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From: roman@sigma.UUCP (Bill Roman)
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.misc,net.rumor
Subject: Re: Lives saved by nuking Japan?!? (was Re: The Presidents...)
Message-ID: <764@sigma.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 7-Jun-86 12:28:42 EDT
Article-I.D.: sigma.764
Posted: Sat Jun  7 12:28:42 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 10-Jun-86 01:46:12 EDT
References: <133@petrus.UUCP> <513@mit-trillian.MIT.EDU> <709@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> <2928@jhunix.UUCP> <1161@loral.UUCP>
Reply-To: roman@sigma.UUCP (Bill Roman)
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Organization: Summation, Inc., Woodinville, WA, USA, Earth...
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Xref: linus net.politics:15869 net.misc:8379 net.rumor:2289

In response to my article questioning the morality of our use of
nuclear weapons against Japan, in article <1161@loral.UUCP>
jlh@loral.UUCP (Squashed Sardine) writes:
>[...]
>Considering it was the Japanese who bombed Pearl Harbor, and they were the
>ones out to conquer the world, and at the time they were pretty cruel 
>people (remember hari-kari and samari warriors?), I don't give a crap
>how many of our boys we saved by nuking them.
>
>[...]  If they come up with something like the nuetron
>bomb that kills people by radiation but doesn't leave a radioactive mess
>everywhere is that any worse than a machine gun?  Before you bring up
>the people who don't get enough radiation to die, but get cancer or something
>instead, think of all the soldiers who where shot in the leg, arm, or
>spine by a machine gun and didn't die.

Yes, Japan in WWII was a cruel foe - don't forget Bataan....
The point I was trying to make was that the nuclear bombings of
Japan killed civilians, not military personnel engaged in fighting
us or government officials directing that fight.  Correct me if I'm
wrong, but I believe there is a moral distinction here, one which is
codified in the Geneva Convention.

As for the neutron bomb - there was a good article some years back
in Scientific American discussing its effects, the strategy for its
use in Europe in case of Soviet attack, and the implications of that
strategy.  The radius within which significant incidence of leukemia
and other cancers can be expected is approximately equal to the
distance between the small towns in the European countryside.  In
other words, our strategy for "saving" Europe dooms many of the
people we are "defending" to a lingering death.
-- 
Bill Roman	{ihnp4,decvax,allegra,...}!uw-beaver!tikal!sigma!roman
Summation, Inc. (206) 823-7950