On the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Some individuals continue to maintain that the use of nuclear weapons on the mostly civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki sixty years ago was both necessary and justified in order to end the war.

For anyone to attempt to justify such a blatantly evil act leaves me quite breathless. The amount of suffering the civilian populations of these Japanese cities had to endure staggers the imagination. Over ten thousand children in Hiroshima alone lost their lives enduring excruciating suffering. Many of these hapless young people were burned so severely that their skin literally hung from their appendages. For many civilians, death was slow and relentlessly painful. For a detailed look at what the Japanese victims experienced, please read Black Rain by Masuji Ibuse.

It has also been stated that it was worth it if this horrendous act saved even one American soldier’s life. This statement exemplifies the racism that permeates this culture to this day. Such a statement is a succinct expression of the barbaric attitudes and behavior that are the hallmark of American domestic and foreign policies.

Beyond this, there is considerable evidence that these bombings were not ordered for the purpose of ending the war, since the Japanese government was already suing for peace. Its real intent may have been to prevent the Soviet Union from entering the Pacific theatre and in that way threatening American hegemony of the region.