Wikileak: Japan tells Obama not to apologize for dropping nuclear bombs

[Zin]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/...-for-hiroshima

Of all people, a man from Hawaii wants to apologize. Next thing you know is he will want to apologize to terrorists we have blown up....oh wait!

[SicEmBaylor]

Holy. f'n. God.

If an American President ever did this, the pitchfork brigade should march on the White House and lynch the SOB. I feel that strongly about the issue.

[soonercruiser]

The cable leaves a lot of questions open, including whether the U.S. was offering an apology and what sort of domestic and international rifts an apology could unveil. The United States has made it policy not to comment on leaked cables.

So, the story is of "some" interest.
But, not to get upset without all the facts, like, did we in fact offer an apology?
A simple visit to acknowledge all the lives lost would not have been inappropriate.

[CrimsonCream]

Holy. f'n. God.

If an American President ever did this, the pitchfork brigade should march on the White House and lynch the SOB. I feel that strongly about the issue.

It is exactly sh!t like this that lets Countries like Iran jerk us around.

The lying, cowardly mother f*cker ought to be apologizing to the American People for duping us like he has.

[badger]

With all of the stories of what would have transpired had Japan not surrendered, we should never had to apologize for Little Boy or Fat Man. History shows that those bombs stopped the war immediately, saving thousands of lives, both Japanese and American.

[MR2-Sooner86]

With all of the stories of what would have transpired had Japan not surrendered, we should never had to apologize for Little Boy or Fat Man. History shows that those bombs stopped the war immediately, saving thousands of lives, both Japanese and American.

Try millions.

[badger]

Try millions.

Probably, but I guess it's all the past now.

I would also like to think that dropping the bombs showed the destructive capacity of such weapons so that no nation would ever do such a thing ever again without thinking seriously about the consequences. So now, the bomb is seen as the absolute last resort, and most likely, not an option to ever consider.

[SicEmBaylor]

The cost in American lives, Japanese lives, and civillians would have been in the millions had we not invaded. I probably would never have been born if the bombs hadn't been dropped.

It has become popular these days to disconnect civilian society from the actions of its government. Some people even do that in the case of Japan, but it most certainly was not true in this case. The Japanese public was wholly committed to the Emperor and the war effort. Virtually every Japanese civilian was working on some effort to prosecute the war. Civilians were being trained how to use hand grenades and turn themselves into suicide bombers to fight off the coming American invasion. They were sharpening bamboo sticks in their homes and even small children were being taught how to blow up a tank.

We wouldn't have just had to fight off the Japanese military; we would have had to fight off the civilians as well. It would have made the Normandy invasion look like a walk in the park. The horror of Omaha beach would have been overshadowed by those Japanese invasion beaches.

Dropping those bombs saved an untold number of people.

[sappstuf]

Well at least Obama could make a personal gesture on our behalf....

[Midtowner]

In this thread, people jump to conclusions without evidence.

RTA: It doesn't say an apology was even offered.

[TUSooner]

The cost in American lives, Japanese lives, and civillians would have been in the millions had we not invaded. I probably would never have been born if the bombs hadn't been dropped....

So are you saying we should be for or against?

[SicEmBaylor]

In this thread, people jump to conclusions without evidence.

RTA: It doesn't say an apology was even offered.

This was a one-way cable. The Japanese wouldn't have said not to apologize unless the US had already broached the possibility at another point.

[cleller]

The atomic bombs saved the lives of many more Japanese than they took. An invasion of Japan would have been unimaginable in terms of death and suffering. You've probably heard the quote from Admiral Halsey "when we're through with them, the Japanese language will be spoken only in hell". That was the mindset of our Pacific commanders, with the possible exception of Gen MacArthur.

The Japanese had treated all enemies with barbaric cruelty throughout the wars the the US and China. Had we invaded, most Japanese would have felt compelled to fight to their death. Gen Lemay would have made that happen by firebombing Japan until there was nothing left to burn. They are very fortunate the atomic bombs forced their surrender first.

[OklahomaTuba]

The sad thing is, even the Japanese were embarrassed by the downgrader-in-chiefs idiotic idea.

[sappstuf]

I wonder why he didn't offer to apologize for the fire bombing of Tokyo? That bombing killed over 100K people, more than twice as many as Nagasaki...

I guess in Obama's mind, if we had just fire bombed every major Japanese city that would have been more accepted than dropping the bomb on two... Because we could have and probably would have if the bomb hadn't worked.

[CrimsonCream]

Maybe the Japanese ought to apologize for bombing Pearl Harbor, huh? If no Pearl Harbor, no atomic bomb.

Obama's such a pu$$y and the whole world knows it. And the bin Ladin argument doesn't work. What choice did Sleaze really have? Did he want to be the President that could have taken out bin Laden but didn't?

[soonercruiser]

Time to close the thread unless any facts reveal themselves.