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Michael Kay
wrote:
<Secretary of War, Stimson, was one of the
most vocal opponents, in addition to the scientists who wanted to demonstrate
the weapon on an uninhabited island. Stimson's moral courage prevented the
destruction of Kyoto--the religious and cultural center of Japan with NO use as
a military target. It was untouched, and Groves and the other generals wanted a
pristine target to see the effects, if the device went off. The attempted
targeting of Kyoto is an indication to me of the mindset of the military at that
time.
When all these factors are looked at, the decision to use the
atomic bomb was a regrettable choice, based on the political and revenge climate
in the US.>>
I see it as the same reason we have and use a death penalty in this country--it won't deter all criminals (many if not most or all think they're smarter than everyone else), but it has a definite impact on the person to whom it's applied. As for Kyoto, if you've ever spent a lot of time playing with cats and dogs, you've probably noticed a big difference. When a dog is trying to catch your hand, that's all s/he goes after until s/he tires of the game and quits. Cats will make the attempt for a while (and have a smug satisfaction when they "connect"), but then they'll just walk over and bite wherever happens to be handy--arm, face, whatever; they go to the source. Israel is being roundly criticized for their recent decision to resume destruction of the family homes of suicide bombers and exile of some individuals to Gaza, but they're applying the same perspective. Suicide bombers figure they have nothing to lose, that they're exempt from punishment if they're "successful." Israel's telling them that they do have something to lose. Similarly, our chasing every last soldier in Japan in 1945 would have never ended--if that were our goal, we'd still be at it, except that we would have lost the political and moral will long ago. You can't continue a war without public support: Japan's was strong, and ours was waning. Waiting them out wasn't a real option; the air corps would have continued the fire bombing until every city in Japan had been destroyed, and most of its urban population. So instead, we went to the source. Kyoto would have been just as valid a target as any other to achieve the intended purpose. I don't know what its population was at that time, but it may have resulted in less loss of life. As always, you have to know what motivates someone, and eventually it will condense into its essence--either pursuit of pleasure (happiness) or avoidance of pain. Jack Earley |