US Ambassador Attends Hiroshima Anniversary

[BE Mike]

For the first time in United States history, an official of the government has attended an anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. I can't express how disappointed I am with Obama's decision to do this. The bomb saved countless lives on both sides compared to a land invasion, but that is not the point. The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and wholesale atrocities which Japan committed in WWII against American POW's, as well as, the Chinese (anyone ever hear of the rape of Nanking?) have not been sufficiently addressed by the Japanese. This nonsense about the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons is ludicrous. Neither the US nor the UN have taken significant action to stop the spread of nuclear weapons to Iran or North Korea. Japan has been living under the protection of the US's nuclear weapon umbrella since WWII. I can't imagine how my father, a veteran of the Pacific in WWII and part of the occupying force in Japan immediately following the war feels about this. Here is a "news" report if you want to see what some of the mainstream media has to say: washingtonpost.com

 

[Joe Kent]

My wife took a group of US highschool students to Japan last year with a PEOPLE TO PEOPLE tour. She was disgusted with the the Japanese Memorial's attempt to deny or marginalize their attack on Pearl Harbor. She will not go back and further more has dropped her 10 year association with P. to P. As an aside, my father is a Naval combat veteran of WW11 both in the Atlantic and the Pacific and has very strong thoughts on the dropping of the Bombs {he most likely would not be here today had they not been dropped}. General Tibbets also grew up in my hometown and I had the very distinct honor and privilage of visiting and spending time with him. We should respect our own HONORED DEAD and not attend the functions in Japan.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

Next year, our national executive leadership will probably apologize for the headaches that Japanese pilots received from carelessly exploding U.S. planes and ships at Pearl Harbor.

 

[jag312]

One of my uncles was at Corrigador. He spent the war in a Japanese Prisoner of War camp. He could only hint at the daily tortures and atrocities that he and other American boys faced as prisoners. I'm sure that he regrets that a third bomb was not dropped on Tokyo and that he couldn't have done the dropping.

Those who died in the bombings were going to be sacrificed by Hirohito and Tojo in the event of an invasion. The bombs saved the lives of the Japanese people who didn't die.

 

[amd6547]

I have always thought a proper US memorial would be to have a surprise flyover of a single restored B29, and have it drop a very large flash bang device.
My Father fought in France and Germany...His unit was shipping out for the invasion of Japan when the bomb was dropped.
A whole lot more Japanese and Americans would have died if we had invaded Japan.

 

[ABC]

He didn't apologize??

I'm surprised our fearless leader didn't apologize for dropping the bomb.

 

[kraigwy]

I'm surprised our fearless leader didn't apologize for dropping the bomb

YET, He hasn't apologized YET

 

[lazy]

Bummer, he is only 65 years late.

 

[Texas Star]

Has a Japanese ambassador ever participated in a commemorative ceremony at Pearl Harbor, or at any place ravaged by Jap forces?

Do Japanese schoolchildren learn of the war and why the bombing of Japan occurred? Do they even really know how badly Japan lost? Or, is that covered up to keep Japan from "losing face?"

To whom will a US ambassdor next have to apologize or bow?

T-Star

 

[n4zov]

We visited the USS Arizona memorial several years and it was completely overrun with Japanese tourist. I had a visceral reaction to their presence that surprised me. There was something inside saying, "Those people have no right to be here!" I know it isn't rational, but I just cannot get over that feeling.

 

[Bob R]

Japanese tourist. I had a visceral reaction to their presence that surprised me. There was something inside saying, "Those people have no right to be here!" I know it isn't rational, but I just cannot get over that feeling.

I know the feeling. I get very angry at the USS Arizona Memorial when I see Oriental (Japanese most likely) tourists giggling and having a good time out there. I have asked more than one group why they visited....To see what your grandfather did during the war? That usually gets them to quiet down.

bob

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

I would like to think that he was there with the unspoken message " Mess with us and we'll do it again" but I doubt with all my fervor that that was the intended message. This jack-wad had got to go You want to jump start the economy????? Lets pick a nation, say North Korea, and Nuke them off the face of the earth. Next lets do the same thing to Afganistan-I mean it wouldn't do anything new to the terrain and let's face it-the only thing Afganistan has going for it is it's poppy crop and training muslims to kill us. After that put up signs that read "Anyone else want a piece of this". We need to dust off the old Manifest destiny doctrine and apply it to the world-if the Brits could hold together a world wide empire for all that time we ought to be able to do it also. I'll even volunteer to be the provential governor of Cuba when we take that one .

 

[BUFF]

A good friend used to live in Honolulu and took visitors on the tour out to the Arizona memorial quite frequently. He also got unsettled, no, angry at the Japanese tourists that whispered, smiled, laughed and giggled to each other.

He developed the habit of approaching them, loudly saying "Hiroshima! Nagasaki! Hahahahaha!" without even a hint of a smile on his face. He then glared at them for a few seconds and walked away.

It seemed to shut them up, he said.

