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From: jchapman@watcgl.UUCP (john chapman)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: People don't know their history
Message-ID: <2260@watcgl.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 29-Jul-85 08:51:11 EDT
Article-I.D.: watcgl.2260
Posted: Mon Jul 29 08:51:11 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 31-Jul-85 01:06:54 EDT
References: <307@looking.UUCP> <3306@garfield.UUCP> <228@watmum.UUCP>
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 37

> In article <3306@garfield.UUCP> lionel@garfield.UUCP (Lionel H. Moser) writes:
> >> Nuking cities is something that was done once, strictly for dramatic effect,
> >> to end the second world war.  I don't think it's on people's minds today
> >> Brad Templeton
> >
> >Was the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki required to win WWII? Hadn't
> >it become just a mopping-up operation when the bombs were dropped?
> >Lionel H. Moser
> 
> Absolutely not. The alternative to the American forces was the invasion of the
> Japanese home islands, which would be substantially different from invading
> various & sundry colonial possessions along the way. The casualties were 
> estimated to be in the range of 1 million or so, and there was fear that the
> war would have continued to 1948. The Bomb was NOT merely a straw to break the
> camel's back. It was instrumental in bringing the war to a quick conclusion
> with minimal loss of American lives.
> 
> When discussing politics, it is usually very useful to get the facts straight,
> the most important of which is the historical perspective on the issue.
> 
> 
> Chris Shaw    watmath!watmum!cdshaw  or  cdshaw@watmath

 I'm not as familiar with that part of our history as I should be so
 maybe I shouldn't comment (but I can resist :-) ).  Wouldn't one
 bombing have been enough; perhaps even one bombing on an unpopulated
 area? e.g. Americans tell Japanese to pick a spot, any spot, and watch
 it dissappear.  Maybe I'm wrong but I would be jut as impressed by
 seeing the top of a mountain dissappear as by a city dissappearing.

-- 

	John Chapman
	...!watmath!watcgl!jchapman

	Disclaimer : These are not the opinions of anyone but me
		     and they may not even be mine.