[joeysteele]

Originally Posted by Livia

Have you ever heard of Nanking, arista? In a few weeks the Japanese slaughtered hundreds of thousands civilians and unarmed personnel, they looted, raped... This was just a few years before Hiroshima. Also, the Laha Airfield massacre, where they murdered 300 Australian and Dutch prisoners of war. The Alexandra Hospital Massacre, where they murdered everyone in the hospital, medical staff, patients, people on the operating table even, leaving around 200 to clear up the mess before bayonetting them all in the courtyard. 100,000 people died during the construction of the Death Railway, including thousands of POWs who were kept on starvation rations and in atrocious conditions. During the Massacre of Manila Japanese soldiers raped, bayoneted, machine gunned and beheaded people. They also burned down buildings with people still inside... 100,000 civilians died.

While the use of the atomic bomb was questionable, it brought the war to an end and saved countless lives. I'm not sure the word "chicken" has any place in this. The Japanese were beyond cruel. They were no respecters of civilians, they cut a swathe of destruction across Asia and showed no mercy, ever. I like to think people might look into Japan's war record and see what they were actually responsible for and at least try to understand the reason an atomic bomb was even considered. And make no mistake, had the Japanese had nuclear weapons, they would have used them in a heartbeat.

Brilliant post. I've nothing to add whatsoever.