 

[BE Mike]

My WWII vet father said that it says a lot when one A-bomb didn't end the war. It took a second bomb to persuade the leaders in Japan to surrender. He also says that during his time as part of the occupation force, that he found some traits of the Japanese people were admirable. He found them to be very honest. He also says that at that time they seemed to have little regard to the dead. He said that he saw a body lying beside the road for days before there was anything done about it. All in all, he says that he puts most of the blame for the things that went on during the war on the leaders in Japan, not the Japanese people. I have no more admiration nor respect for Obama, than Obama does for this nation and those who sacrificed and those who served it. My father and I agree on this. My dad votes and will vote in every election in which he can, until he dies, and so will I.

 

[Bullseye 2620]

We need to dust off the old Manifest destiny doctrine and apply it to the world-if the Brits could hold together a world wide empire for all that time we ought to be able to do it also. I'll even volunteer to be the provential governor of Cuba when we take that one .

Uh, in case you hadn't noticed the British Empire went the way of the dodo. And the Roman Empire. And the Soviet Empire. And the French, and the German, and the Japanese.

As to the American Empire, consider these words:

"Imperialism is the policy of an empire, and an empire is a nation composed of different races living under varying forms of government. A republic cannot be an empire, for a republic rests upon the theory that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and colonialism violates this theory [...] Our experiment in colonialism has been unfortunate. Instead of profit it has brought loss. Instead of strength it has brought weakness. Instead of glory it has brought humiliation."

William Jennings Bryan, 1898


"I have seen that we do not intend to free, but to subjugate the people of the Philippines. We have gone there to conquer, not to redeem. It should, it seems to me, be our pleasure and duty to make those people free, and let them deal with their own domestic questions in their own way. And so I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land."

Mark Twain, 1898


By the way, it is spelled "provincial," not "provential."

I've donned my asbestos underwear. Flame on.


Bullseye

 

[Bullseye 2620]

We visited the USS Arizona memorial several years and it was completely overrun with Japanese tourist. I had a visceral reaction to their presence that surprised me. There was something inside saying, "Those people have no right to be here!" I know it isn't rational, but I just cannot get over that feeling.

Neither can I. We should not ban their presence, but, they should have the common human decency not to set foot on that sacred place.

Has a Japanese ambassador ever participated in a commemorative ceremony at Pearl Harbor, or at any place ravaged by Jap forces?

Do Japanese schoolchildren learn of the war and why the bombing of Japan occurred? Do they even really know how badly Japan lost? Or, is that covered up to keep Japan from "losing face?"

The Japanese have never apologized for the rape of Nanking, China, which involved the slaughter of 300,000 + civilians, and consistently refuse to honor Chinese requests that they modify their history curriculum to provide young Japanese with an honest appraisal of what their country did during World War II. I doubt that they will ever apologize to us, either.


Bullseye

 

[BE Mike]

Uh, in case you hadn't noticed the British Empire went the way of the dodo. And the Roman Empire. And the Soviet Empire. And the French, and the German, and the Japanese.

As to the American Empire, consider these words:

"Imperialism is the policy of an empire, and an empire is a nation composed of different races living under varying forms of government. A republic cannot be an empire, for a republic rests upon the theory that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and colonialism violates this theory [...] Our experiment in colonialism has been unfortunate. Instead of profit it has brought loss. Instead of strength it has brought weakness. Instead of glory it has brought humiliation."

William Jennings Bryan, 1898


"I have seen that we do not intend to free, but to subjugate the people of the Philippines. We have gone there to conquer, not to redeem. It should, it seems to me, be our pleasure and duty to make those people free, and let them deal with their own domestic questions in their own way. And so I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land."

Mark Twain, 1898


By the way, it is spelled "provincial," not "provential."

I've donned my asbestos underwear. Flame on.


Bullseye

Although you don't recognize the dry humor of the post you quoted, I seriously fear that if we stay on our present path, this country will only be a shadow of it's former self. Rampant socialism and weak-kneed apologists are destroying us. The enemy isn't at the gate, it is in the house.

 

[Old 44 Guy]

I remember the bomb being dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki. I was just 14 at the time. The whole nation breathed a sigh of relief not having to invade Japan. I've had many friends with WW2 service say the same thing. The Japanese would have fought to the last. Tough fighters that have little regard for human life. Even their own.

 

[Bullseye 2620]

A study done for Secretary of War Henry Stimson's staff by William Shockley estimated that conquering Japan would cost 1.7 to 4 million American casualties, including 400,000 to 800,000 fatalities, and 5 to 10 million Japanese fatalities. The key assumption was large-scale participation by civilians in the defense of Japan. No wonder Truman made the decision he did.

 

[28Shooter]

I have always thought a proper US memorial would be to have a surprise flyover of a single restored B29, and have it drop a very large flash bang device.
My Father fought in France and Germany...His unit was shipping out for the invasion of Japan when the bomb was dropped.
A whole lot more Japanese and Americans would have died if we had invaded Japan.

I like the "surprise flyover" idea. A friend from church was in England with his bags packed for the Pacific when they dropped the first bomb. I wonder what he'd think about our attending the ceremony? RIP Reds and thank you for your service. God Bless America!