I hope everyone has had the opportunity to read today's Robert Scheer article, entitled:
The Ultimate Weapon of Terror
In it, Scheer discusses new footage and papers released by the US government regarding the decision made to drop atom bombs on the civilian cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The memos and official papers give lie to many of the rationalizations we have all heard.
Additionally, Scheer discusses the new HBO documentary "White Light, Black Rain" which I think every American should watch.
Scheer pulls no punches, he begins by noting that the very week that terrorists targetted Iraqi schoolchildren is the week of the anniversary that the US bombed Hiroshima: killing 370,000 people (85% of whom were civilians).
The victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were available soft targets, much like the children playing in Iraq, suddenly caught in the crossfire of battles waged beyond their control. In "White Light/Black Rain," a devastating HBO documentary released this week, there is an interview with the sole survivor of a Japanese elementary school of 620 students. The murder of the other 619, and that of the 370,000 overall deaths attributed to the bombing, 85 percent of which were civilian deaths, has never compelled a widespread examination of the "end justifies the means" morality of our own state-sanctioned acts of terror. Indeed, the horrifying footage taken by Japanese and American cameramen soon after the devastation, and shown in the HBO film, was long kept secret by the U.S. government for fear that an informed American public might question this nation's incipient nuclear arms race.
The horror graphically depicted and discussed in the footage used caused Scheer to ask the inescapable question:
Just what exactly distinguishes the United States' use of the ever-so-cutely-named "Fat Man" and "Little Boy" atomic bombs on cities in Japan from the car bombs of Baghdad or the planes that smashed into the World Trade Center?
He continues:
Of course, we had our justifications, as terrorists always do. President Harry Truman defended his decision to drop the atomic bombs on civilians over the objection of leading atomic scientists on the grounds that it was a necessary military action to save lives by forcing a quick Japanese surrender. He insisted on that imperative despite the objections of top military figures, including Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who contended that the war would end quickly without dropping the bomb.
According to some formerly secret documents, Truman's administration knew that Japan would likely soon surrender. Further, the cities were picked as targets over another target that was an active Japanese military base isolated from the general population merely show force.
Scheer closes by noting that it's time to take a long hard look at ourselves and our ideals, especially as Congress authorizes an expansion of the nuclear program.
Excellent work Mr. Scheer.