comparing the movie Tora! Tora! Tora! with the historical attack on Pearl Harbor. During this program they mentioned the fact that Japan preemptively attacked the US (partially) as a result of the US embargo on Japan. I couldn't help but think of the US' preemptive attack on Iraq. I found it rather synchronous with this discussion.