Quote:
HIROSHIMA, Japan — Japan marked 64 years Thursday since Hiroshima was hit in the world's first atomic bomb attack with a call for a nuclear-weapons-free world, a goal backed by US President Barack Obama.
The mayor of Hiroshima, the city where 140,000 people died from the blast, renewed his call for the abolition of what he said are 24,000 remaining nuclear warheads over the next decade as he led the solemn ceremony.
About 50,000 people, including 'hibakusha' or atom bomb survivors, politicians and envoys from 59 countries and the United Nations, gathered near the A-bomb Dome, the skeleton of a hall burned by the bomb's intense heat.
"The abolition of nuclear weapons is the will not only of the hibakusha but also of the vast majority of people and nations on this planet," said the mayor, Tadatoshi Akiba, head of the international group Mayors for Peace.
Akiba praised Obama for stating at a speech in Prague this year that the United States, as the only country to have ever used an atomic weapon, has "a moral responsibility" to work toward their eventual abolition.
"We refer to ourselves, the great global majority, as the 'Obamajority,' and we call on the rest of the world to join forces with us to eliminate all nuclear weapons by 2020," Akiba said in his speech in the southern city.
"Together, we can abolish nuclear weapons," he added. "Yes, we can."
Those at the memorial ceremony offered their silent prayers at 8:15 am (2315 GMT Wednesday), the exact moment the bomb was dropped in 1945.
The blinding blast of "Little Boy" and the fallout from its mushroom cloud killed some 140,000 people, either instantly or in the days and weeks that followed as radiation or horrific burns took their toll.
Three days after the attack, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, which killed 70,000 people in the southern port city.
Japan surrendered on August 15, ending World War II in the Pacific. The nation has since been officially pacifist, while also becoming one of the United States' closest allies, hosting some 47,000 US troops.
Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso told the ceremony that "I pledge anew today that Japan will be the frontrunner in the international community in abolishing nuclear weapons and realising eternal peace."
Speaking to reporters about two hours later, Aso however voiced doubt that the goal of a nuclear-weapons-free world was realistic.
"It might be possible... if they were abolished suddenly, on one day in one go," he said. "But under normal circumstances it is unimaginable."
Aso, who faces elections this month, also promised more help for more than 300 ailing survivors of the nuclear bombings who have fought court battles to win recognition as hibakusha as well as financial relief.
Debate, meanwhile, continues over the merit of the atom bombings.
Many have argued the attacks brought a quick end to the war and prevented the greater bloodshed of a land invasion of Japan. Others have said the bombings were an unnecessary, and perhaps experimental, atrocity.
Washington has never apologized, and a US opinion poll showed this week that nearly two-thirds of Americans think dropping the bombs was the right decision.
Morris Jeppson, one of the crew members of the B-29 Superfortress plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, told the Mainichi Shimbun daily this week that he believed then-US president Harry Truman had made the right decision.
Jeppson, 87, argued that Obama was "on the wrong track" and that his appeal for a nuclear-weapons-free world was "naive," the newspaper reported.
Hiroshima mayor Akiba, meanwhile, expressed confidence that momentum was building for the goal of a 2020 abolition of nuclear weapons, saying that Mayors for Peace now had more than 3,000 member-cities worldwide.
Moral responsibility? Is Obama implying that the use of atomic power to end the Pacific theater was wrong?
Would a land invasion have been more 'moral' if it meant the end of countless more lives on both sides?
What do you think about the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Do you think Washington owes Japan an apology? What if Japan apologized to us for Pearl Harbor?
what JA expect from a marxist hodgie?
Chris
"An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us. But we shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The battle sir, is not of the strong alone. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death."
Speech at the Second Virginia Convention at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia (23 March 1775) Patrick Henry
Yet another thing that makes us look a little bit weaker. MAD is a good thing and disarming ourselves does not help that at all.
we owe them nothing. period.
there really shouldnt be a discussion beyond that. they started it, we finished it. plus, they really had no idea how bad it was going to be. its one thing to see something on paper and another to use it in real life. while a tough decision, we did make the right call.
I thought the fire bombing we did killed a lot more....
They stated it, we ended it. Fuk Um!
Chris
"An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us. But we shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The battle sir, is not of the strong alone. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death."
Speech at the Second Virginia Convention at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia (23 March 1775) Patrick Henry
While everyone getting rid of nuclear weapons sounds like a great idea. It will never happen. There is no way in hell everyone would get rid of them. If it did it would spur the development a new weapon possibly worst than the first.
With wacko's like the leader of Iran still around we can not dis-arm. I would agree completly with Jeppson, 87, who argued that Obama was "on the wrong track" and that his appeal for a nuclear-weapons-free world was "naive," the newspaper reported.
