Nuclear Annihilation
There will never be agreement on whether or not the United States was right in dropping nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the dying days of the Second World War. What can possibly justify, after all, destroying the lives of tens of thousands of people in one fell swoop. To prove a point. That it could be done. That it would serve as a warning beyond all warnings.
And then to argue that this was necessary. To ensure that the war would come to a speedy conclusion. At a time when the Allies and the Axis forces had already sued for peace. Only Japan held on, held to its vision of national honour. It would be a matter of time, and not very much time at that, before Japan's common sense turned the tide of war and she would surrender.
Yet there was such eagerness to demonstrate to the world the power of this new weapon. Such an anxious need to see for certain the destruction that would ensue, to an extent never before seen, let alone envisaged. The irony that the feverish scientific activity to successfully split the atom and achieve nuclear artillery before the Germans did is not lost on history. Nor the fact that it was German scientists embraced by the United States who helped achieve this deadly victory.
At the ripe old age of 92, Brigadier General Paul Tibbets died a peaceful death at his home in Columbus, Ohio. He named the B-29 bomber that he piloted, the Enola Gay, after his mother. He asserted he had never regretted that he was instrumental in the immediate death of 70,000 innocent Japanese civilians, and the destruction of the city they inhabited, unleashing a nuclear storm of devastating impact.
It would appear he lived comfortably with his mission and its aftermath. He felt no regrets. His military career continued on its upward trajectory. "My edict was as clear as could be", said Big.-Gen. Tibbets. "Drop simultaneously in Europe and the Pacific because of the secrecy problem. That's what it took to end the war. I went out to stop the killing all over."
Europe was spared, Japan was not. Secure in the belief that he had no other option, that he acted on behalf of his country, that his actions and those of his fellows in this unbelievable enterprise, he was at peace with himself. With the understanding that his complicity in the deliberate murder of tens of thousands of innocents saved thousands of American lives by forestalling the need of a ground-invasion force to end the war in the Pacific.
Rational minds might wonder at this confidence, that no wrong had been done. How does this differ from the Nazis during that same war who, before the Nuremberg War Trials asserted that they were "nicht schuldig" as they were only following orders? No troubled conscience, no second thoughts, no pity for those whose lives were so summarily extinguished.
But then, what kind of a mind would think to honour his mother by naming a deadly nuclear conveyance in her name, to begin with?
And then to argue that this was necessary. To ensure that the war would come to a speedy conclusion. At a time when the Allies and the Axis forces had already sued for peace. Only Japan held on, held to its vision of national honour. It would be a matter of time, and not very much time at that, before Japan's common sense turned the tide of war and she would surrender.
Yet there was such eagerness to demonstrate to the world the power of this new weapon. Such an anxious need to see for certain the destruction that would ensue, to an extent never before seen, let alone envisaged. The irony that the feverish scientific activity to successfully split the atom and achieve nuclear artillery before the Germans did is not lost on history. Nor the fact that it was German scientists embraced by the United States who helped achieve this deadly victory.
At the ripe old age of 92, Brigadier General Paul Tibbets died a peaceful death at his home in Columbus, Ohio. He named the B-29 bomber that he piloted, the Enola Gay, after his mother. He asserted he had never regretted that he was instrumental in the immediate death of 70,000 innocent Japanese civilians, and the destruction of the city they inhabited, unleashing a nuclear storm of devastating impact.
It would appear he lived comfortably with his mission and its aftermath. He felt no regrets. His military career continued on its upward trajectory. "My edict was as clear as could be", said Big.-Gen. Tibbets. "Drop simultaneously in Europe and the Pacific because of the secrecy problem. That's what it took to end the war. I went out to stop the killing all over."
Europe was spared, Japan was not. Secure in the belief that he had no other option, that he acted on behalf of his country, that his actions and those of his fellows in this unbelievable enterprise, he was at peace with himself. With the understanding that his complicity in the deliberate murder of tens of thousands of innocents saved thousands of American lives by forestalling the need of a ground-invasion force to end the war in the Pacific.
Rational minds might wonder at this confidence, that no wrong had been done. How does this differ from the Nazis during that same war who, before the Nuremberg War Trials asserted that they were "nicht schuldig" as they were only following orders? No troubled conscience, no second thoughts, no pity for those whose lives were so summarily extinguished.
But then, what kind of a mind would think to honour his mother by naming a deadly nuclear conveyance in her name, to begin with?
Labels: Heros and Villains, Realities, Technology
posted by Pieface | 6:58 PM
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