Thread: US at Hiroshima ceremony

US at Hiroshima ceremony
Aug 7, 2010


LITTLE BOY

'Little Boy', the four-tonne uranium bomb detonated over Hiroshima, caused a blinding flash and a fireball hot enough to melt sand into glass and vaporise every human within a 1.6km radius.

An estimated 140,000 people died instantly in Hiroshima or succumbed to burns and radiation sickness soon after the blast, and over 70,000 perished as a result of another US atomic attack on the port of Nagasaki three days later.

Japan, a wartime ally of Nazi Germany, surrendered on Aug 15, ending the war in the Pacific after years of ferocious combat with US Marines on islands strung across the ocean.

Many Western historians believe the attacks were necessary to bring a quick end to the war and avoid a land invasion that could have been even more costly.




People gather around the altar to pray for victims of the 1945 atomic bomb before the memorial service at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima.
PHOTO: AFP

HIROSHIMA - THE United States on Friday for the first time attended a ceremony commemorating its atomic bombing of Hiroshima, 65 years after the Japanese city's obliteration rang in the nuclear age.

Representatives from more than 70 nations joined tens of thousands at the emotional event, held under an azure sky as clear as that on the morning of August 6, 1945 when Hiroshima was transformed into a terrifying inferno.

The United States' World War II allies Britain and France, both declared nuclear powers, also sent their first diplomats to the ceremony in the western Japanese city in a sign of support for the goal of nuclear disarmament. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon also attended, becoming the first UN chief to take part in the annual event at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial.

The mournful toll of a temple bell marked the start of a one-minute silence at 8.15am, when the US B-29 bomber Enola Gay had dropped a device that instantly killed tens of thousands in Hiroshima.

'The human race must not repeat the horror and misery caused by atomic bombs,' Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said in a speech after 1,000 white doves were released into the sky in a symbolic gesture for peace. 'Japan, as the only nation to have been attacked by the war-time atomic bombs, has a moral responsibility to lead the efforts toward realisation of a world without nuclear weapons,' he said.

US ambassador John Roos laid a wreath to remember the victims, reflecting a shift in policy under Nobel Peace Prize-winning President Barack Obama. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday that Mr Obama 'thought it appropriate' to recognise the anniversary as he vies to rid the world of nuclear arms. Some in Japan also saw Mr Roos's attendance as an indication that Mr Obama would visit Hiroshima during a trip to Japan later this year. 'For the sake of future generations, we must continue to work together to realise a world without nuclear weapons,' the ambassador said in a statement.

straitstimes.com

Oi !!!
Nip, you started it.

Originally Posted by the dogcatcher

Oi !!!
Nip, you started it.

Not really, America was sticking its nose into Japans business long before Pearl harbor.

Let me remind you if it wasn't for the USA. Those in Europe today would be speaking German.

Originally Posted by BobR

Originally Posted by the dogcatcher

Oi !!!
Nip, you started it.

Not really, America was sticking its nose into Japans business long before Pearl harbor.

55555555555 Ya, and it was based on trade. Remember Commodore Perry? Japan blossomed after it finally was forced to open its ports. Careful what you spout on TD. There are at least two Jpn/China experts here.

Yup, another obama suck-up move. More folks were killed in the fire bombings of Tokyo. And don't forget, the bombs were aimed at munitions factories; at the time, the atomic bomb makers did not know the after effects on people. And it still took Nagasaki and the Russians invading Manchukuo (Manchuria), China, where Japan used slave labour to rape the mining wealth (and also the location of their horrendous medical labs) to make Hirohito capitulate.

None of Jpn's atrocities are in their history books, but many chapters on the atomic bombings. Sick.

Who is to say that Dresden wasn't worse??
Bombing of Dresden

Originally Posted by donmeurett

Let me remind you if it wasn't for the USA. Those in Europe today would be speaking German.

Gesundheit !

Originally Posted by donmeurett

Let me remind you if it wasn't for the USA. Those in Europe today would be speaking German.

And I probably would have got an A grade in my German GCSE rather than a B

Originally Posted by Mordechai

These civilians were entirely supportive of Japanese wartime aggression, they got off easier compared to what they did to China, and the Phillipines. They should count themselves extremely lucky that the Americans were so nice.

That logic would make any civilian victims of war targets, including those on 9/11. The Atomic bombing of Hirioshima is controversial not only because it was an act of terrorism on a civilian population, (as opposed to an act of war on a military one), but it was unnecessary. But after investing all that money and effort into building the thing before Hitler did, the major fear at the time, we couldn't resist using it to send a message to Russia, the other big fear after Germany. And that is widely regarded as the reason we annhilated Hiroshima and hundreds of thousands of innocent people--to send a message, a message of terror, IMO.

And don't anybody here tell me any different. I'm not only a Japanese expert, why, I'm an atomic bombing of Hiroshima expert too. I just posted it so that makes it true. You can deny it, but you can't prove differently.

