Hiroshima: Right or Wrong?

Earlier this month, when Fox News' Bill O'Reilly caught Rev. Jeremiah Wright getting the date of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima wrong, O'Reilly not only spent air time correcting him, but also ended up erring himself as I show in this video.

You can find the full text of my 20 year old paper titled "Hiroshima: Right or Wrong?" at http://www.liberalviewer.com/Hiroshima.htm

You can find the public domain US government film showing footage of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from which I took some clips for my video at http://www.archive.org/details/TaleofTw1946

You can find the public domain photo of Japan's Emperor Hirohito that I used in my video at http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Hirohito_in_dress_uniform.jpg

And, finally, for DOZENS AND DOZENS of more examples of Fox News bias, see my Fox News bias playlist on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A3BD2524FE99BD4D

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[WildwoodClaire1]

Reverend Wright is clearly a massively ignorant man. But then, so is Bill O'Reilly.

[dlandon2000]

Oreilly is still a piece of sh*t and a total tool though!

[wizzrobe301]

@wizzrobe301 In response to my earlier comment about Hiroshima, feel free to criticize me, I know it may invoke some strong opinions. As all of you were. :)

[wizzrobe301]

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima was definitely politically harmful and most certainly morally wrong (At the best morally blurred), but whether it was militarily necessary is more debatable. The seconds atomic bombing (The one of Nagasaki) was just cruelty. Yes, the first one might, MIGHT, have been necessary for military purposes, but Japan was completely broken by the first blast, the second just threw away 80,000 lives.

[Fourteen88SoCal]

Right!

They fucking started it!

[Muthsera80]

@goodyoj

A nuclear war surely would be more horrific. But has it come to pass? Do you know why it as not come to pass yet? Because it means the utter destruction of which your trying to protect and preserve by attacking. So your forced to NOT attack. And which is precisely why we can't allow states and nations who are suicidal to possess them. Or the MAD is rendered irrelevant. This is the doctrine you live under. Be glad that you do. Total war with modern means will not be pretty.

[fluffymcdeath]

The atom bombs were dropped on Japan by they were used against Russia. They showed the USSR that Japan belonged to the USA and that there wasn't anything the Russians could do about it. Control of Japan has been a key strategic outpost from which to badger and hem in both Russia and China.

[MrSoakitincider]

Truman was right. Period. All other options were unacceptable. Read your history. Fox? What the hell have they got to do with anything? They're a news analysis station. Again, learn your facts.....

[hipstermi]

Since I read Gar Alperovitz work on this subject I have questioned it. Particularly the "hindsight is 50/50 we didnt know..." Alperhowitz showed a lot of people argued back then (Adm Lehey, Ike, Oppenheimer more) and even stated such in publications over the decades.

In studying Truman & what was going on at the time...I honestly don't believe Truman made the decision lightly. it was a "fucked either way" decision one which people were probably going to die. Glad I didnt have to make the call

[ThreeFangCat]

Due to the divided Japanese government (military hawks vs civilian doves) in 1945, it's terribly difficult to speak definitively on how they would have responded to other strategies. My best guess is that one bomb would have been necessary to break the political deadlock. The second seems entirely unnecessary, particularly just 3 days after the first.

The atom bomb does have shock value, though. If the US had fire bombed Japan for equal deaths, would we be having this discussion at all?