todd@SCIRTP.UUCP (Todd Jones) (08/06/85)
> > *** A bomb is not a military weapon. Rather, it is a political weapon. *** > By this I assume you mean an A-bomb. I think the A-bomb is presently, and will henceforth be, a political weapon, but I'm not sure I agree that it was in 1945. I tend to agree with the neo-fascists that the US bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to end the war as soon as possible, although it was probably used to scare the Russians as well. I believe the argument that the bombs took less lives than the continuation of the war without nukes. However, I feel it would have been every bit as impressive to detonate a nuke offshore, but clearly within eyeshot of millions of Japanese. Many can argue that Japan would be undeterred unless faced with horrendous civilian casualties, but a nuclear fireworks exhibition would not have ruled out more drastic uses of nukes. Now that most citizens of the world are aware (dimly) of the destructive power of nuclear weapons, we can dismantle them, right guys? Guys, I said, "right!" Are you with me guys? ||||||| || || [ O-O ] Todd Jones \ ^ / {decvax,akgua}!mcnc!rti-sel!scirtp!todd | ~ | |___| SCI Systems Inc. doesn't necessarily agree with Todd.
joel@peora.UUCP (Joel Upchurch) (08/12/85)
>I believe the argument that the bombs took less lives than the >continuation of the war without nukes. However, I feel it would have >been every bit as impressive to detonate a nuke offshore, but clearly >within eyeshot of millions of Japanese. Many can argue that Japan >would be undeterred unless faced with horrendous civilian casualties, >but a nuclear fireworks exhibition would not have ruled out more >drastic uses of nukes. > >C [ O-O ] Todd Jones I think the fact that it took TWO bombs to get a surrender from the Japanese, and even then it took the direct intervention of the Emperor, argues strongly that a demonstration would not have been effective. One should also keep in mind that at the time those two bombs were our entire nuclear arsenal. If those bombs didn't produce a surrender it might have been quite a while before more could have produced. One should keep in mind that the Japanese military mindset, at the time, considered surrender a disgrace far worse than mere death.