FORGET GIRLS GONE WILD WE HAVE GOVERNMENT SPENDING GONE WILD!
You could have dropped a bomb offshore to show the impending doom....... Japan was attempting to surrender at the time according to many reports. The bomb dropping as horrible as it was ... was simply Truman flexing his muscle to scare other nations...... You would think that one would have been dropped offshore before to even see if they would attempt to surrender...
BUT this debate has been raging for 6 decades +.... NO one will come to a conclusion on it here.
My Cav
I give up...
i'm buying a VW those people love trees, so they should love eachother too... "Andy"
Short Hand wrote:You could have dropped a bomb offshore to show the impending doom....... Japan was attempting to surrender at the time according to many reports. The bomb dropping as horrible as it was ... was simply Truman flexing his muscle to scare other nations...... You would think that one would have been dropped offshore before to even see if they would attempt to surrender...
BUT this debate has been raging for 6 decades +.... NO one will come to a conclusion on it here.
does that mean japan should have dropped a kamikazee into the water outside of the base before they attacked us?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sndsgood/ https://www.facebook.com/#!/Square1Photography
Short Hand wrote:You could have dropped a bomb offshore to show the impending doom....... Japan was attempting to surrender at the time according to many reports. The bomb dropping as horrible as it was ... was simply Truman flexing his muscle to scare other nations...... You would think that one would have been dropped offshore before to even see if they would attempt to surrender...
BUT this debate has been raging for 6 decades +.... NO one will come to a conclusion on it here.
everything I read about Japan near the end of the Pacific Theater was they were gearing up to fight to the last man.. if they were old enough to walk, they had a stick or a rifle in their hand to fight the allies.
the emperor was not going to surrender because he thought his lineage was under threat.. he was under the assumption that surrender meant enslavement for his country and the loss of power for his name... we had already been bombing the @!#$ out of them 6 months prior and they still refused to surrender. Truman even issued another plea for surrender making sure that they understood surrender meant ARMED forces, not the entire country.. we just wanted to dismantle the war machine, nothing more.
we were gearing up for a full on land invasion, a million troops were getting ready to do the job and probably drag the war out for at least another few years.. the bomb just so happened to be completed right around the time the invasion was going to begin so Truman decided to use it to bring a quick end to the war.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were primarily military at the time, and most people had evacuated prior to the bombings... the death toll would have been a LOT higher if the cities both had their full population.
We bombed Hiroshima, and Japan STILL didn't surrender... do you believe that..? An entire city leveled with a single bomb, and that wasn't enough to make them surrender... you think dropping one off shore would have stopped them..? give me a break.
without the deaths of all those people, Japan NEVER would have stopped.. and one city wasn't enough, it took the complete and utter destruction of two cities to finally convince Japan to give up.
Here's a thought provoking question: without the mass death of all those people, say, if we dropped a bomb on a deserted area or in the water, do you think that would have deterred Japan?
In all honesty, I think its the shock & awe that finally convinced them.. Truman stated that if Japan didn't surrender, a bomb would be dropped on every city in Japan until they did. They probably thought it was a bluff, but I guess after we hit Nagasaki, they took us seriously.
It was a gamble on our part too... we only had three bombs at our disposal... one was used at the trinity test site 'the machine', the second was the bomb on Hiroshima 'Little Boy', and the third was the bomb dropped on Nagasaki 'Fat Man'. We could make more to continue the campaign, but I think at a rate of one every 1-2 weeks.
LOL at HIV being invented by the government.
mitdr774 wrote:LOL at HIV being invented by the government.
The average person does not know that is the kind of @!#$ that comes out of the presidents "mentor" of 20+ years. I am convinced of two things. 1) The american people as a whole are stupid sheeple. 2) If the media chose to cover issues like this they could have ruined any chance he had at presidency.
FORGET GIRLS GONE WILD WE HAVE GOVERNMENT SPENDING GONE WILD!
i agree with ben. we owe them absolutely nothing.
they wanted to fight to the last man. they deserved every ounce of radiation they got.
and for those thinking 'oh the nukes were just revenge for pearl harbor and we had no right' BULL@!#$.
ask dolittle about revenge you dumb @!#$.
Every time I scream "Release", I mean it, you know it. I feel the day. Black 7.
Short Hand wrote:
BUT this debate has been raging for 6 decades +.... NO one will come to a conclusion on it here.
In the end, the only thing that holds water is this...
IT WORKED.
American Lives were SAVED.
THERE INDUSTRY IS BETTER FOR IT.
(not so good for us now is it?)
Chris
"An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us. But we shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The battle sir, is not of the strong alone. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death."
Speech at the Second Virginia Convention at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia (23 March 1775) Patrick Henry
