Thursday, August 9, 2012

A Second Bomb



It is interesting – to say the least – to see how these bombings up until these days are “justified” in particular by “right-wingers.” In a false dichotomy continued conventional warfare would have been the alternative and worse than the nuking. Never in this alternative narrative is the assumption of unconditional surrender considered. It is always the Japanese that were stubborn for willing to continue. It is never the allies who were stubborn for their conditions of unconditional surrender.

Moreover, in defense of the nuclear warmongers' narrative, the opposition to it is always portrayed as removed from reality and in particular from the center stage. Those opposed to this narrative are labeled as ignorant leftists.

Dwight D. Eisenhower told us some years later:
I was against it on two counts. First, the Japanese were ready to surrender, and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing. Second, I hated to see our country be the first to use such a weapon.
Is Eisenhower some ignorant leftist removed from reality as well? He was in particular removed from the center stage of the war? Or perhaps he was even being a historical revisionist where he sat as supreme commander during the war?

Of course, we cannot know for sure how an alternative reality would have played out. However, the supporters of the nuking portray their scenario of continued conventional warfare with likely worse losses as the realistic one, whereas scenarios of early surrender are portrayed as bordering on pure fantasy at best.

This again begs a question: Was Eisenhower a day-dreamer?

There are more quotes here.

Might I add that the relative strengthening and weakening of the Soviet Union and Japan respectively in this area of the world likely and arguably made it easier for Mao? Oh, but I forget, only communists make arguments against the nuking...

Over at LewRockwell.com:Over at The Independent, Phil Strongman gives his thoughts (H/T: The Pittsford Perennialist).

Over at the Hit & Run blog, Lucy Steigerwald reflects. So does Anthony Gregory over at The Beacon Blog.

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