Hiroshima bomb pilot died

There ya' go, just like I said. Trying to apply today's viewpoint to a totally different time.

In 1945, no one thought it was the wrong thing to do because the world was tired from too many years of brutal war. At the time, the atomic bomb was just a bigger bomb than the millions of other bombs that countries had already lobbed and dropped on each other.

If it ended the war and saved a million lives--both American and Japanese--it was the civilized thing to do.

 

Don't forget the scientific experiments conducted on U.S. Soldiers. This issue is a hot one, even 60 years after it is all said and done with. As I understand it, surrender was held off by an internal political fight within the Japanese Government, with the military sides refusing surrender, while the moderate sides which had been ignored were demanding an end to the conflict - and that the emperor Hirohito had been effectively neutralized from the decision making processes.

In the grand scheme the second bombing may have been facilitated by a communications breakdown - which is almost unavoidable in war when one side is loosing to another.

War, no matter by whom, or for what cause, is never a civil affair. Unless there is tea time*.

*not really.

As for the use of Nuclear Arms it is now almost universally recognized as not just a man killer, but a planet killer. Had the Soviets and the American factions gone through with world war three, there may not have been a Nuclear Winter - but there indeed may have been a fallout catastrophe that would have lead keystone biological elements of the environment to a much faster extinction rate. And I don't mean humans.

The only clear and acceptable use of Nuclear Technology is peaceful, as its output of fission power, and the potential output of fusion power are clean and extremely efficient. If they were used today as they should be (shutting down every nuclear reactor, and rebuilding them to Generation III or IV technological standards) the risk of a meltdown is so remote it would likely take a devastating event to cause it - and if that happened mankind would be wiped out anyways.

However, in the event of a catastrophic war on a scale of which WWII looks small, Nuclear Weaponry could be the only salvation for the society that possesses it. In the case of Japan, they were already badly beaten, their leadership was crumbling. Had we waited three more months with a blockade, and constant bombing barrage it may have ended without troops being sent in - that's how a blockade or siege works. You literally starve them into submission. However, thousands would still die. The only benefit would be the lessened exposure to radiation, and the benefit of those in charge being ousted from within, and a pro surrender faction (which actually did exist) being in power to give that surrender.

To say universally that the bombings were good, or bad, is to simplify the issue into nothing more than a "You're wrong, I'm right" dribble of stupidity. It happened, it's over, the events surrounding it were very complicated, and its good to know the history, but there is no need to constantly bring it up as a device for arguments - rather it should be an example of what happened when nuclear weapons were used and the possibility of future nuclear explosions on magnitudes much greater than the technology of that time allowed.

 

At the time, we didn't know about the long or short term effects of radiation. What we learned then is what makes nuclear war an unthinkable horror today.

Heck, we didn't even know how harmful x-rays were until the late 1950s and early 1960s. During the 1950s, x-rays were routinely used to treat acne and a range of other ailments until people started dying of thyroid cancer. Today, you wouldn't even consider doing such a thing.

That's why I say that you cannot apply today's viewpoint to the context of the 1940s. At the time, no one thought it was the wrong thing to do. It ended a war with a brutal enemy.

The part that bugs me is when modern viewpoints become so warped and distorted that they twist what the USA did in 1945 into something evil. There was no evil intent. It was just a bigger bomb.

 

He was only a dumb sheeple following orders, but he had a lot of blood on his hands.

 

Drastic times calls for drastic measures. It was possible invasions by Japan would continue and the war would be dragged on, killing thousands if not millions more.
On the other hand, can you imagine being the one dropping the bomb? A push of a button, a tens of thousands of people dead, tortured...I wouldn't be able to live with myself.

 

Read my point about a blockade and siege.

 

This is what the mother fucker had to say about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Tibbets#Later_life

This prick has got less compassion than George W Bush.

Imagine if it had been the other way round and some Japs bombed a US City, the wanker would be smiling on the other side of his face that's for sure.

 

He did what he had to do, I don't see why he should let it haunt him. I would not be shocked if it would have, but I'm glad it didn't.

 

You would have thought that he might have been less blasé about it though mate. I'm sure if I killed 140,000 people I might have at least a bit of remorse for what I did many years after the event, even though he was just "following orders."

 

Tibbets is a great man that ended the war with a single push of a button. What the problem? People die in war.

 

You have to put the decisions in the context of the times. Millions and millions of people had already died in the most brutal war in the history of the planet. At the time, the Japanese military gave new meaning to the word atrocity.

Tibbets did a great thing. He should rest in peace.

@AGS, the real issue is that given the nature of the beast (the Japanese in the 1940s) they would have dropped the bomb on a US city if they had it. The goal in war is to kill the enemy before he can kill you.

@Jackuul, your observation about a blockade is valid, but given all of the torture, atrocities and bloodshed that had already taken place, people just wanted the war to end. Japan was the last enemy to be defeated and given what they had done to people all over Asia, they deserved no mercy because they showed no mercy.

 

Today, killing civil people during war is a crime. The war is always between army to army not between army to civilization.

 

anyone read "The Warlords of Washington"?

 

Try doing some reading about what the Japanese military did to captured soldiers and what they did to the Chinese and Koreans.

This was not a little skirmish. The Pacific war was filled with atrocities that the modern world had never seen.

Here are some things that went on in the Bataan Death March.

1. You were not given enough food or water to sustain your and were not given time to rest.
2. If you took a crap while walking, you were required to eat it or were decapitated.
3. If you fell or assisted someone who had fallen, the typical punishment was to slit your gut to disembowel you. This is not immediately fatal. You were then prodded with a sword to get you to crawl or walk, while your intestines trailed out behind you.
4. The Japs liked to prod guys with the point of their swords until blood was running down most of the soldiers and painting a red, muddy path on the ground.

This was like a bunch of misfits that liked to torture small animals and something that Americans and Brits could not understand.

These are only a few of examples as to why there was no feeling of remorse or regret for dropping the bombs. Tibbets was a true soldier. I don't believe it bothered him. He saw way too much pain and suffering and it had to end. He didn't build the bomb. All he did was deliver it and it ended the war.

I have spent a lot of time in Japan and have great respect for what the post WWII Japanese did to build their society. They created the safest place on the planet and a society that works well together. I have found most Japanese to be very honest and hard-working. I have great respect for Japan today, but probably would have been far from that feeling during WWII.

 

Actually, very few were executed.

 

I have spoken to several veterans and their combat stories of conflicts with the Japanese were straight out of a horror movie.

 

How did the commander died,did someone kill him or did he die naturally?

 

May this brave American rest in peace. He did his duty.