War is not a particularly nice thing and we should try and avoid it where possible.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by MrG

The Atomic bombing of Hirioshima is controversial not only because it was an act of terrorism on a civilian population

FFS, how many times and what more info do you need to understand that the bombs, even the fire bombings in Tokyo, were specifically targeted at munitions factories and other military ops. You people are so fekin brain-washed. Nagasaki was chosen because bad weather at Kokura forced pilots to change course. Were there civ casualties? Yes. Tell me a war that did not have civ casualties.
The Japs used Chinese and other national civilians for bayonet practice, for horrid med experiments, for comfort girls, for slave labour, or just buried them alive. Don't give me the Jap sob story, which you obviously do not know. Probably read the same distorted history books as the Japs do.

Originally Posted by Mid

'Little Boy', the four-tonne uranium bomb detonated over Hiroshima, caused a blinding flash and a fireball hot enough to melt sand into glass and vaporise every human within a 1.6km radius.

Originally Posted by Jet Gorgon

specifically targeted at munitions factories

dangerous things them experts ...............................

Originally Posted by Jet Gorgon

Tell me a war that did not have civ casualties.

So this gives the Americans carte blanch to kill as many innocent women and children as they want ? 100000 ain't enough for you, you heartless monster ?

Originally Posted by mc2

Originally Posted by Jet Gorgon

Tell me a war that did not have civ casualties.

So this gives the Americans carte blanch to kill as many innocent women and children as they want ? 100000 ain't enough for you, you heartless monster ?

"In war, there are no unwounded soldiers."

Originally Posted by HermantheGerman

And when it come to killing innocent civilians you can't deny and prove differently that the japs hold a world record of slaughtering people in very unique ways.

bit quick off the mark there Herman ?

The genocide of these six million people was a genocide of two-thirds of the population of nine million Jews who had resided in Europe before the Holocaust. [5]

Some scholars maintain that the definition of the Holocaust should also include the Nazis' systematic murder of millions of people in other groups, including ethnic Poles, Romani, Soviet civilians, Soviet prisoners of war, people with disabilities, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and other political and religious opponents.[6]

By this definition, the total number of Holocaust victims would be between 11 million and 17 million people.[7]


The Holocaust - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by mc2

Originally Posted by Jet Gorgon

Tell me a war that did not have civ casualties.

So this gives the Americans carte blanch to kill as many innocent women and children as they want ? 100000 ain't enough for you, you heartless monster ?

You mean carte blanche?
Just being run by hatter to try to bait me? Squidz boy, huh? You answer no questions, just continue your quixotic rants to bash anything I post. Info here for the sane members of the board.
BTW, how many German, Italian, French, English, and American civilians were killed in WWII?

From the invasion of China in 1937 to the end of World War II, the Japanese military regime murdered near 3,000,000 to over 10,000,000 people, most probably almost 6,000,000 Chinese, Indonesians, Koreans, Filipinos, and Indochinese, among others, including Western prisoners of war.
...
the number of Japanese that died in Japanese wars, 1937 to 1945 ...amounted to 1,771,000 to 3,187,000 Japanese, most likely 2,521,000. Of this number, 672,000 probably were civilians, virtually all killed in American air raids (including the two atomic bombs).

STATISTICS OF JAPANESE GENOCIDE AND MASS MURDER

Hawaii is populated by Japs, so their number will be pro-Jpn, even tho they are Americans. This is different:


Country Pop. Killed/Missing Wounded Total(Military) Civilian (deaths)
Japan 72m 1.75 million ? 350,000
China 450m 1.3 million 1.8 million 3.1 million 9 million
U.S.A. 129m 300,000 300,000 600,000

WWII: The Casualties

yes and the Japanese have apologized for their crimes, 'bout time the arrogant Americans did the same.

Originally Posted by Jet Gorgon

The Japs used Chinese and other national civilians for bayonet practice, for horrid med experiments, for comfort girls, for slave labour, or just buried them alive. Don't give me the Jap sob story, which you obviously do not know. Probably read the same distorted history books as the Japs do.

Well, there's your moral vindication, Jet. You can do anything you want because somebody else's moality allowed them to do it.

Originally Posted by HermantheGerman

P.S. Victims of 9/11 and Hiroshima...a bit like Apples and Oranges

By what logic are they different? Both civilian populations that posed no threat. Both used as tokens to make a point.

Originally Posted by mc2

Originally Posted by Jet Gorgon

Tell me a war that did not have civ casualties.

So this gives the Americans carte blanch to kill as many innocent women and children as they want ? 100000 ain't enough for you, you heartless monster ?

NOT NEARLY ENOUGH.

“As the New York Times remembers Hiroshima, try this quiz. Name the two greatest losses of civilian life in the Pacific war. Hint. In both cases the civilian casualties were greater than Hiroshima’s. In one case the event took place on American soil.”

Go here

Originally Posted by the dogcatcher

Oi !!!
Nip, you started it.

Got that right. Losing a war you started doesn't grant you victim status...