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From: js2j@mhuxt.UUCP (sonntag)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: World War II
Message-ID: <828@mhuxt.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 2-May-85 17:01:23 EDT
Article-I.D.: mhuxt.828
Posted: Thu May  2 17:01:23 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 3-May-85 05:20:13 EDT
References: <919@homxa.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill
Lines: 23

Ron ??? writes:
> 
> The Presidents visit to Europe seems to have brought on a bit of WW II
> nostalgia where we sit back and argue about the dastardly deeds of the
> Germans.  While contemplating our righteous roll in the war I suddenly
> realized that we have the honor of being the only country which has used
> an atomic bomb on peoples - not once, but twice.  Now of course it was
> only the enemy, and if we hadn't used the bombs a lot of our boys would
> have died instead, but the fact is that we blew up a lot of people - mostly
> civilians.  

      As long as nobody else had developed the atomic bomb, there was no
possibility of setting off WWIII.  The morality of using one in such a
situation should be no different than the morality of killing the same number
of people with conventional bombs.  Everyone was bombing civilians in that
war - we have no cause to feel a special shame for doing it with an
atomic bomb.  
      Your other point, that we too were guilty of herding a subset of our
citizenry into concentration camps, is quite valid.
-- 
Jeff Sonntag
ihnp4!mhuxt!js2j
     "They're ruining this war for all of us!"- M. Hoolihan